Castle of Rattray

The Castle of Rattray was a medieval Scottish castle, with multiple variations on its structure over approximately six centuries. Originally built as a "late 12th- or early 13th century defensive motte" it provided protection for Starny Keppie Harbour and Rattray village. Sometime between 1214 and 1233 it was upgraded by William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan before being destroyed in the 1308 Harrying of Buchan. After Comyn's timber castle was burned down, it was replaced by a stronger stone castle which was engulfed during a 1720 sand storm along with nearby Rattray village. After the storm, the castle was not dug out and remains covered to this day. The castle was described by W. Douglas Simpson as one of the nine castles of the Knuckle, referring to the rocky headland of north-east Aberdeenshire.

The castle was sited on Castlehill, on the south bank of the now-closed estuary flowing into Strathbeg Bay- the north bank was protected by the opposite Lonmay Castle. Specifically the castle was "beside an inlet which led from the sea into a sheltered harbour" on "the harbour side" of Rattray village. The later stone castle is known to have had a "harbour-side entrance".

Originally situated on "a rock near the sea", Castlehill is today about 1 mile inland as shifting sands have significantly altered the shape of the coast. Located to the south of Loch Strathbeg it can be seen as a grassy "circular mound" which is "oval & natural with its top slightly dished". A 1791 book states it has a "summit"... [of] "half a Scots acre" (approx. 0.25 hectare) and "rises 38 feet"... (11.6 metres) "above a small plain on the"... north-east "but is only 12 or 14 feet"... (3.7 or 4.3 metres) "above the higher ground" to the south-west.

The first construction of Castlehill was a small keep during the late middle ages, or a 12th century "timber castle or Motte" built to protect the estuary.

In the 13th century, the Castle of Rattray was "the principal seat of the Cummings"... [alt. spelling of Comyn] "Earls of Buchan" who arrived at the start of that century. Between 1214, when he inherited the Earldom of Buchan, and his own death in 1233, William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan built upon the motte but it is unclear whether he upgraded the existing buildings or built an entirely new castle. He is known to have completed a "manor house" with "a fine timber-framed hall" (the castle) which was accompanied by the private St Mary's Chapel which he constructed "a quarter of a mile" (0.4 kilometres) south, in Rattray village itself.

In the mid-1270s, it is reported that "a castle-strengthening programme Rattray" took place.

Comyn's castle survived until the Harrying of Buchan in the summer of 1308, when all the Comyn lands were bloodily burned to the ground after John Comyn, Earl of Buchan was beaten at the Battle of Barra. The timber Rattray Castle was almost certainly attacked by Robert the Bruce or his younger brother Edward after which the "castle fell into ruins" if not burned to the ground.

Following the harrying, the site of Rattray's timber castle was rebuilt with a "stone-built hall". This stone incarnation provided protection for Starnie Keppie Harbour and the village of Rattray, as the previous incarnations did.