Work began on Crathes Castle in the 1550s but it wasn’t until 1596 that Alexander Burnett of Leys completed this superb tower house, typical of its period. The Burnett family made it their home for the next 350 years.
The family had lived in the area for a couple of centuries before the completion of Crathes. Alexander de Burnard had been appointed Royal Forester of Drum by King Robert the Bruce in 1323, at which point the Burnetts occupied a crannog (an artificial island fort) on the Loch of Leys.
The Burnetts kept a relatively low profile during the period of civil and religious unrest that affected much of the Scottish gentry during the 17th and 18th centuries, although the Royalist army of the Marquess of Montrose occupied the castle for a day after Sir Thomas Burnett (the 1st Baronet of Leys) peacefully surrendered to him in 1644.
The 3rd Baronet of Leys had no fewer than 21 children with his wife, Margaret Arbuthnott, in the latter decades of the 1600s and had to build an additional wing to accommodate them all! Sadly, this east wing burned down in 1966. You can see photos of the Queen Anne Wing and the fire damage when visiting the castle.
In the 18th and 19th centuries many Burnetts drifted west to America, fighting in the American Revolutionary War and going on to attain positions of influence in society there.
The 13th Baronet of Leys, General Sir James Burnett, gifted Crathes Castle and part of the estate to the National Trust for Scotland in 1951.
Since the National Trust for Scotland has been responsible for Crathes Castle, Garden and Estate, they have discovered even more about its hidden history! People have lived at Crathes since 8,000 BC in farming and fishing communities. In 2013 archaeologists discovered what could be the world’s oldest calendar, pre-dating other time-measuring devices in the Near East by nearly 5,000 years!