Creich Castle, Fife
Photo © Jim Bain, 18 May 2008
Creich Castle, Fife
Photo © Jim Bain, 18 May 2008
Creich Castle, Fife Photo © Jim Bain, 18 May 2008 |
Creich Castle, Fife Photo © Jim Bain, 18 May 2008 |
Creich Castle originally stood on rocky ground surrounded by bog. Over the years the bog was drained under land improvement schemes and today it's defensive position is not so obvious. Since last year a new pond system seems to have been installed in the former bog to the SE of the castle. Creich Castle was the birthplace of Mary Beaton, one of the "Four Marys" chosen by Mary of Guise to serve her daughter, Mary I of Scotland.
-- CREICH CASTLE, FIFESHIRE.
A structure of the L Plan, which stands on a mound in the midst of what was formerly a marsh, about six miles north from Cupar. The site is in a quiet hollow surrounded with hills, and near the castle are the ruins of the ancient church.
In the thirteenth century Creich Castle belonged to Macduff, Earl of Fife; but the existing building was erected in the sixteenth century, when the lands were acquired by the Bethunes from the Liddels.
The building is now an ivy-mantled ruin, but has been a structure of some pretensions. The entrance doorway and staircase were in a tower in the re-entering angle, and the corbelling of the parapet has been of an ornate character.
The interior is now destroyed, but the apartments have evidently been of considerable size. The angles have been finished with the usual corbelled turrets, and there are indications of a stone defence or machicolation in the angle of the tower at the parapet, such as is observed at Denmiln and Elcho. -- The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland by David Macgibbon and Thomas Ross 1889