Fedderate Castle well what's left of it

Fedderate (or Federate) castle is in Aberdeenshire, not far from the village of New Deer. It stands now amidst good arable land, but in its heyday stood in swamp and could only be approached along a causeway. It was a substantial building in its time, built on the L-plan, with walls up to 8 feet thick. It probably contained 4 floors and an attic, rising to a height of 60 feet.

From A.D. 1370 to 1573 the home of the Craufurds of Fedderate, ancestors of the Swedish family of Crafoord. A castle stood on this site since A.D. 1200 the ruins you see here are from a castle built in 1370.

A castle of such solid construction could probably have been reasonably expected to be in better state, as this would one undoubtedly be, had someone not spent considerable time and effort blowing it up with gunpowder in 1690 after a 4 week siege!