Druminnor Castle
By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller
Druminnor Castle was the seat of the Chiefs of Clan Forbes for over 500 years until it was sold by the 16th Lord Forbes in 1770. Castle Forbes, as it was then called, was the stage for much of Forbes history. At its peak, the castle comprised two courtyards of buildings surrounded by a massive defensive wall, with a formal entrance forecourt to the west and extensive walled gardens to north and south.
By the early fifteenth century, Sir Alexander de Forbes had established himself as a great warrior in the 1411 Battle of Harlaw and the 1421 Battle of Baugé in France. In 1423, Alexander, Earl of Mar, granted to him the lands of Alford. In the same year, the Regent, Murdoch of Albany, granted a new charter of the lands and barony of Forbes to Sir Alexander and his fiancée Elizabeth de Douglas, granddaughter of Robert III. He took his place as Lord of Parliament in about 1445.
In 1440, Alexander, 1st Lord Forbes, started building the current hall house designed by the fifteenth-century stone masons, John Kamloke and Wilyhame of Ennerkype. While the Great Hall in the Old Tower remained the legal and ceremonial heart of the castle, the new building housed a much larger hall.
The castle’s original form is rectangular and compact, built for defense and domestic life in equal measure. The core of the complex included a tall, rectangular hall block constructed of coursed local granite; a projecting stair‑tower on the north side, providing controlled access to the upper floors; and a great hall occupying the principal upper level, once the ceremonial and social center of the Forbes chiefship. At its largest, the castle comprised of two courtyards of buildings surrounded by a massive defensive wall, with a formal entrance forecourt to the west and extensive walled gardens to north and south.
The surviving block is notable for its dramatic entrance tower, containing a broad turnpike stair and topped by a distinctive corbelled caphouse; the doorway beneath it has an unusual five-pointed arch. The entrance tower displays three coats of arms. The central one is that of William, Master of Forbes (“W M F”), who succeeded as the 3rd Lord Forbes in 1462. To the right is the coat of arms of Jean Campbell of Calder, Mistress of Forbes (1648—1660). On the left is the coat of arms of William, 7th Lord Forbes and his wife, Elizabeth Keith, and bears the date 1577.
The roofline still shows salvaged carved dormers — one bearing a fleur-de-lys worked to spell out a lord's initials, another decorated with scallop shells symbolizing welcome to visitors. Inside, thick vaulted basement and ground-floor walls point to a fifteenth-century core, with practical spaces such as a large kitchen (complete with a wide hearth and garderobe) and a curious "Happy Room," so nicknamed for a fragmentary inscription found there, which had its own fireplace and salt-recess — comforts unusual for a ground-floor chamber. The main hall and private chambers occupied the floor above, though later subdivisions and Victorian alterations to the ceiling heights have left visible scars — half-exposed doorways and fireplaces — testifying to the building's long, much-altered life.
Across the centuries, Druminnor Castle endured a cycle of assault, ruin, and renewal that mirrors the turbulent history of the north-east. In 1452, the powerful Douglasses swept through Strathbogie and sacked Druminnor during their rebellion against James II. In 1456, James II granted a license to James, 2nd Lord Forbes, to fortify Druminnor with battlements and gates of iron.
The sixteenth century brought even greater upheaval. During the civil conflicts surrounding Mary, Queen of Scots, the Gordons again turned their fury on Druminnor. Between 1571 and 1573, forces under Adam Gordon of Auchindoun captured the castle and partially demolished it. In 1577, William, 7th Lord Forbes, and his wife, Elizabeth Keith of Innerugie, restored Druminnor as a statement of resilience and continued authority.
In 1584, the crown seized the castle during the political turmoil of rebellion. Even within the family, Druminnor was not immune to strife: in 1592, Lord Forbes’s own sons raided the estate in a dramatic episode of intra‑clan conflict that reflected the fractious nature of noble politics in the late sixteenth century.
The seventeenth century brought the Wars of the Three Kingdoms to Druminnor’s doorstep. Royalist forces captured the castle in 1645 and held it for two years against repeated attempts by the Forbeses to reclaim their ancestral seat. After the Restoration, the castle was repaired and remodeled in 1660, adapting its medieval core to the domestic needs of a more settled age.
Yet even then, peace was short‑lived: during the Jacobite rebellion of 1689, Druminnor again came under attack, caught between competing visions of Scotland’s future.
Through every assault—Gordon, Douglas, royal, familial, or Jacobite—Druminnor survived. However, survival came at a cost. By 1700, William, 12th Lord Forbes (1656—1716) was bankrupt, even after selling off much of the estate. Upon his death in July 1716, his eldest son, William (1687—1730), succeeded to the title—and not much more. Unfortunately, the 13th Lord Forbes lost what little he had in the 1720 stock-market crash associated with the South Sea Trading Company and other rash ventures.
His nine-year-old son Francis, 14th Lord Forbes (1721—1734), succeeded when he died in 1730. The young lord died four years later. James, 15th Lord Forbes (1689—1761), was the second son of the 12th Lord Forbes and succeeded his young nephew.
In 1761, his son James (1725 – 1804) succeeded his father as 16th Lord Forbes. In January 1760, James married Catherine, the only child of Sir Robert Innes of Orton and Balvenie, 6th Baronet, and Dame Marjory (or Margery) Winram Innes. In 1765, Catherine became the sole heiress to the estate of her uncle, General Andrew Bisset. However, Lord and Lady Forbes encountered considerable legal difficulties in securing the release of the funds.
In 1770, burdened by debt, Lord Forbes raised funds by putting the estates of Forbes, Kearn, Auchindoir, and Clatt up for auction, expecting his kin would buy the land and hold them within the family as collateral. The sale succeeded, and the Forbes buyers initially agreed to divide the lots among themselves: Captain John Forbes of Newe would take Forbes; Jonathan Forbes, 13th Laird of Brux would take Auchindoir; and Lord Forbes would keep Kearn and sell Clatt only if necessary. After the auction, Captain John Forbes of Newe altered the arrangement.
Persuaded by his brother that the northern lands were more valuable, he traded his Forbes lot for Kearn and Clatt—then broke the family compact by selling Kearn, including Castle Forbes, to John Grant of Rothmaise. Lord Forbes kept Forbes; Newe retained Clatt; and Auchindoir went to Brux. The house of Putachie became the new seat of Clan Forbes. In 1815, James Ochoncar, 17th Lord Forbes, rebuilt Putachie and renamed it Castle Forbes.
For six generations, the Grants held the title of laird of Druminnor. In 1800, they partially demolished the old tower. In 1841, they doubled the size of the remaining building to create a modern country house. By the 1950s, debt engulfed the family and they were forced to sell off many properties, including Craighall, Ardoyne, and Druminnor.
Margaret Forbes-Sempill, a daughter of Lord Forbes-Sempill of Craigievar, bought Druminnor in 1954. She and her partner Joan Wright hired architect Ian G. Lindsay. Between 1960 and 1966, he oversaw the demolition of the 1841 additions made by the Grants and restoration of the rest of the old castle. Restoration work came to a halt when Forbes-Sempill died in a motor accident in October 1966.
In 1975, Andrew Forbes of the Pitsligo & Monymusk branch bought Druminnor. The current owner is Andrew’s son, Alexander Forbes. Today, Druminnor Castle is a private home, open only by private arrangement. Two houses within the castle estate are available for holiday lettings.
Druminnor Castle is more than the first seat of the House of Forbes; it is the architectural embodiment of the clan’s origins, struggles, and enduring presence in the north-east of Scotland. Its granite walls carry the memory of medieval feuds, Renaissance expansions, Enlightenment transitions, and modern restorations.
Though no longer the seat of the chiefship, Druminnor remains the spiritual heart of the Forbes story—a place where the lineage first took root and where its legacy continues to be honored. In its quiet dignity and unbroken continuity, Druminnor stands as the matron of Forbes houses: steadfast, enduring, and profoundly connected to the family whose name it has carried for nearly six centuries.
Excerpted from Forbes: A Story of Stone by B. R. Forbes, copyright 2026.
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