Monboddo Castle


By Jennifer Harper


F WALLS could talk…. One wonders what we would hear through the thick turreted walls of the 380-year- old Monboddo Castle, near Fordoun, by Laurencekirk in the north-east. Scotland’s most celebrated poet Robert Burns reciting to a young and beautiful Eliza Burnet perhaps…. Illustrious judge James Burnet discussing his theory that man evolved from monkey (a conclusion he formed some 100 years or so before Darwin)…. Or maybe Dr Johnson and James Boswell debating Scotland’s immense social change….


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Monboddo Castle, previously known as Monboddo House, has been home to Louise Crighton, her husband Harry and four children since 2009. Louise admits it was the three-acre garden, plus the opportunity to bring the castle well and truly into the 21st Century that atracted the couple – something they have achieved through careful consideration of the B-listed building’s history and continued use as a family home.


The original three-storey Monboddo is believed to have been built in 1635 on the site of a previous tower by Colonel Robert Irvine who retired here from military life, having served with Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. His daughter Elizabeth married James Burnet of Lagavin in 1671, launching a 300-year ownership of the castle for the Burnet family.


It was here that James Burnet, who became Lord Monboddo, was born in 1714 – James was an eminent lawyer, judge and philosopher. He studied law at Edinburgh University, gained admission to the Faculty of Advocates, became a sheriff, and emerged as Lord Monboddo when he became a Supreme Court judge in 1767. A highly intelligent man, he was also ridiculed by some for his belief that man was but a monkey ‘whose


44 February 2016


A highly intelligent man, he was also ridiculed by some for his belief that man was but a monkey ‘whose tail had worn off by constant sitting’


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