Craigston Castle, Aberdeenshire bGordoyH n Slade Craigston lies 4 miles northeast of Turriff and 8 miles south-east of Banff. HISTORY THE TRUE PEDIGRE LINEAD EAN L DESCENMOSE TH T F ANCIENO T HONOURABLD TAN E FAMILY OF URQUART '(In the House of Cromarty since the Creation of the World until this present Year 1774) God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who were from all eternity, did in time, of nothing, create red earthd earthre f ,o ; frameside f Adamth eo f do t Adam, ou fashione b ri ; a and f do , Eve. After which creation, plasmation formatiod an , n succee generationse dth followeths a , . An Mundi Series Com diff Ante Christ O 394 8I I ADAM married EVE He was surnamed the Protoplast......' THE GENEALOGY r ThomaSi : s Urquhart: Editio f 177no 4 "POOH-BAH. "Don' poinn ti mentio , factf o t am particularl ,a I . nit y haught exclusivd yan e person, of pre-Adamite ancestral descent. You will understand this when I tell you that I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule. Consquently my family pride is something inconceivable can'I . bors tnwa hel I sneering". pit ' THE MIKADO Act 1 W S Gilbert famile Th Urquhartf yo branca , whicf ho h built stild an ,l holds, Craigston Castlee on s i , e mosoth f t ancien Scotlandn i t . Accordin fantasticae th o gt l genealog r ThomaSi f o y s they descend from ADAM through ESORMON, Prince of Achaia, and his wife NARFESIA, Sovereign of the Amazons. This interesting couple were the forebears of PAMPROSDOS, whose wife, TERMUTH, daughtee th s f wa Pharaoo r h AMENOPHIS chiefld an , y remarkabl r findinefo g Mose bulle th -n si rushes. Six-hundred-and-twenty-three years later their descendant, MELESSEN, married NICOLIA, who achieved some little fame from people supposin havo t r e ghe bee e Queenth f Shebano . Meanwhil famile eth beed yha n developing links wit Scote hth Irelandn (i sC B aboud 0 an ) 67 t ANSEPSIOS married RECATADA e daughteth , f Simoo r n Brek, Kin f thosgo e people. Their great- great-grandson, BELISTOS was the founder of the race and harbour of Ochonochar, and the castle of Urquhart. For some totally inexplicable reason his great-great-great-great-grandson, NOMOSTOR, settle Greecn di married ean d DIOSA, daughte Alcibiadesf o r , Afte father-in-law's hi r s fallefe h l t that country and after many journeys finally made land at the harbour of Ochonochar, or SLADE: CRAIGSTON CASTLE, ABERDEENSHIR3 26 | E Cromarty, sometime about AD 360. This settled the family firmly in Scotland and it went from strengt strengtho ht . ASTIOREMON killed Euthus e outlandisth , h Pictish King; LUSTROSO married GLYCERINA, daughter of Fincormacus, King of Scotland; NICHARCHOS took to wife TORTOLINA, who was apparently daughter of Arthur of Britain; and POLYTELES chose as his wife, SAGLOPIS, daughter of Cuthbert of Wessex. This couple had three sons, VOCOMPOS, PHORBAS, and HUGH, from whom descendee ar presene dth t familie f Urquharto s , Forbe MacKayd an s Urquhare Th . t tradition is that that family is descended from the eldest son. The Forbes tradition however is that Ocho- nochar was the father of these three brothers and that the Forbes are descended from the eldest. Wit e threhth e sons f VOCOMPOo r OCHONOCHAR)S(o e mythicalth , Urquharts comn a o et e appearancth r fo t e stag f whase euphemistically eo th s i ed ma t an d en e calleyb e non-dth historical Urquharts. The first of these was CAROLO, son of VOCOMPOS and his wife ADROLEMA, whose father bore for some curious reason the name SCHOLTO DOUGLAS. CAROLO, who boasted Charlemagn god-fathers hi s ea , ignore grandfather's dhi s commonplace nomenclature, married TRASTEVOLE and named his son ENDYMION. ENDYMION married SUAVILOQUA, and then the family went completely to pieces. Their very ordinary grandson, Lawrence, married an even more ordinary Matilda, and, in spite of the appearance of OLIPHER and ALLEGRA, the Goodwins, Marys, Winifreds, Adams, Richards and Grisels, made it evident that before the non-historical Urquharts dwindled into nothingness they Historicale musth o t t givy e wa Branch Family,e th f o which they did in the mid-14th century in the persons of Adam Urquhart of Cromarty and his wife, Brigida (Bridget) Fleming of Cumbernauld. Adam Urquhart was the first historically ascertainable Urquhart of Cromarty. To him in 1357 was granted the office of Sheriff of Cromarty, a grant which was confirmed under the Great Sea 1378n li great-great-great-great-grandson s .Hi , John Urquhart Tutoe ,th Cromartyf ro , was builder of Craigston. Known as the ''Tutor' from his having been guardian of his great-nephew, Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, he was born in 1547 and died at the age of 84 in 1631. He wae fiftd younges th sf an Alexandeh o n so t r Urquhart, Lair f Cromartdo d die ha n di o ywh 1563-4, and his wife, Beatrice Innes of Auchintoul. The land f Craigstoo s r Craigfintrao n- - ycam e intpossessioe oth Urquhart e th f no s during the life-time of Alexander. They did not pass to the eldest son, Walter, with the Cromarty lands, but formed the estate of the second surviving son. Thomas had died young and Arthur and James, although apparently both in turn inherited Craigston, died without any surviving therefors issuewa t I . e John lase th ,t surviving becamsono wh , Laire eth f Craigstondo . When precisel inheritee yh t clearno s di : certainl 159y yb 7 whe nChartea r unde Greae th r t Seal (Vol , 349IV ) grante lande dth f Creichio s e with their attache lande dBaronth d milld an s an f , yo Craigfintra 'Johanno yt i Urquhart, tutor Cromarte d i t Johannaye e Abernethy, ejus sponsae'. alreadHd eha y buil monumenta mother-whs hi o t died 159 on Kindha i n i 0- g Edward Church, whicn i h parish Craigston stands. Thiindicaty sma e that whateve dwelline Craign th r o s -gwa fintray it was being used as a jointure house for Beatrice Urquhart, and that although he was t granteno chartea d r until 1597 facn ,i possession Johi ts nwa n fro s mother'mhi s deatn hi 1590. He was married three times: first to Elizabeth Gordon of Cairnborrow (who had previously been married to Meldrum of Eden) and by her he had three sons and two daughters. She was dead by 1595 as apparently in that year he married Jean Abernethy, daughter of Lord Saltoun, and widow of Alexander Seton of Meldrum: no children survived from this marriage. In 1610, marriee h 3 6 df o againe thirs ag hi ,e dth wift a e being Elizabeth Seton, heires Alexandeo t s r Seton of Meldrum, and the grand-daughter of her immediate predecessor's first husband. She 264 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1976-7 bor Tutoe eth r fou daughtere r on son d san : fro thi f eldese o msth n marriagetso , Patrick Urquhart, descendee ar Urquharte dth Meldruf so Urquharte th d man Craigstonf so . Durin secons ghi d marriage John Urquhar about se t t re-building buildinr o , g afresr fo h- incorporatioe signo th thern f e o s ear earlier n a f no houspresene th e- t hous f Craigstoneo . Work starteMarc4 1 n finishes do h Decembewa 8 1604 d n do an , r 1607 spaca , year 9 3 d f eo s an months, which, given the short building season enjoyed in NE Scotland and the size of the house, argues a remarkable expedition and a high degree of site organisation. By the standards of Aberdeenshire castles of the 17th century, the design of Craigston is extraordinarily idiosyncratic plan I . t harkni s bac Borthwicko kt e grea 15th-centurd th , mi t y house, in that it is a rectangular tower with two square jambs advanced on one side. However, unlike Borthwick e re-entranth , t betwee jambse nth , althoug uppee t risehth i o rt s floorss i , suppressed visuall elevationn yo jamb e th joinee r a greaar s fo ,y db t arch which carriee th s galleries thin I . s Craigston resemble near-contemporare sth y uppe r Setoe stagth f neo towert a Fyvie, and the earlier front of Hermitage. This suppression of the re-entrant is very important for it gives Craigston, particularly in the upper stages, the appearance of a great square tower, eveenhanco t Keepns a wa et .I this appearance tha cornee tth r turrets were intende squaree b o dt s instea more th f et mordo usua ye ed emphasil ad rounds o t d thio an s,t s not f squareo e strength the upper works, apart fro balcone mth y front lese ar s, exuberant than migh expectede b t e Th . squareness is continued to the last in the central tower with its balustraded top. Al lmarke o this s si ddepartura e fro normae mth l feelinlate th e f 16thgo earld -an y 17th- century house Aberdeef so n tha questioe th t ne desigmuse mucth w th s f ho th no wa aris o t s ea taste resul th Johf ef o o t n Urquhart professionae Th . l stamp whic buildine hth g bears indicates clearly tha t belongi t smale th n lsi group often castles which probabl wore th memberf ke o yar s Bele oth f l famil whicd yan h together form perhaps Scotland's fines mosd an t t distinctive con- tributio Westero nt n architecture professionaa s i t i t :bu l stamp whic bees hha n flawed.