Arnage Castle

Arnage Castle is a large country house in rural Buchan, sat on high ground between two minor watercourses that flow into the River Ythan a couple of miles to the south. Within this largely modern house (and to the rear) is a reworked Z-plan tower house of the late 16th century, built to a design of Thomas Leper for the Cheyne family. According to Lt Col Archibald Cheyne’s The Cheyne Family in Scotland, the lands of Meikle Arnage were granted to Malcolm Marshall by Robert I about 1310, and passed with marriage to Freskyn Cheyne of Straloch after 1377.  Arnage passed to his younger son Reginald, and then through his son John and John’s son Henry, who was deceased by 1495, at which point the lands of Arnage were held by the Crown due to non-payment of entry fees. It was not until 1516 that a new crown charter was granted to Alexander Cheyne, the third son of John Cheyne of Esslemont (d1505, the son of the Henry who died by 1495). Alexander was followed by his son John, John by his son William, and William by his son Walter, who was described as fiar of Arnage in 1595, and laird in 1597. In 1610 Walter sold Arnage to John Cheyne of Pitfichie, possibly his uncle.

By this time the Z-plan tower house had been built. A plan and sketch of the building is shown in Volume 4 of MacGibbon and Ross, which shows it with diagonally opposed square towers, one of which contained the principal stair to the first floor hall, and two stair turrets leading upwards to the bedrooms on the second floor. The hall block runs roughly north-south, with the stair tower at the north-west corner, the other tower at the south-eastern corner. This volume was published in 1887-92, at which point a long extension existed to the rear of the building, but this can barely be seen on the sketch. This extension is dated as 17th century, and therefore postdates the works carried out for original Cheyne line. John of Pitfichie was dead by 1623, succeeded by his son James, and James sold the property in 1643 to John Sibbald of Ellon, perhaps due to financial difficulty. James had a daughter (Grissel) to succeed him, described as his lawful daughter and heir, but she never held Arnage. John Sibbald was followed by his son Alexander, who in 1669 sold Arnage to George Rickart of Auchnacant, an Aberdeen burgess. Before 1692, George was followed at Arnage by his eldest son George and then his second son David, who in 1699 sold the estate to Provost John Ross of Aberdeen for 40,000 scots merks. It is likely that the extension built onto the north gable of the old tower house was the work of the Sibbalds. The descendants of Provost Ross remained at the castle into the 20th century, commissioning a major redesign of the castle, with an L-shaped extension attached to the southern gable of the old tower house, and a second reworking involved substantial changes to the roofline with turrets and window dormers added. The building was purchased in 1996, and a 15 year programme of renovation commenced. It is a private home, and cannot be seen from public roads.

HES Canmore database entry