Coull Castle

The ruins of Coull Castle are reached via an unkept footpath from Coull church. The castle was an impressive 13th century courtyard castle built by the Durward family as their principal seat in Mar, and overlooks the Tarland Burn. It was destroyed during the Wars of Independence, and the site is grazed by cattle.

In the 13th century Coull was part of the earldom of Mar, which was broken up between rival claimants by King Alexander II. Thomas Durward was granted substantial lands, which were called the Barony of O’Neill, but did not get the title of earl. Either Thomas or his son Alan erected the castle, but when Alan died in about 1270 it reverted to the crown. It was briefly occupied by the Strathbogie earls of Atholl, but was destroyed in an attack by Robert Bruce in 1308 and never repaired.

The form of the castle is an irregular courtyard within a rock-cut ditch, and is reminiscent of Kildrummy in design – which is unlikely to be a coincidence. The north side, overlooking the burn, has a straight wall with modest towers at each end, and between these the principal accommodation block can be found. The west side bulges out, with a large round tower-keep midway along this side, and the east side heads straight south. In the south-east corner is a double towered gatehouse, with two round towers facing outwards and a single room within the courtyard to the rear of each tower. The courtyard area is uneven, and the south-western portion is much higher than the rest; there is evidence for repairs and shoring up being done to the keep, which may have been emergency work carried out c1300.

HES Canmore database entry