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Udny This is the name of a parish, two villages, and a castle, all in the north east part of Formartine, where it slopes gently down to the basin of the
Ythan.
The castle is approached by a handsome avenue of beech trees from the charming little hamlet of Udny Green, the ancient kirk-town of the parish. Tradition has it that the great rectangular tower of Udny
Castle, five storeys and over 100 ft high, crowned on one side with ornamental battlements and bartizan, and by round turrets at each of the four corners, was built by three successive lairds and
completed in the 17th cent. A newel stair 8 ft wide leads to the first floor, the whole length of which - with the exception of the laird's secret passage and bedchamber - is occupied by the panelled
and vaulted great hall. A concealed staircase, which was used in the old days by the ladies of the castle as a means of access to their rooms on a higher floor, leads off one corner of the hall. The earliest mention of the family of Udny of Udny in extant records dates from 1426, and from then till the present century there were fourteen Udny lairds bearing that name. The old keep <vas
restored and integrated into a handsome modern mansion of two three-storey wings in 1875, at which time also the vaulted chamber in the basement became a domestic museum, housing among other things
the ancestral 'kist' or charter chest of the Udnys, rescued from a fire at Knock-hall Castle in 1743 by that celebrated character. Jamie Fleeman, the laird's licensed jester. The visitor should not fail to take a look into the quiet kirkyard at Udny Green, where he will find several features of interest. There is, for example, a unique Round House or mortsafe built by
subscription in 1832; but, ironically, the Government passed the Anatomy Act that very year, and the Round House was rendered virtually obsolete. |
