Description
Banff Castle: John Adam, 1749-52 on site of old castle. 3-storey, symmetrical 5-bay south front with 2-storey rear wing. Harled, ashlar margins and dressings. Centre entrance masked by late 19th century bow fronted tooled rubble porch with front window and side entrance. 4 ball finials decorate coped wallhead.
Symmetrical front fenestration with timber sash and case glazing, the outer bays paired; tall first floor windows, shorter ground and 2nd floor windows. East return gable with two long first floor windows (1 blind). 6-pane glazing in ground and 2nd floor windows, 16-pane in first floor. Bandcourse above ground floor windows running full length of frontage.
Deep moulded wallhead cornice; paired corniced ridge stacks on broad bases; piended slate roof.
REAR WING: small windows; 19th century oriel window fronts first floor in east elevation; timber multi-pane sash and case glazing; gabled slate roof.
INTERIOR: wide stairhall with stone paved floor. Cantilevered staircase with moulded risers and underside rises full height with simple turned balusters paired to each stair and polished wooden handrail.
Ground floor room, west low ceiling room with wooden chimneypiece with fluted jambs and dentilled corniced mantlepiece; blue and white tiled (Dutch?) slip. Plain panelled doors and simple moulded ceiling.
1ST FLOOR ROOM, WEST: (former dining room?). Fine ashlar chimneypiece with ribbed and shaped jambs, corniced overmantle with carved female mask flanked by Renaissance style foliated frieze, marble slips; no hearth, grate sealed with cement. Panelled dado; 6-panel doors with billeted and corniced overdoors and moulded jambs; panelled window shutters; all panelling raised and fielded. Corniced plaster ceiling.
1ST FLOOR ROOM, EAST: (former parlour?). Coved and corniced plaster ceiling; panelled dado, 6-panel doors with over-doors, panelled window shutters, all raised and fielded as elsewhere. Fine white painted carved chimneypiece with lugged jambs with egg and dart border and small female mask in centre; flanking carved scroll consoles, carved overmantle, narrow marble slips. Italianate tiled hearth front suggesting mosaics with paired leopards, decorative central tiles framed with scrolls, palmette and anthemion detailing. No grate; hearth infilled with brickwork.
2ND FLOOR ROOMS, EAST AND WEST: deep moulded ceiling cornices, panelled dados, window shutters and doors, all panelling raised and fielded. Each room with small closet. East pavilion: small square 2-storey, 2-bay pavilion; harled ashlar margins; (later?) ground floor doorway with rendered margins. Curved external stair to first floor entrance, the stairs screened by quadrant wall. Low first floor fenestration; rear wallhead stack; piended slate roof.
WEST PAVILION: (?former stables with service accommodation in first floor). Rectangular 2-storey pavilion, with symmetrical gable front as E pavilion but now marred by slapped garage door. Forestair in long 3-bay E elevation to 1st floor doorway. Multi-pane glazing; piended slate roof.
SMALL SQUARE OUTBUILDING AT NW ANGLE: former privies (?).
WELL: W L Duncan, Turriff, 1926. Domed peristyle well in forecourt.
Statement of Special Interest
The 18th century mansion of Banff Castle was built by James Ogilvy, 6th Earl of Findlater and 3rd Earl of Seafield as his town house. His principal seat was Cullen House in Cullen. The Earl owned land in and around Banff and administered this from his new town house.
There are separate listings for the entrance lodges, gates, gatepiers to Banff Castle (LB21959) and for the surrounding policy walls (LB21958). The Old Castle Walls are part of the scheduled monument (SM2927).
Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2017. Previously listed as 'Castle Street, Banff Castle, with Flanking Pavilions, Well and Old Castle Walls'.
References
Bibliography
Canmore: https://canmore.org.uk/ CANMORE ID 18455
Maps
John Wood (1823) Plan of the Town of Banff from Actual Survey. Edinburgh.
Ordnance Survey (Surveyed 1866, Published 1871) Banff Sheet IV.12. 25 Miles to the Inch map. 1st Edition. Ordnance Survey: Southampton.
Printed Sources
Banff Preservation Society, (1975) Royal and Ancient Banff. Banff Preservation Society: Banff.
Colvin, H., (1978) A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. p 46.
Imlach, J., (1868) History of Banff. Robert Leask: Banff pp 18-19.
Mahood, A.E., (1919) Banff and District, Banff pp. 16, 64.
Walker, D. and Woodworth, M. (2015) The Buildings of Scotland: Aberdeenshire: North and Moray. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp.81-82.
Online Sources
Dictionary of Scottish Architects. John Adam http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=406513 [accessed 27/10/2016]
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Map
Printed: 16/04/2024 18:10