page_title: Barra Castle
section_title: Structure
hierarchical_section_title: Barra Castle / Structure
caption_attribution_description: English: Barra Castle, front view This is a photo of listed building number 2821.
context_page_description: Barra Castle is an unusual L-plan tower house dating from the early 16th century, about two miles south of Oldmeldrum, above the Lochter Burn, in the parish of Bourtie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It occupies the site of the Battle of Inverurie, in which Robert Bruce defeated John Comyn, Earl of Buchan.
context_section_description: The plan of the castle is an unusual variation on the L-plan, with the main block of the castle lying north to south. There is a circular tower at the south-west. A D-plan tower at the south-east contains the main stair and entrance. This tower, corbelled square at the top to give a watch-room, links to a large square wing. At its north-west angle this wing has a second circular tower. The castle’s entrance is in the main re-entrant angle. The towers have conical roofs.
  Running eastward from the north end of the main block there is an addition, dating from the 18th century. A wall to the east, which contains the entrance, forms the fourth side of a square court.
  The buildings around the courtyard are three storeys high, built of pinned boulder rubble. The main gables are crow stepped. The drawing room, which is panelled, has a large chimneypiece, with a later one inserted in it. The first floor bedroom in the South East wing has panelling dating from the early to mid-18th century. There is a panelled sitting room in the North wing.
  The castle is a category A listed building and is constructed on the site of Robert the Bruce's successful battle against John Comyn, Earl of Buchan in 1308.
  The Hunterian Museum in Glasgow has a hammerstone from Barra Castle.
caption: Barra Castle
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