Drum Castle and Garden

Tour Historic Drum Castle
Map of this area

Drum Castle near Aberdeen is probably the oldest occupied castle in Scotland. Prior to 1975 when it was bequeathed to the National Trust for Scotland by the 24th and final Laird of Drum, Henry Quentin Forbes Irvine, it had been the ancestral home of the Irvine family for more than six hundred and fifty years.

Drum Castle comprises an original stone tower keep which, it is believed, was built during the reign of Alexander lll in the mid thirteenth century. The stone mansion and Jacobean house which form the bulk of the remaining part of the building were built by Alexander, the 9th Laird of Drum and were completed in 1619.

After the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 at which William Irvine fought alongside Robert the Bruce, the Royal Forest of Oaks in Aberdeenshire and Drum Castle were awarded to William Irvine.