Sundials

Crathes is particularly known for its ceiling paintings. Photography is not allowed in the castle but there are excellent photographs in the RCAHMS "canmore" database see: http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/36693/digital_images/crathes+castle/ .
Castle; an L-plan tower-house built in the mid-16thC with a later projecting wing. It is built of granite with rounded angles and rises to four storeys and an attic. The lower storeys are plain but above the first-floor level there is a profusion of corbelling, stringcourse, angle- and stair-turrets, heraldic decoration, gargoyles, and gabling which are unique to Scottish castellated architecture. The entrance, in the re-entrant angle is protected by an iron yett. The interior is famed for its plaster & magnificent wooden painted ceilings. The castle was built for the Burnetts of Leys who received the charter for the land from Robert the Bruce in 1323. Within the castle is a jewelled ivory horn, the Horn of Leys, which is said to have been presented to Alexander Burnett by the Bruce when he received the charter. The castle came into the hands of the National Trust for Scotland in 1951. SMR
Crathes Castle NO 735 966 doocot
doocot Small square, rubble, with forestair and slated pyramidal roof. Probably early 19th century. Rebuilt on present site 1935. Inset stone from Houses of Parliament. LBR
The sundial has an interesting decoration of 4 grotesque portrait masks but I can find no record of its date or creator.

Fettercairn will have had some kind of market cross since 1504 when the status of a free burgh of barony was first granted. It is is said by some that the shaft of the current cross originally stood in the burgh of Kincardine which declined and eventually ceased when the judicial headquarters of the county moved to Stonehaven in 1600. There is no historical record of the cross being moved in this manner.

The royal license to hold markets in Fettercairn was renewed in 1670 and the shaft may indeed have been relocated at that time, at the same date the capitol was made and added to the cross. It bears that date 1670 on the north side, alternatively the shaft may pre-date the capitol and be the (Fettercairn) original from 1504 (it certainly appears older than the capitol). The capitol bears a sundial on the south side, the lion rampant from the royal arms of Scotland on the west and the coronetted initials of John, First Earl of Middleton, the local seigneur at the time on the east.

The shaft is octagonal and set on six sandstone steps. On the west of the shaft a deeply cut line marks the length of a Scot's ell (95.25cm or 37.5inches) the measurement used by traders in the market. There is also an iron hasp with two links still attached, presumed to be for the attachment of 'the jougs' an iron collar, persons found guilty of minor offences were restrained in this collar and exhibited at the cross as a punishment.

An installation of figures made from wood and flower-pots beside a ready made? sundial.

Dated 1710. Free standing sundial. Cubic sandstone head with chamfered angles; horizontal dial with wrought-iron gnomon. Short, square-section shaft, also with chamfered angles, off-set below

Angle mural sundial and date stone enscribed "George Massie, Elspet Morrison 1739 Gods Providence is ourInheritance."

A sandstone sundial on a square section pillar with chamfered corners mounted on cuboid pedestal. There are words carved around the edge that indicate it is a memorial to '??thie born 8th June 1836'. Below there are words but they are not readable On the back there is 'A Pithie' then 'born', the next bit has gone but the year seems to be 1812. The base is inscribed "W. Pithie mason 1857"

17th-century sundial with complex lectern dial in freestone