Balvenie Castle

Balvenie Castle features impressive remains from all three dynastic families that it once served.

For more than 500 years, Balvenie was a mighty stronghold – initially for the Comyn earls of Buchan, who ruled over this part of north-east Scotland. Robert the Bruce overthrew the powerful lords in 1306, taking Balvenie Castle in 1308.

Balvenie then disappears from historical record until the early 1400s, when Sir James Douglas held it. After the Black Douglases’ downfall in 1455, James II entrusted the castle to a kinsman, John Stewart, Earl of Atholl. His descendants held Balvenie for the next 250 years.