Drum Castle
Drum Castle has been the ancestral home of the Irvine clan for over 650 years. In fact the estate lands were awarded to William de Irwin in 1323 by none other than King Robert the Bruce himself.
This particular castle was one of the main reasons why we wanted to visit Aberdeenshire in the first place……my wife is an Irvine and she wanted to see the family seat. I say “family” because although Liz was born and bred in England (along with her parents and grandparents) her great-grandparents were Scottish and came from the area around Forfar……only about an hour or so south of Drum Castle. Therefore, although we don’t know for sure, it certainly isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that Liz is related somewhere along the line to the Irvines of Drum.
Based on such solid ancestral connections, we did ask the National Trust for Scotland (who now own the castle and estate) whether we could have it back! After much laughter and a polite decline, they did allow Liz to sign the Irvine family visitor book instead……..so all was well.
The final shot in the set below is of the Irvine family chapel. Liz has been planning this as a wedding venue for her nieces and nephews ever since we got back…..whether they like it or not ;0).
© Mark Simms Photography (2016)
Mark Simms Photography 
15 Responses to “Drum Castle”
Lovely piccies Mark, a very special holiday
Good company 😊
Great shots. I’ve always loved Drum Castle. My siblings and I used to giggle at one particular cushion in a room depicting a frog wearing a kilt because we could lift his kilt up.
Haha…..I didn’t see that….we’ll have to go back 😊
Part of my clan 😉 our son is off to Dumfries and Galloway next week with his girlfriend and family and is super excited to be going back to his ancestral lands, he’s packed his blue face paint and Swiss army pen knife
Haha….I hope he has a great time 😊
I really like the B+W of the castle Mark! Excellent!
Thanks Adrian…..quite pleased with that one myself
[…] on from the previous post about Castle Drum, here are a few shots of the gardens and estate. Part of the estate is still covered by the Old […]
What incredible history! My husband’s heritage is scottish. Although he has no living relatives there, we’d like to see Scotland some day.
Oh you should definitely come over Laura…you’d love it
I’m working on it. 🙂
[…] my final post on Drum Castle and Estate I thought I would share this artistic impression of the Old Wood of Drum. Woodland makes […]
Only seen it in winter tbh so this is a revelation considering it is within 90 mins drive
Isn’t that often the way, there are plenty of places close to where we live that we haven’t explored fully 😊