History & Overview: Balvenie Castle is located in Glen Fiddich. The castle changed hands several times but has never seen any sieges or battles. The Black Comyn’s, Earls of Buchan held the castle and ruled the ancient Celtic province in the 1200’s. Robert the Bruce wiped out the Comyns in his fight for the Scottish throne. The castle apparently stood vacant for a few years before the Black Douglasses took up residence in the early 1400’s. King James II caused the next turnover around 1455. He wiped out the Douglasses and assigned the province to a kinsman. In 1720 the castle was abandoned. The top view shows the entrance to the buildings, the curtain wall no longer stands. The bottom, is a view from the inside of the courtyard towards the front gate. There is also a very impressive moat surrounding the castle, (no water).

From its strategically significant position in the Glen, Balvenie Castle allowed the immensely powerful Black Comyn earls to rule over this Celtic province for more than a century. Though there were no famous sieges or notable battles here, this would have appeared a striking fortification to anyone approaching it for the first time: as it still is today.