Balfluig Castle, 16th-century tower house in Rhynie, Scotland.
Balfluig Castle is a three-story stone fortress with an L-shaped design built in the 1500s, featuring a watchtower with numerous gun loops throughout. It contains vaulted chambers that served as a kitchen, wine storage, guardroom, and prison facility.
The Forbes family built this fortress in 1556 as a private defensive residence during a time when such individual construction was uncommon in Scotland. It suffered damage during a regional conflict in the 1600s and was later converted into a working farmhouse.
The building shows how people in this region combined local sandstone and granite in their construction during the 1500s. Walking around it, you notice how practical builders were in using stone they could find nearby.
The site sits roughly one mile south of Alford and is straightforward to find in the countryside. The interior contains narrow passages and steep stairs between levels, so wear comfortable footwear and allow time to explore the different chambers carefully.
Local stories tell of two rival lairds who shot at each other from their watchtowers until one was killed, leaving the survivor haunted by what happened. This dark episode became part of the place's memory over the centuries.
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