Annotation:Auchindoun Castle

AUCHINDOUN CASTLE. Scottish, Reel (cut time). B Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by Aberdeenshire fiddler-composer biography:Alexander Walker. Auchindoun Castle, a three story tower house which in modern times is a ruin in poor condition, has had a tragic history. It was built in the 15th century for the unfortunate Earl of Mar, soon murdered by his brother, James III. Upon Mar's death, the structure passed to Robert Cochrane, another unfortunate who was hanged in 1482. The Ogilvie clan held it for some years, but control passed to the Gordons in 1535, who in turn held it for 50 years until the Macintoshes ravaged the castle in 1591 in revenge for the murder of the Bonnie Earl o' Moray. Although the castle was restored after the depredations of the Mackintishes, Gordon was killed a few years later in 1594 in the Battle of Glenlivet. By the 18th century the castle had fallen into disrepair and was abandoned, and stones from it were being appropriated for local building projects. The tune has some modern currency with Cape Breton fiddlers according to Paul Stewart Cranford (1991).

Printed source: Walker (A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Marches, &c.), 1866; No. 57, p. 21.