History of Braal Castle, Halkirk

The original Braal Castle now stands in ruins, behind the new castle.  The old Braal Castle was built in the 14th century, although it was probably the site of a wooden fort before.  Originally called the Castle of Brathwell it was granted to David Stewart, Earl of Caithness by King Robert II of Scotland.

Braal Castle was put in the pages of the Scottish History books, when Bishop Adam doubled the butter tax he received from his flock, much to their disgust. An angry mob made their way to Braal Castle the residence of the Earl of Caithness, the mob then seized the Bishop and deep fat fried him alive in his own butter (a death unique to Scotland I'm sure). King Alexander II was so annoyed by this he travelled to Halkirk with soldiers and removed the hands of 80 villagers as punishment.

In 1450 the castle was bestowed by James II to Sir George Crichton, Lord High Admiral of Scotland.  The castle passed to the Sinclairs of Ulbster in the 18th century, they began to construct the adjacent building now known as Braal Castle.  Construction was abandoned shortly after the foundations were completed, luckily they had planned to use the stone from the old castle in the construction, it was saved as the remainder of the building wasn't completed until 1856, with the wings added in 1873.  The image shown is the only one we have of the castle before the wings were built.

During the Second World War Braal Castle was requisitioned by the army.  We have been informed Winston Churchill stayed at the castle at some point during this time.  Throughout the building, names & dates can be found written & engraved from this time.  We have tried to preserve them, and many are now hidden behind the new walls for someone to find again in the future.

In the 1970's the castle was converted into flats, these were allowed to deteriorate over the following few decades until we purchased both castles in 2008.  Since then we have completely refurbished the whole building, and now offer all 15 flats for rent.

We plan to create a picnic area and tourist information point at the old castle shortly.  If you would like to get involved or have old photos or stories of the castle we'd love to hear from you.