Hatton Castle, Angus

Hatton Castle stands on the lower part of Hatton Hill, the most easterly of the Sidlaw Hills, to the south of Newtyle in Angus, Scotland. The castle overlooks the wooded Den of Newtyle, and its views extend across Strathmore and include Ben Lawers and Schiehallion as well as the Angus and Glenshee hills. The 16th-century castle was originally built in a typical Scottish "Z plan" tower house design, as a fortified country house or château. There was an earlier castle called Balcraig Castle which stood less than half a mile from the present building, also on Hatton Hill.

Etymology

The name "Hatton" was adopted from the farm nearby. "Hatton" is a contraction of Hall-toun, which in Scots means the farm (or ferm toun) near the Hall (or Ha). Thus the Hall must have been there first, and the name "Hatton" actually refers to the adjacent farm, now known as Hatton Farm (the word farm is thus redundant, duplicating toun). Hatton Castle was probably originally called "Newtyle Castle", taking its name from the estate. In Scots, the word tyle means a roofing stone (not restricted to fired clay tiles as in English). There are brick and tile factories on the River Tay near Dundee, but "Newtyle" most likely relates to the sandstone quarried locally, and used extensively for building, dyking and roofing, as well as for carving into Pictish standing stones such as those preserved at the nearby Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum. The name Newtyle rather implies that there was another place where sandstone was quarried previously.

History

The earliest history of the general area demonstrates that Pictish peoples inhabited the area. For example, discovery of the Eassie Stone in this region indicates sophisticated Pictish carvers who embraced Christianity about the year 600 AD.

The lands were given to Sir William Olifard (8th chief) in 1317 by Robert the Bruce. Robert the Bruce's daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir William Olifard's son, Sir Walter Olifaunt,, on whom the Newtyle estate was reconfirmed by her brother, David II by a charter dated 1364. The castle was built in 1575, commissioned by...