Forter Castle, a stunning Glenisla fortress revived
WHEN Robert Pooley and his family first set eyes on Forter Castle in Glenisla, the only inhabitants for the previous 340 years had been two mature trees among the ruins.
Built in 1560 to fortify and protect the entrance to the Balloch pass to Glenshee, the Moneca Pass to Braemar and the North, it was a time of great religious tension and the Ogilvy and Argyll families were caught in the midst of it.
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Hide AdBloody battles, plundering and murder culminated in the castle being razed to the ground by the Duke of Argyll in 1640.
Driven by a desire to restore Forter to its former glory, in 1988 Robert decided to carry out a painstaking renovation.
Pulling in craftsmen from all over Scotland, they studied the scarring in the remaining stones to recreate the original layout of a traditional L-shaped 16th century fortified house. The only deliberate change was to make the Laird’s bedroom the full expanse of the castle and the same dimensions as the Great Hall.
After two years of dedicated work the structure was complete and on 7 July 1990, the 350th anniversary of the castle’s destruction, the Pooleys held a gathering to celebrate Forter’s resurrection.
At this point, Robert’s daughter Katharine was 12 years old and the restoration of Forter wasn’t really of much interest to her. “My father had a passion for Forter for really a very long time,” she says. “And it was my brother and he that built it up from a derelict ruin.