New Spalding Club > Thanage of Fermartyn including the district commonly called Formartine

ANTIQUITIES, &c., OF FORGUE.
There is no record at what period the House of Frendraught was modernised. The
old tower has entirely disappeared, and the only remains of the ancient erection are
some buildings at the south-east wing, and the lower apartments of the house. .Several
trees in the policies are of great size and age, some of which had been planted by the
Crichtons.
The deep draw-well of the ballad stood in the courtyard at the back of the castle,
and, according to a writer in the " Banffshire Journal," this well was cleaned out in i8i i
or 1813, and keys were found. Were these the keys with which the vengeful dame
locked the doors of the burning tower on her ill-fated guests ? A pump has now been
placed in the well.
At the east end of the House of Frendraught stands a small tumulus, not unlike a
barrow of prehistoric times, but when it was opened sometime in this century no remains
nor anything of interest were found. It may have been the Moothill, the place of
assembly of the vassals, where cases of importance were tried by the chief, and justice,
such as it was, administered in those days of blood and rapine. A similar tumulus on
the banks of the Ythan, near Ellon, at one time existed. On this tumulus, called " the
Earl's hill," the Earls of Buchan were invested, and there they held head courts four
limes a year.
According to a chronicler of the last century, on the Raich Hill stood the
gibbet, half-a-mile north of Frendraught, on which many suffered ; and a little below
the Bridge of Forgue are to be seen the graves of a gang of gipsies, who suffered death
by drowning. According to tradition, another gibbet stood on the Hill of Comisty.
The Lords of Frendraught were said to be severe justiciaries within their own regality,
and thus there may have been need for two.
On the farm of Wardend there are the remains of a stone circle, and excavations
were made here, under the auspices of the late Dr. John Stuart, but nothing of interest
was found. One upright stone, and the altar stone so called, remain on the southern
slope of the Foreman hill, on the farm of AVesterton. Likely there had at one time
been other stones to complete the circle, but they had been made use of for building
purposes, and have long since disappeared. A rocking stone, " lowtand or bowand
stone," also existed near the farm of Westerton ; but its rocking and bowing have long
ago ceased. It was smashed and done for ! There is still a circle in fair preservation
on the Raich farm.