No. 83129
Fordyce Castle
United Kingdom
Tower houseRestored16th century
No. 42268
Tower house · United Kingdom
Milton Tower
Tower houseIntact
No. 42268 · 57.547 N, 2.956 W
Quick summary
Milton Tower is a tower house in United Kingdom, listed as reference No. 42268.
Milton Tower is a tower house in United Kingdom with origins associated with the 15th century.
See all castles in United KingdomMilton Tower stands in Keith, Scotland, and its construction began about 1480 for George Ogilvie, a member of the Scottish gentry.
Work on the building continued and it was altered over later generations. The tower became the principal residence of the Ogilvie family. After the Scottish Reformation the Ogilvies took over the feu of the district from the former Abbots of Kinloss, establishing the family’s local administrative role around the estate.
A recorded refurbishment was carried out by Margaret Ogilvie in 1601, reflecting continued occupation and upkeep into the early modern period. The tower is also noted as the birthplace of St John Ogilvie, who is regarded as Scotland’s only post-Reformation Catholic saint.
In 1707 ownership passed by marriage into the Oliphant family. The building fell into increasing neglect after 1715 and was finally vacated in 1829. Large quantities of the fabric were removed thereafter for use elsewhere. In 1993 the site received legal protection as a scheduled monument and is recognised as an important example of a fifteenth-century defensive residence.
Condition
The surviving portion of Milton Tower is the northern section of the original complex, standing as a two-storey tower with a garret above a vaulted ground floor. The walls reach the level of the original roofline and are built of rough rubble with dressed stone detailing at key points. Wall thicknesses reach up to about 0.9 metres in places, and the footprint of the remaining block measures roughly 7.2 metres east to west and 6.4 metres north to south.
Internal and external features that survive record the building’s domestic and defensive character. The fireplace that would have served the great hall shows on the south face at first-floor height and a substantial aumbry, a recessed storage cupboard set into the wall, stands beside it. A segmental-arched doorway remains in the west wall and a small window opens to the garret on the south side. The ground floor retains its vaulting. The structure is fragmentary compared with its original extent, and much masonry was removed for other building projects after abandonment. Access to the site is provided from the west through an iron gate.
Location
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