# Gight > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gight > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gight.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gight > Source revision: 1333815968 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox UK place | country = Scotland | official_name = Gight | gaelic_name = | static_image_name = Gight Castle.jpg | static_image_width = | static_image_caption = Gight Castle | population = | population_ref = | os_grid_reference = NJ825401 | map_type = Scotland | unitary_scotland = [Aberdeenshire](/source/Aberdeenshire) | lieutenancy_scotland = [Aberdeenshire](/source/Aberdeenshire) | constituency_westminster = [Gordon and Buchan](/source/Gordon_and_Buchan_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) | constituency_scottish_parliament = [Aberdeenshire East](/source/Aberdeenshire_East_(Scottish_Parliament_constituency)) | coordinates = {{coord|57.449|-2.284|display=inline,title}} | post_town = ELLON | postcode_district = AB41 | postcode_area = AB | dial_code = 01651 }} '''Gight''' is an estate in the parish of [Fyvie](/source/Fyvie) in the [Formartine](/source/Formartine) area of [Aberdeenshire](/source/Aberdeenshire), Scotland. It is best known as the location of the 16th-century '''Gight''' (or '''Formartine) Castle''', ancestral home of [Lord Byron](/source/Lord_Byron). ==Gight Castle== {{Infobox designation list | designation1 = Scheduled Monument | designation1_offname = Gight Castle | designation1_type = Industrial: milestone, guide plate, direction post, Secular: castle; garden | designation1_date = 13 May 1965 | designation1_number = {{Historic Environment Scotland|num=SM2508|short=yes}} }} Gight Castle is about {{convert|4|mi}} miles east of Fyvie, just north of the [River Ythan](/source/River_Ythan), and {{convert|1|mi}} mile south of [Cottown](/source/Cottown%2C_Aberdeenshire).Coventry, Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. {{ISBN|1-899874-10-0}} p.188 The castle was built to an [L-shaped plan](/source/L-plan_castle), probably in the 1570s by George Gordon, the second laird. Ranges of outbuildings were built later. The tower has a vaulted [basement](/source/basement), and a [turnpike](/source/Stairs) stair at the end of a long passage. There was a [hall](/source/hall) on the first floor. George Gordon had no children, and the property passed to his brother, James Gordon of Cairnbannoch and Gight. His son Alexander married Agnes Beaton, daughter of [David Beaton](/source/David_Beaton), [Archbishop of St Andrews](/source/Archbishop_of_St_Andrews). Alexander was killed at Dundee in 1579, and his daughter Elizabeth married [George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar](/source/George_Home%2C_1st_Earl_of_Dunbar) in 1590.William Temple, [https://archive.org/details/thanageoffermart00byutemp/page/72/mode/2up ''Thanage of Fermartyn'' (Aberdeen, 1894), p.73.] It was later occupied by Catherine Gordon Byron, the mother of Lord Byron, but she sold it in 1787 to [George Gordon, 3rd Earl of Aberdeen](/source/George_Gordon%2C_3rd_Earl_of_Aberdeen) to pay off her debts. It was then occupied by the Earl's son, [George Gordon, Lord Haddo](/source/George_Gordon%2C_Lord_Haddo), until the latter's early death in 1791, since when it has been uninhabited. It was designated a [scheduled monument](/source/scheduled_monument) in 1965.{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=SM2508|desc=Gight Castle|access-date=23 April 2020}} left|thumb|The Burn of Stonehouse in Gight Woods Gight Woods is designated as a [Site of Special Scientific Interest](/source/Site_of_Special_Scientific_Interest) for its ancient mixed broadleaved woodland and associated natural features.{{cite web |title=Gight Woods |url=https://sitelink.nature.scot/site/687 |publisher=NatureScot |access-date=19 January 2026 }} == Folklore == It is said that the ruins are haunted by a piper who disappeared while exploring an underground passageway.{{cite web |title=Gight Castle |url=http://www.aboutaberdeen.com/gightcastle.php |publisher=About Aberdeen |accessdate=4 August 2014 }} Another local legend holds that Gight Castle was cursed by the Scottish prophet [Thomas the Rhymer](/source/Thomas_the_Rhymer),{{Cite web |last=Graeme |date=2021-03-18 |title=The Three Gight Castle Legends |url=https://scotlands-stories.com/the-three-gight-castle-legends/ |access-date=2022-08-30 |website=Scotland's Stories |language=en-US}} who is said to have proclaimed ''“At Gight three men by sudden death shall dee, And after that the land shall lie in lea”.'' Later events associated with the castle were subsequently interpreted in folklore as having fulfilled this prophecy. The nearby river below the ruins also features in legend as the hiding place of a treasure said to have been concealed by the 7th laird and guarded by the Devil. ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Formartine, Aberdeenshire places|state=uncollapsed}} {{authority control}} Category:Villages in Aberdeenshire --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gight) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gight?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.