Crossroads and Characters

48. KELTIE CASTLE.

Keltie, more a fortified laird's home than a castle, dates to about 1600. Constructed by the Bonar family, it was built to withstand attack: the walls are more than nine feet thick, and in the jutting turret are several shot holes from which defenders could direct arrows or musket fire. There is a garret atop the three storeys, and below, a dungeon. About this there are many tales, including how one laird's fair daughter, having fallen in love with a man her father considered beneath her, was consigned to the dungeon until she died. Her skeleton was said to have been discovered in the wall years later. The Rollo family acquired the estate in 1835. Decades later, Keltie was discovered to have deposits of fuller's earth, a highly absorptive clay with many uses, and Keltie and Dunning had acquired an industry.