Scottish Castles Association

In 2019 we welcomed Robert Bogdan's appointment as chair of the Scottish Castles Association. For those who haven't met Robert in person at Scottish Castles Association events, here's a brief introduction...

A hello from Robert

Schooled in Morayshire, I read Mediaeval History & Geography at St Andrews University representing Scottish Universities at hockey. This gave me a chance to follow up with a PGCE at Cambridge where I earned a hockey blue. On the strength of this I was offered a job at Charterhouse to run the hockey activities and teach geography. I planned to try this for a year but lasted four decades!

I first encountered the Scottish Castles Association when they visited Barra Castle, my mother's old family home, in September 2007 just before I handed over the keys to the new owner. My late brother Nick was involved in many archaeological adventures, notably in St Andrews, the Perth High street dig and finally Bishop Palaces' Project with a long-standing dig at Fetternear in Aberdeenshire. He was also working with the late Ian Bryce to update MacGibbon & Ross' great five-volume tomes. An introduction to Braemar Castle in 2007 gave me a room to store my brother's castles' research in. Since retirement from teaching in December 2015 I have begun to take up the cudgel of visiting as many castles as possible (sometimes in my vintage Riley), notably those mentioned in MacGibbon & Ross and of course those visited by our former founder president, the late Nigel Tranter, for his five volumes: the 'Fortified House in Scotland'.

My hopes for the future of the Scottish Castles Association is to promote the aspirations of the association and further the knowledge of individual sites as the Scottish Castles Project develops. This will entail furthering links with those with specialist knowledge of clan history and families as well as other bodies with similar interests in the heritage of Scotland.

I would be delighted to hear from anyone who shares my passion and interest in Scottish castles and feels the Scottish Castles Association can support them or collaborate with them in any way. Please use this email address to get in touch with me in the first instance.

Yours aye

Robert Bogdan