Page:King Edward VII. as a sportsman by Watson, Alfred Edward Thomas.djvu/257

 vated uplands of Invergelder, fringed with forests of birch and pine, rising gradually to barren heights, and culminating in the cloud-capped summit of Lochnagar; and to the west, the Dee winding through low-crowned, wooded hills to Braemar.

In keeping with the genius of the place is Abergeldie Castle, a severe old tower on the banks of the Dee, with corbie-stanes and rounded corners, like swallows' nests beneath the eaves. The walls are of great thickness and rough-cast with lime. There are no windows on the ground floor, and only a narrow door to the north, for in the good old days when Abergeldie was built easy access to a house was not advisable; and since a dungeon must be provided for the reception of uninvited guests, it was as well on the ground floor as anywhere else. The old tower, which has received considerable additions in later days, dates probably from the sixteenth century. Formerly it was approached from the north bank of the river by a rope-and-cradle bridge; now there is a wire suspension foot-bridge across the Dee. It is one of the few old houses in the neighbourhood that have escaped destruction by fire through the turbulent days that came to an end in the middle of the eighteenth century, and it is the only stronghold left to the Gordons in Upper Deeside.

Abergeldie first came into the possession of the Gordons in 1449, when the first Earl of Huntly got it from the King for his services in suppressing the rebellion headed by the Earl of Douglas. His second son, Sir Alexander Gordon, succeeded to it, and his son George got complete and indisputable possession