List of libraries

• Introduction
• Registers (1)
• Books (396)
• Borrowers (189)
• Facts & figures

Located in Craigston. Founded in 1604. Type of library: Other. Collection: Still in situ.
Address: Craigston Castle, Turriff, Aberdeenshire, AB53 5PX

Library description

1. Craigston Castle, dating back to 1604, was built by John Urquhart [1597-1631] and has been lived in by the family ever since, except for the period 1657-1738, when it went out of family hands owing to some financial difficulties. It was bought back by one of the family’s more colourful and financially successful characters – Captain John Urquhart. For some time he was a privateer under the Marque of the Spanish King and is sometimes referred to as ‘The Pirate’
2. The Library: Untangling the stages of building from the initial construction, through various periods of adaptation and extension is difficult (ref.1) and much still remains to be discovered about the history of the library as a room. It has certainly moved once ie from what may have been its original location in the High Room, to its current location, in the gallery, both of these are on the third floor.
3. The Loans Register is a single bound volume of which 21 unnumbered pages are used. Of the 682 loan items recorded, 679 are within scope of the project ie from its first entry in 1768 to its fourth last in 1829. The remaining 3 appear to represent attempts to reintroduce a loans system at later dates. The loans system as it is recorded in the register was most active up to 1800. There is a gap 1802-7. Loans are then steady to around 1820 when they begin to drop-off. Evidence of who may have initiated the system is present on the inside front cover which has the inscription ‘William Urquhart Esq. Craigston’.  Though there are several Williams in the family tree, this is almost certainly William Urquhart [1741-1796] who was Laird from 1756-1796 and is known to have had a keen interest in the library.

Borrower description

Though much work is still to be done on the borrowers, some general comments can be made. Around 150 names are recorded, including a significant number of women. This total will fall with better identification of borrowers as there is almost certainly some double-counting where the name of the same person is entered differently eg Miss Urquhart Meldrum and Miss Mary Urqht. Meldm. Borrowers include neighbours, relatives, local doctors and their families, local ministers, gardeners, a grieve and so on and come from a surprisingly large area given local travelling conditions but mainly from an area bounded by Banff, Turriff and Fraserburgh.  Loans cross the subject range including fiction and non-fiction with regular borrowings in French and a smattering in Italian and Spanish. It is very much newly and recently published works that seemed to be of most interest. Borrowers varied greatly in their use of the library though none could outclass Miss Fraser of Inverallochy who on the 5^th of May 1770 loaded her carriage with 20 loans all from the modest Italian collection.

Holding description

1. The collection: as with the library as a room, there is much still to be discovered about the history of the collection itself, particularly about what happened before Captain John bought the castle back.  It may be that the collection dates from then, but this is unknown at present. There was certainly a significant collection by the time of his death (see 5a below).  One of the most important aspects of the library as we find it today is that in 1915 up to 400 of books published before 1800 were taken from the library to the Abbey of Fort Augustus. The laird Arthur Urquhart, who inherited in 1915 after the death of Francis Pollard Urquhart (see a below) was already a Benedictine Monk having taken the name Father Jerome. The story of this episode is currently being researched. These books are important as they were of course in the library and thus available to borrowers during the life of the Register.
2. Collectors: As with many family libraries, Craigston’s lairds have varied in their interest in the books. Active owners include John Urquhart [1696-1756], William Urquhart [1741-1796], Francis Pollard Urquhart [1848-1915] and Bruce Pollard Urquhart [1908-1995].
3. Dates of publication range from 1477 to the present. Many of the earliest works were removed by the monks (see above) and so there are now very few works from the 16^th century and none of the incunabula (pre-1500) remain.
4. Languages include/ included significant holdings in French, Spanish, Italian and Latin and a small number in Greek/Hebrew/Arabic.
5. Subject range: from its outset Craigston has been a wide ranging library. Subjects include history, exploration, literature, language, classics, politics, economics, sciences, law and religion. The very earliest works include a history Venice, an edition of Livy, a Latin Bible and a work in Spanish covering all sorts of subjects including faith, law and chivalry.
6. Catalogues:  Three exist: a) The inventory of 1756 – probably created on the death of John Urquhart (1696-1756) with some additions by his successor William Urquhart (1741-1796). Detail varies but generally includes au/ti, date, place of publication and often publisher, nos of vols. It is arranged by subject and, within that, format. It has no shelf marks; b) The catalogue possibly produced c1800 – it gives au/ti [detail varies]; nos of vols; and shelf location; c) The current catalogue provides full bibliographical details, including brief provenance notes and location.

Secondary sources

Ref. 1: Harry Gordon Slade, Craigston Castle, Aberdeenshire, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 108 (1976-77), 262-299, available at https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3186728