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A heraldic panel over the door of Braikie Castle is dated 1581 and the castle dates from at least this date. It was built for Thomas Fraser of Kinnell the alleged son of the 4th Lord Lovat (as he does not appear in genealogies if true he is an illegitimate son) and is a good example of a fortified laird's house of this period. The date 1581 forms part of a marriage lintel that combines the armorial crests of the Frasers of Lovat with that of the Kinnaird family, also bearing the initials TF and CK. In 1602 Thomas is married to Jane Kinnaird rather than C. Kinnaird.
By the mid-17th century the castle passed to Patrick Gray and his family. From the Grays it then passed to the Ogilvie family. In 1742 it passed to the William Maule, Earl of Panmure.
The overall form is a four-storey and attic, L-plan house, with the spiral stair in the re-entrant angle. A tall chimney stands adjacent to the stair. In incorporates corbelled bartizans and crow-stepped gables, and is distinctively Scottish in concept. A hidden basement holds the wine cellar.
The castle appears in the magnum opus survey of Scottish castles by MacGibbon & Ross published in 1892, under the name of Brackie.
Around 1960 it lost its roof and remains roofless.
References:The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (today Istanbul) since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate systems ever built. They were also the largest and strongest fortification in both the ancient and medieval world.
Initially built by Constantine the Great, the walls surrounded the new city on all sides, protecting it against attack from both sea and land. As the city grew, the famous double line of the Theodosian Walls was built in the 5th century. Although the other sections of the walls were less elaborate, they were, when well-manned, almost impregnable for any medieval besieger.