On the Firth of Forth, the first castle was built in the fifteenth century by one of Scotland's most powerful families, the Crichtons.  In 1453 the castle became a royal castle and served as a garrison fortress and state prison.  In 1537 work began which transformed the castle into a formidable artillery fortification.  In 1543 the castle received its best known prisoner, Cardinal Beaton of St. Andrews.  In 1650 the castle was besieged and badly damaged by Cromwell's army.  A general repair was begun under King Charles II.
In 1707 the castle ceased to be used as a state prison and became a minor garrison.  During wars with France between 1759 & 1815, Blackness was used to hold prisoners of war.  In 1870-74 it was converted for use as an ammunition depot.  After WW I the Office of Works removed the depot buildings and conserved the castle as an ancient monument.

The tower part of the castle was built in the middle of the sixteenth century.  It seems to have been abandoned at the end of the seventeenth century.  The tower and its 20 or more occupants were burned in the winter of 1571. 
Because of its strategic position during the troubled days that followed the flight into exile in 1688 of the last of the Stuart kings, James VII of Scotland, it was temporarily occupied by the Jacobite troops during the '15 and '45 risings, Corgarff was requisitioned by Government forces after the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and began its life as a soldiers' barracks.  By 1750 the old medieval tower had been transformed into an acceptable garrison outpost. 
Although the military threat which brought the Redcoast to Upper Strathdon soon evaporated, the soldiers continued to occupy the place while they supported the revenue officers in stamping out the illegal production and smuggling of whisky.  They finally withdrew in 1831.

Crichton Castle served as a lordly residence from the late fourteenth century to the close of the sixteenth.  It began as a home to the Crichtons and in the twilight of its days it was a residence of the Earls of Bothwell, the most famous of whom was the third husband of Mary Queen of Scots, James Hepburn.