Little Miracles: Urquhart Castle

It was very windy and rainy the next day, but we didn't let the weather stop us from exploring. We returned to Urquhart Castle and took the tour. Since the castle is ruins, we were able to freely take pictures as well as explore on our own and at our own pace.

The magnificently situated Urquhart Castle, on the banks of Loch Ness, remains an impressive stronghold despite its ruinous state.

Urquhart was once one of Scotland’s largest castles. Its remains include a tower house – the most recent building on the site – that commands splendid views of the famous loch and Great Glen.

Urquhart witnessed considerable conflict throughout its 500 years as a medieval fortress and its history from the 1200s to the 1600s was particularly bloody. Following the invasion of King Edward I of England in 1296, it fell into English hands and was then reclaimed and lost again. In the 1300s it figured prominently in the Scots’ struggle for independence and came under the control of Robert the Bruce after he became King of Scots in 1306.

In the 1400s and 1500s, the castle and glen were frequently raided from the west by the ambitious MacDonald Lords of the Isles.

In 1228 the people of Moray rose up against the authority of King Alexander II (1198 - 1249). By 1230 he had put down the revolt and, as conquerors often do, established his own loyal men in charge of estates in the area. He granted his son-in-law Alan Durward the lordship of Urquhart, and it is almost certain that the earliest parts of medieval castle date from his time. After his death in 1275 the castle passed to John Comyn, appointed by Edward I of England. After a series of humiliating defeats John Balliol (1250 - 1296) had relinquished his kingship, and much of Scotland and many of its castles, including Urquhart, were under English control.

This was the time the Stone of Destiny was taken from Scone to London, (it's now back in Scotland) and also the time that William Wallace began his campaign against English rule when he killed an English sheriff at Lanark.

Alex is on the right

In 1297 Andrew Moray of Moray led a night-time attack on the castle which failed, but sometime later Sir Alexander Forbes retook it for Scotland.
But that wasn't the end of it; in 1303 Edward again took the castle, but his garrison under Alexander Comyn of Badenoch was soon annihilated by Robert the Bruce who was to be crowned King of Scotland in 1306.

By 1346 ownership of the castle passed from the Earls of Moray back to the Scottish Crown again, and it seems likely that with Crown money much substantial building and repair was completed at this time.

Throughout the end of the 1300's and well into the 1400's Castle Urquhart fell again and again to Clan MacDonald, Lords of the Isles only to be retaken again and again by the Crown.

The only consequence was the suffering and devastation of the ordinary people living in the Great Glen. Eventually the MacDonald's power was temporarily curbed in this area and for about 35 years the Grants of Freuchie looked after the castle on behalf of the Gordons of Huntly. But soon the MacDonalds were back; in the 1500's they besieged it twice, again leaving the ordinary local inhabitants of the Glen dead and devastated.

By the 1600's the castle was abandoned by the Grants to the people of the Glen. Those walls which had for so long been a cause of suffering to them, now became their comfort as they dismantled masonry and removed stones to build their own houses.
Finally, in 1689 when the last Stewart King, James II of England and VII of Scotland, was exiled, one Captain Grant and 300 Highlanders saw off a force of James's supporters. The garrison left the ruins in 1692. The castle was not repaired, and about 25 years later it was reported that a "Storme of Wind had blown down the south west side of the main tower house.