Urquhart Castle

14 Apr

A fascinating historic place, with a pretty awesome view and fascinating tales

Discover what is a decent chapter in the pages of Scotland’s history.

Building Urquhart

Situated on the shore of Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle has quite the view. Not only of some gorgeous landscapes, but of some pretty dramatic chapters in Scotland’s history.

The spot where the Castle sits today, is reportedly where this bloke called St Columba stopped by around the year 580 AD. Writings of his adventures tell us that St Columba had travelled from his monastery on the Isle of Iona all the way to Inverness to see Bridei, King of the Picts.

But as he was travelling up along Loch Ness he was summoned to the bedside of a nobleman, who was on his deathbed. Naturally Columba baptised him and assured him he was ready to die with a clear conscience.

It’s where this nobleman lived that is believed to be the current site of Urquhart Castle today. There’s actually even been fragments of what they think is a Pictish brooch from the late 700s or possibly early 800s that leads credence to this spot being the home of a Pictish site. And some even think that a simple fort may have been built, possibly for Bridei himself.

Now there is some discussion about whether the spot where Urquhart Castle can be found today was really the same spot where the Pictish fort stood that Columba visited all those centuries ago, but regardless of this, there was certainly a Pictish settlement in the area, so you never know.

The first real records we have of an Urquhart Castle date back to the early 13thcentury, 1228 to be exact, when Alexander II of Scotland stifled a rebellion in Moray. Alexander thought it best to install a lord in the area in an attempt to prevent any further rebellion, and so granted the Lordship of Urquhart to his son-in-law, Alan Durward. And it’s this guy who is thought to have built the first rendition of Urquhart Castle.

But then Alan went ahead and died in 1275 without an heir, oh the horror, and the whole estate was handed over to John Comyn, who is thought to have added to Durward’s Castle by creating a large courtyard in the late 13th century.

The power struggles

Thanks to Urquhart Castle’s position and it being one of Scotland’s largest castles, it found itself right in the middle of fair bit of fighting and conflict during the 500 years it acted as a medieval fortress.

Naturally, the Castle changed hands between the Scots and the English quite regularly during the Wars of Independence. And the place saw some great military action from about the 1200s right through to when the Castle became a ruin in 1692. That’s a long time to be in active service.

So let’s run through just a quick rundown of all the back and forth throughout the centuries.

Originally in Scottish hands, Edward I of England comes by and takes the Castle when he invades in 1296. The next year Sir Alexander Forbes got Urquhart back for the Scottish, but Edward I came back again in 1303 after a siege that saw Forbes and all his men killed on Edward’s orders.

Then in 1306 Robert the Bruce, now King of Scots, took Urquhart back again, killing all the English who put up a fight in its recapture.

But by the time we get to 1332, Robert the Bruce has just died, and Urquhart Castle finds itself as the only Highland stronghold still in Scottish hands. That is until 1333, when the English come knocking, but David II, now King, following his father Robert the Bruce’s death, withstood the siege.

It's around this time that the Stewart Kings of Scotland recognised the strategic importance that Urquhart Castle offered and so they spent big on strengthening its defences, which included some complex walls, gatehouses, a keep and even a citadel. Talk about fancy.

But it’s around the later Middle Ages that the Castle is caught up in the middle of some serious clan warfare. The MacDonalds, also known as the Lords of the Isles, seize the Castle several times in an effort to expand their territory. Throughout the 1400s there’s a fair bit of back forth between the MacDonalds and the Crown in regards to ownership and control of Urquhart. The MacDonald’s regular raids continued right up to the 1500s when the Castle was given over to Clan Grant by James IV, who charged them with repairing the now run-down place and bringing it back up to scratch.

It’s at some point throughout the 1500s that the Grant Tower was built, an impressive figure, the five-storey tower would certainly bolster the Castle’s already useful defences.

And then we finally get to 1689, where the Castle is to experience its final garrison. James VII has been driven into exile, replaced by William and Mary. Naturally the growing Jacobite’s aren’t too pleased with this change of fortune, resulting in Urquhart becoming a garrison for government forces.

Then in 1692, government troops deliberately destroyed the gatehouse to ensure the Castle could never be used as a military stronghold again.

From here, naturally Urquhart fell into disrepair. Surprisingly the Grant Tower held firm until a violent storm in 1715 saw it topple.

But Urquhart Castle wasn’t finished providing to its community, when it would serve as a quarry, which explains why so much of the place is now missing.

Although this roofless, decaying, noble ruin, did offer a surprisingly romantic setting with its view of Loch Ness for 19th century artists and visitors.

Then in 1913, the State stepped in to care for the ruins, and it’s now one of the most visited Royal Castles in Scotland.

The Castle layout

The Castle is quite the site for the average visitor. Unique in that you enter the site through the visitor centre, you will pass what once was a drawbridge and moat and find yourself among the surprisingly spread out ruins of Urquhart Castle.

The Castle’s structure is essentially in the shape of two ‘baileys’, or enclosures. There’s the Nether Bailey which is found to the North, and the Upper Bailey which is to the south. You might be thinking shouldn’t those names be the other way round, typically North is ‘upper’ and south is ‘nether’, and normally that would be correct, except in the case of Urquhart Castle, where the southern end of the Castle is on higher ground than the northern end.

It's on the Nether Bailey, the northern side, where you can find what remains of the Grant Tower. In fact most of the buildings on this side have some kind of ruin remaining, including the remains of what are thought to be the kitchens and perhaps the great hall, although all that’s left of the hall are the vaulted cellars that would have been underneath. Although the Grant Tower, despite it being left to decay is by far the best-preserved part of the whole Castle. You can even have a wander through the different levels as you traverse the narrow spiral staircase, and up the top I’m told the views are worth it.

And to the south, in the Upper Bailey, there are surprisingly few ruins of the buildings that must have once filled this area. Although thanks to excavations we do know that the reason the southern end of the Castle is higher than the northern end, is because under the mound is believed to be the earliest medieval defences of Urquhart Castle.

If we were to zoom out a little and view whole site from a bird’s eye view, we would see that the Castle is spread out roughly in the shape of the letter ‘B’. With each of the B’s ‘bubbles’ containing a Bailey.

Now let’s have a quick chat about the gatehouse. Which houses a prison cell. A small windowless chamber perfect for holding prisoners awaiting trial. Above the gatehouse were the Constables Lodgings, rooms where the Constable could comfortably see all that was going on while running the Castle in the Laird’s absence.

Just outside the Castle walls would have been a large space for workshops to operate. There’s even evidence that bronze and iron were smelted here, producing the nails that would have been used in the household.

There are records from back in 1509 that show James IV ordered the Laird of Urquhart Castle to plant an orchard in the surrounds, but to date no signs of an Orchard have been found, so perhaps those orders were never followed.

There are however other surviving features, such as the corn-drying kiln that dates to the early 16th century. It’s believed that grain was dried in the gatehouse before being ground into flour. And archaeologists have found traces of oats and barley, which certainly makes sense, seeing as diets back then would have had porridge and oat bread of some kind as the main staple.

There are actually heaps of historic artefacts that have been found during excavations around the site on display today. And the visitor centre has more than enough of the long and fascinating story of this castle to keep you wandering around the grounds for a little while.

Visiting

Urquhart Castle certainly has earned its place in Scottish history, from the views of Loch Ness to the ruins of what is a pretty amazing castle. And thanks to being in the care of Historic Environment Scotland the castle is one of the most popular spots for tourists to drop by.

Now we can’t talk about a Castle sitting on the shores of Loch Ness, without talking about the monster that supposedly resides in the water’s depths. And it’s actually from the area around Urquhart Castle that many of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’ sightings have been seen.

In fact, the earliest sighting is said to have taken place in the 6th century, where a man is reportedly killed by the sea monster, but thanks to our good friend, St. Columba, a second man is saved from a similar fate.

If you’re intrigued and would like to find out more, then you’ll love next week’s episode where we cover the Loch Ness Monster mystery in much more detail.

Back in 2017, the Castle was seeing a good 480 000 visitors a year. Things were starting to look a little worn down with all those visitors wandering through so a £300 000 refurbishment was undertaken in 2018, which, among many other things, improved access to the viewing platform of Grant Tower.

Built brand new back in 2002, the visitor centre features a large car park for both cars and coaches, a photographic guide for those with mobility issues, a decent gift shop and a large café in case you find yourself a bit peckish.

And then let’s not forget the artefacts on display. There’s even pretty cool replicas, like the life-sized working trebuchet siege engine, basically it’s a catapult that would have been well used before cannons were invented.

Now when you visit Urquhart Castle, keep in mind that naturally there is a fair bit of walking involved, but the views make it all worth it.

Something to keep in mind when visiting is the weather, because it is quite an exposed location very close of water, there are adverse weather conditions that may cause the site to close, so my advice would be to keep an eye on the website to make sure you don’t miss out.

In fact, I would suggest to keep an eye on the website anyway, each month has different opening times, and you can even get a good deal on the entry prices on there as well.