Ardvreck Castle

Last updated

Ardvreck Castle
Sutherland in Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland
2011 Ardvreck Castle, Sutherland 2-06-2011 17-53-21.jpg
Present day ruins of the castle
Highland UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Ardvreck Castle
Location within Highland
United Kingdom adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Ardvreck Castle
Ardvreck Castle (the United Kingdom)
Coordinates 58°09′59″N4°59′40″W / 58.166389°N 4.994444°W / 58.166389; -4.994444
Site information
ConditionRuined
Site history
Built1490 (1490)
Built by Clan MacLeod
MaterialsStone
FateDestroyed in 1672 by Clan MacKenzie

Ardvreck Castle is a castle, now ruinous, standing on a rocky promontory in Loch Assynt, Sutherland, Scotland, UK. The structure dates from about 1490 and is associated with the then landowners, the Macleods of Assynt.

Contents

History of Ardvreck

The castle was built in the 15th century by the MacLeods of Assynt. It replaced Assynt Castle which was four miles north-west of Inchnadamph. [1]

Ardvreck is notable as the place where the royalist James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was handed over in 1650 to the Covenanter forces by MacLeod, Laird of Assynt after the Battle of Carbisdale. [1] The true history of this event is unclear. One account is that MacLeod, loyal to the Covenanters, arrested the weary, fleeing, Montrose and held him. Another is that he provided comfortable shelter, but betrayed Montrose for a £25,000 reward. [2] [3]

Clan Mackenzie attacked and captured Ardvreck Castle in 1672, [1] and then took control of the Assynt lands. In 1726 they constructed a more modern manor house nearby, Calda House which takes its name from the Calda burn beside which it stands. A fire destroyed the house in 1737 and both Calda House and Ardvreck Castle stand as ruins today. [4] They are designated as scheduled monuments. [5] [6]

Architecture

Chateau d'Ardvreck Chateau d'Ardvreck.jpg
Château d'Ardvreck

The castle was a simple rectangular keep with a round staircase tower at the south-east angle. It was corbelled out on the upper floors to form square rooms, the small stair turret to these upper rooms being carried on the corbelling. There were three compartments on the ground floor which were all vaulted. There appear to have been four floors, and the first of these is also vaulted with the other floors being simply joisted. The castle also had several gunports. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clan MacLeod</span> Scottish clan

Clan MacLeod is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the Isle of Skye. There are two main branches of the clan: the MacLeods of Harris and Dunvegan, whose chief is MacLeod of MacLeod, are known in Gaelic as Sìol Tormoid ; the Clan MacLeod of Lewis and Raasay, whose chief is MacLeod of The Lewes, are known in Gaelic as Sìol Torcaill. Both branches claim descent from Leòd, who lived in the 13th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crookston Castle</span>

Crookston Castle is a ruined medieval castle in the Pollok area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is located some 5 miles (8 km) south-west of the city centre, on a hill overlooking the Levern Water, just before its confluence with the White Cart Water. Crookston Castle was built by the Stewarts of Darnley around 1400, and is set within earthworks constructed in the 12th century. Once the property of the earls and dukes of Lennox, the castle was extensively repaired following a siege in 1544, and it is the only surviving medieval castle in Glasgow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clan Mackenzie</span> Scottish clan

Clan Mackenzie is a Scottish clan, traditionally associated with Kintail and lands in Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands. Traditional genealogies trace the ancestors of the Mackenzie chiefs to the 12th century. However, the earliest Mackenzie chief recorded by contemporary evidence is Alexander Mackenzie of Kintail who died some time after 1471. Traditionally, during the Wars of Scottish Independence, the Mackenzies supported Robert the Bruce, but feuded with the Earls of Ross in the latter part of the 14th century. During the 15th and 16th-centuries the Mackenzies feuded with the neighboring clans of Munro and MacDonald. In the 17th century the Mackenzie chief was made Earl of Seaforth in the peerage of Scotland. During the Scottish Civil War of the 17th century the Mackenzies largely supported the Royalists. During the Jacobite rising of 1715 the chief and clan of Mackenzie supported the Jacobite cause. However, during the Jacobite rising of 1745 the clan was divided with the chief, Kenneth Mackenzie, Lord Fortrose, supporting the British-Hanoverian Government and his relative, George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie, supporting the Jacobites.

The Battle of Auldearn was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It took place on 9 May 1645, in and around the village of Auldearn in Nairnshire. It resulted in a victory for the royalists, led by the Marquess of Montrose and Alasdair MacColla, over Sir John Urry and an army raised by the Covenanter-dominated Scottish government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunstaffnage Castle</span> Castle in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

Dunstaffnage Castle is a partially ruined castle in Argyll and Bute, western Scotland. It lies 3 miles (5 km) NNE of Oban, situated on a platform of conglomerate rock on a promontory at the south-west of the entrance to Loch Etive, and is surrounded on three sides by the sea. The castle and the nearby chapel ruin have been a Historic Scotland property since 1958. Both are Scheduled Ancient Monuments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Carbisdale</span> Scottish civil war battle (1650)

The Battle of Carbisdale took place close to the village of Culrain, Sutherland, Scotland on 27 April 1650 and was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought by the Royalist leader James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, against the Scottish Government of the time, dominated by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll and a grouping of radical Covenanters, known as the Kirk Party. The Covenanters decisively defeated the Royalists. The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009. Although Carbisdale is the name of the nearest farm to the site of the battle, Culrain is the nearest village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elcho Castle</span> Castle in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, UK

Elcho Castle is located close to the south bank of the River Tay approximately four miles south-east of Perth, Scotland, in the region of Perth and Kinross. It was maintained by Clan Wemyss from its construction around 1560 until it was put into the care of the Secretary of State for Scotland in the early 20th century, though was not occupied for the entire time. In around 1830 it was re-roofed and a nearby cottage constructed. The castle has been a scheduled monument since 1920 on the grounds of being "a particularly fine example of a Medieval tower-house", and the cottage became a listed building in 1971 in recognition of its national importance. The castle is unusual in that it has both en suite guest accommodation like a mansion, but also a large number of gun loops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Castle</span> Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK

Leslie Castle is a castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the historical seat of Clan Leslie, located just to the west of Auchleven, or about 45 kilometres (28 mi) northwest of Aberdeen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amisfield Tower</span>

Amisfield Tower is a well-preserved tower house near Tinwald, about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Dumfries, in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. The castle has also been known as Hempisfield Tower. It is a Category A listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clan MacLeod of Lewis</span> Highland Scottish clan

Clan MacLeod of The Lewes, commonly known as Clan MacLeod of Lewis, is a Highland Scottish clan, which at its height held extensive lands in the Western Isles and west coast of Scotland. From the 14th century up until the beginning of the 17th century there were two branches of Macleods: the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris ; and the Macleods of the Isle of Lewis. In Gaelic the Macleods of Lewis were known as Sìol Thorcaill, and the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris were known as Sìol Thormoid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Leod</span>

Castle Leod is the seat of the Clan Mackenzie. It is a category A listed building, and the grounds are listed in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes of Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens. It is located near Strathpeffer in the east of Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mugdock Castle</span>

Mugdock Castle was the stronghold of the Clan Graham from the middle of the 13th century. Its ruins are located in Mugdock Country Park, just west of the village of Mugdock in the parish of Strathblane. The castle is within the registration county of Stirlingshire, although it is only 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, on the northern outskirts of Greater Glasgow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loch Assynt</span> A lake in Sutherland, Scotland

Loch Assynt is a freshwater loch in Sutherland, Scotland, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) east-north east of Lochinver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inchnadamph</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Inchnadamph is a hamlet in Assynt, Sutherland, Scotland. The name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic name Innis nan Damh meaning 'meadow of the stags'. Assynt is a remote area with a low population density. Inchnadamph contains a few houses, a lodge, a hotel and a historic old church, graveyard and mausoleum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mearns Castle</span>

Mearns Castle is a 15th-century tower house in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire, south of Glasgow, Scotland. It is a Category A listed building. The castle has been restored and is now part of the Maxwell Mearns Castle Church. It also gives its name to nearby Mearns Castle High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burgie Castle</span>

Burgie Castle is a 17th-century Z-plan tower house, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east of Forres, Moray, Scotland, south-east of Burgie House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelaw Tower</span>

Evelaw Tower is a ruined 16th century tower house, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north west of Westruther, Scottish Borders, Scotland, and about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Wedderlie, south of Eve Law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rusco Tower</span> Early 16th-century tower house in Scotland

Rusco Tower, sometimes called Rusco Castle, is a tower house near Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Built around 1500 for Mariota Carson and her husband Robert Gordon, on lands given to them by her father, it was used to incarcerate a number of the Gordons' rivals in the 16th century. After Robert Gordon died and Carson remarried, their eldest son James Gordon seized the tower and imprisoned his mother, fearing that she would make it over to her new husband, Thomas Maclellan of Bombie. Gordon went on to kill Maclellan on the High Street in Edinburgh, while a court case intended to settle the matter was ongoing.

Assynt Castle was a castle, located on Eilean Assynt located in Loch Assynt, Highland in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earlstoun Castle</span> Uninhabited tower house in Scotland

Earlstoun Castle, sometimes spelled Earlston Castle, is a derelict tower house near St John's Town of Dalry in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Built in the late sixteenth century, it was home to members of the Gordon family, including William Gordon of Earlston who was killed at the battle of Bothwell Bridge. It is unusual for a tower house of its age for its lack of defensive arrangements: it has no gun loops, its roof is without a parapet or corner turrets, and it lies in open ground without natural defences.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Coventry, Martin (2008). Castles of the Clans: The Strongholds and Seats of 750 Scottish Families and Clans. Musselburgh: Goblinshead. pp. 391–392. ISBN   978-1-899874-36-1.
  2. Wedgwood, C. V (1998). Montrose. Gloucester: Sutton Publishing. p. 137. ISBN   0750917539.
  3. Keay, John; Keay, Julia (1994). Collins Enclyclopaedia of Scotland. Hammersmith, London: HarperCollins Publisher. p. 136. ISBN   0002550822.
  4. "Ardvreck Castle and Calda House, near Lochinver Scotland, Scottish Villages". Archived from the original on 8 May 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  5. Historic Environment Scotland. "Ardvreck Castle (SM1895)" . Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  6. Historic Environment Scotland. "Calda House, house 475m SE of Ardvreck Castle, Inchnadamph (SM6533)" . Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  7. "Ardvreck Castle". Canmore . Retrieved 10 October 2020.