Portmahomack is a small fishing village in Easter Ross, Scotland. It is situated in the Tarbat Peninsula in the parish of Tarbat. Tarbat Ness Lighthouse is about three miles from the village at the end of the Tarbat Peninsula. Ballone Castle lies about one mile from the village. There is evidence of early settlement, and the area seems to have been the site of significant activity during the time of the Picts, early Christianity and the Vikings. The village is situated on a sandy bay and has a small harbour designed by Thomas Telford: it shares with Hunstanton the unusual distinction of being on the east coast but facing west. Portmahomack lies inside the Moray Firth Special Area of Conservation with the associated dolphin and whale watching activity.
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.
MacLellan's Castle in the town of Kirkcudbright, in Galloway, Scotland, was built in the late 16th century. It stands in the centre of Kirkcudbright, on the south side of the River Dee which flows into the Solway Firth. The L-plan castle was the residence of the MacLellan family from whom it derived its name. The family sold the castle in 1752, and from 1782 to 1912 it was held by the Earls of Selkirk. Today, the site is curated by Historic Environment Scotland.
Tarbat is a civil parish in Highland, Scotland, in the north-east corner of Ross and Cromarty.
Powrie Castle is a ruined 16th-century castle located in the north of Dundee, Scotland. It was designated as a scheduled monument in 1971. The early 17th-century north range of the castle is now a separate fortified house and has been converted into a private residence. It itself is a Category A listed building.
Fatlips Castle is a peel tower in Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. Situated at the top of Minto Crags, above the River Teviot, it was built in the 16th century by the Turnbulls of Barnhills, notorious Border reivers, and owners of nearby Barnhills Tower and farm. In 1545, during the War of the Rough Wooing, the Earl of Hertford burned "Mantoncrake", or Mynto Crag.
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.
Ballumbie is a residential area on the north-east edge of Dundee, Scotland. The area was formerly an estate centred on Ballumbie Castle, a mid-16th-century fortification, which was followed by the 19th-century Ballumbie House. There is also a golf course surrounded by a medieval wall and the site of a late medieval parish church. The castle and house are located just outside the City of Dundee, in Angus.
Sorbie is a small village in Wigtownshire, Machars, within the Administration area of Dumfries and Galloway Council, Scotland.
Milntown Castle was an early 16th-century castle which was situated near Milton, in Easter Ross, in the Scottish Highlands.
Melgund Castle, lying around two kilometres (1.2 mi) due east of Aberlemno in Angus, Scotland, is a 16th-century L-plan castle which has been partially restored as a private residence. It was designated as a scheduled monument in 1971.
Birse Castle is located in the Forest of Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Originally a square tower house, it was rebuilt in the first decade of the 20th century into an L-plan structure. The 1930 addition of a new wing gave it a Z-plan. The building was designated a category B listed building in 1971.
Cruggleton Castle is a multi-period archaeological site on the coast of the Machars, in the historical county of Wigtownshire in south-west Scotland. It is located at Cruggleton Point, around 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) east of Whithorn and 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south-east of Sorbie. Excavations in the 1970s and 1980s revealed several periods of use, from the 1st century AD to the 17th century. The first stone tower was built in the 13th century, on an earlier motte.
Castle Kennedy is a small village 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is on the A75 road, and is within the civil parish of Inch. The village is to the south of the Lochinch Castle estate, which includes the ruins of the 17th-century Castle Kennedy, as well as Castle Kennedy Gardens which are open to the public.
Cavers is a parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the former county of Roxburghshire, south and east of Hawick. The largest village in the parish is Denholm.
Buittle Castle, also known historically as Botle or Botel Castle, is a ruined castle in Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is located in the valley of the River Urr, 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) west of Dalbeattie. The castle is within the parish of Buittle, in the traditional county of Kirkcudbrightshire and is a scheduled ancient monument.
Ochiltree Castle is a 16th-century tower house a few miles south east of Linlithgow in West Lothian, Scotland. It is also described as a farmhouse and lairds house. Along with its boundary wall, the castle was designated as a Category A listed building in 1971.
Tarbat House is a Category A listed building in the Highland council area of northern Scotland. A three-story stone mansion in the neoclassical style, it was built in 1787 by the Edinburgh architect James McLeran for John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod. The house is located approximately 500m from the village of Milton near Invergordon.
Kirkcolm is a village and civil parish on the northern tip of the Rhinns of Galloway peninsula, south-west Scotland. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, and is part of the former county of Wigtownshire. The parish is bounded on the north and west by the sea, on the east by the bay of Loch Ryan and on the south by Leswalt parish.
Isle Tower also known as Lochar Tower and Bankend Tower is a 16th-century ruined tower house located in the north of Bankend. It was a property of the Maxwell family.
