Today I was on the last leg of a Scotland tour which included a visit to the famous Castle Urquhart on Loch Ness. The visit coincided with a heavy snow storm but that did not upset enjoyment of the visit.

There was fortifications at the Urquhart site back in prehistory but the present ruins date from around AD 1275 under the powerful Comyns.Subsequently the castle experienced a chequered history including:

• Garrisoning by the English in 1296
• Attack by Robert the Bruce in 1306
• Embellishment and re-build by the Stewarts by 1400
• Capture by the MacDonalds in 1452
• Plundering by clansmen in 1544-45
• Slighting of the defences afetr a Jacobite uprising in 1689.
  

This was just one leg of a great 3 day tour.

Labels: castles

posted by Nigel Cole @ 1:05 PM