Urquhart Castle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Urquhart Castle |
|
|---|---|
| Near Drumnadrochit, Highland, Scotland | |
Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness
|
|
Urquhart Castle, Grant Tower
|
|
 Urquhart Castle
|
|
| Coordinates | 57°19′26″N 4°26′31″W / 57.324°N 4.442°W |
| Type | Curtain wall castle and tower house |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Historic Environment Scotland |
| Open to the public |
Yes |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Site history | |
| Built | 13th to 16th centuries |
| In use | Until c. 1692 |
Urquhart Castle is a ruined castle located next to Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. It sits on the A82 road, about 21 kilometers (13 miles) southwest of Inverness.
The castle you see today was mostly built between the 13th and 16th centuries. However, there was an even older fort on this spot long before. Urquhart Castle was very important during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 1300s. It was a royal castle and faced many attacks from the MacDonald Earls of Ross. In 1509, the castle was given to the Clan Grant family, but the fights with the MacDonalds continued.
Even though the castle was made stronger, it was mostly left empty by the mid-1600s. In 1692, parts of it were destroyed on purpose to stop enemies from using it. After that, it slowly fell apart. In the 20th century, the castle became a protected site and was opened to visitors. Today, it is one of Scotland's most popular castles, with hundreds of thousands of people visiting each year.
The castle is built on a piece of land that sticks out into Loch Ness. It's one of the biggest castles in Scotland. To get in, you would cross a ditch and a drawbridge from the west. The castle buildings are spread out in two main areas along the shore. The northern area, called the Nether Bailey, has most of the remaining structures, including the main gate and the tall, five-story Grant Tower. The southern area, or Upper Bailey, is on higher ground and has the remains of older buildings.
Contents
History of Urquhart Castle
Ancient Beginnings
The name Urquhart comes from old words meaning "point" or "promontory" and "thicket" or "wood." Archaeologists have found pieces of stone that were heated very intensely here. This shows that there was an old fort on this spot between the 5th and 11th centuries.
Some people thought this might have been the fort of Bridei, a king of the Picts. A very old book, Life of Columba, tells us that St. Columba visited a Pictish nobleman named Emchath at a place called Airdchartdan. This place is most likely where Urquhart Castle now stands.
Building the Early Castle
Some stories say a royal castle was here in the 1100s, but there is no strong proof. In the 12th and 13th centuries, a family called the Meic Uilleim fought against the Scottish kings. After their last rebellion in 1229, King Alexander II gave Urquhart to his usher, Thomas de Lundin. When Thomas died, it went to his son, Alan Durward. It's believed the first castle was built around this time, with a mound (called a motte) at the southwest corner.
In 1275, the king gave Urquhart to John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch. The first official record of Urquhart Castle is from 1296, when Edward I of England captured it. This was the start of the Wars of Scottish Independence. Edward put Sir William Fitz Warin in charge. But in 1297, Sir Andrew de Moray attacked the castle. The Scots took it back, but the English captured it again in 1303.
After Robert Bruce defeated the Comyn family, he took Urquhart Castle in 1307. From then on, it was a royal castle, meaning it belonged to the king.
Sir Robert Lauder of Quarrelwood was in charge of Urquhart Castle in 1329. After a big battle in 1333, he defended Urquhart against another English attack. It was one of only five castles in Scotland still held by the Scots at that time. In 1342, King David II spent the summer hunting at Urquhart. He is the only king known to have stayed there.
For the next 200 years, the MacDonald Lords of the Isles often raided the Great Glen area. They were powerful rulers in western Scotland. In 1395, Domhnall of Islay took Urquhart Castle from the king. He kept it for over 15 years. In 1411, he marched through the glen to claim the Earldom of Ross and won a battle. The king later recognized his claim. But the crown soon got Urquhart back.
In 1437, Domhnall's son, Alexander, raided the area but couldn't take the castle. The king gave money to make the castle stronger. Alexander's son, John, took over in 1449. In 1452, he also raided the glen and took Urquhart. He even got the king to let him keep the castle for life. However, in 1462, John made a secret deal with the King of England against the Scottish King James III. When this was discovered in 1476, John lost his titles, and Urquhart was given to the Earl of Huntly.
The Grant Family Takes Over
The Earl of Huntly brought in Sir Duncan Grant to bring order to the area around Urquhart Castle. In 1509, King James IV gave Urquhart Castle and the nearby lands to John Grant forever. The only condition was that he had to fix and rebuild the castle.
The Grants owned the castle, but attacks from the west continued. In 1513, after a big battle, Sir Donald MacDonald of Lochalsh tried to take advantage of the chaos in Scotland. He claimed the Lordship of the Isles and took Urquhart Castle. The Grants got the castle back before 1517, but not before the MacDonalds stole many animals and all the furniture and cannons from the castle.
In 1545, the MacDonalds and their friends, the Camerons, attacked and captured Urquhart again. This was called the "Great Raid." They stole 2,000 cattle, hundreds of other animals, and everything inside the castle, even the gates! The Grants got the castle back and were given some Cameron lands as payment.
The Great Raid was the last big attack. By the end of the 1500s, the Grants had rebuilt Urquhart, making it a strong castle. Repairs continued until 1623, but the castle was no longer the Grant family's main home. In 1644, a group of Covenanters (people who wanted to change the church) broke into the castle. They robbed Lady Mary Grant, who was staying there, and forced her out because of her beliefs. An inventory in 1647 showed the castle was almost empty.
When King James VII was removed from power in 1688, Ludovic Grant sided with William of Orange. He put 200 of his own soldiers in the castle. Even though they didn't have many weapons, they had plenty of food. When 500 Jacobites (supporters of the old king) attacked, the soldiers held out until the Jacobites were defeated in May 1690. When the soldiers finally left, they blew up the gatehouse. This was to stop the Jacobites from using the castle again. You can still see large blocks of stone from this destruction today. The castle was never repaired and slowly fell apart even more.
Urquhart Castle Today
By the 1770s, the castle had no roof and was seen as a beautiful ruin by artists and visitors. In 1911, the owner, Lady Seafield, decided that Urquhart Castle should be looked after by the state. In 1913, the government took over its care. Today, Historic Environment Scotland maintains the castle. It is a protected monument because of its national importance.
In 1994, a new visitor center and car park were planned to help with parking problems. After some discussion, the plans were approved in 1998. The new building is built into the hillside, with parking on its roof. The visitor center has displays about the castle's history, a cinema, a restaurant, and a shop. The castle is open all year and is a very popular place to visit in Scotland.
Exploring Urquhart Castle
Urquhart Castle is located on Strone Point, a triangular piece of land on the northwest shore of Loch Ness. It was important for controlling the route along the loch and the entrance to Glen Urquhart. The castle is quite close to the water.
A dry ditch, about 30 meters (98 feet) wide, protected the castle from the land side. A stone path leads across it, and there used to be a drawbridge in the middle. The castle is one of the largest in Scotland. It's shaped a bit like a figure-8, about 150 meters (490 feet) long and 46 meters (150 feet) wide. It has two main walled areas: the Nether Bailey to the north and the Upper Bailey to the south. The walls were mostly built in the 14th century, with many additions later, especially in the north.
The Nether Bailey
The gatehouse, built in the 1500s, is on the land side of the Nether Bailey. It has two D-shaped towers and an arched entrance. There used to be a heavy gate and two sets of doors, with guard rooms on each side. Above the entrance were rooms for the castle's keeper. The broken stones around the gatehouse are from when it was blown up in 1690.
The Nether Bailey was the busiest part of the castle after 1400. At its northern end is the Grant Tower, the main tower house. The tower is 12 by 11 meters (39 by 36 feet) and has walls up to 3 meters (10 feet) thick. It was built on 14th-century foundations but mostly rebuilt in the 1500s. It used to have five stories and is still the tallest part of the castle, even though its southern wall fell in a storm in the early 1700s.
The tower had small turrets on its corners. Above the main door and a smaller back door, there were openings called machicolations. These allowed defenders to drop things on attackers. The western door had its own ditch and drawbridge. You can still go inside the tower using the spiral staircase in the east wall. The first floor likely had a large hall, with more rooms above it. The rooms on the main floors have big windows from the 1500s, but also small holes for pistols for defense.
Next to the tower, along the thick 14th-century wall, were other buildings. The great hall was in the middle. The lord's private rooms were to the north, and the kitchens were to the south. The remains of a rectangular building in the Nether Bailey are thought to be a chapel.
The Upper Bailey
The Upper Bailey is centered on a rocky mound at the southwest corner of the castle. This mound is the highest point and was where the earliest defenses were. Pieces of vitrified stone found here show it was an ancient fort. In the 13th century, this mound became the motte of the first castle. The remaining walls are from a "shell keep" (a hollow enclosure) from that time. These ruins are small but show there were towers to the north and south.
A watergate from the 1500s in the eastern wall of the Upper Bailey leads to the loch shore. The buildings next to it might have been stables. To the south, opposite the mound, are the remains of a doocot (a pigeon house) and some 13th-century buildings. These might have been a great hall but were later used as a smithy.
Castle Treasures
After the castle became a public site, repairs and digs were done. Many old items were found, including a bronze jug from the 1400s, coins, jewelry, and crosses. These items date from the 13th to the 17th centuries. Most of these valuable finds are now kept at the National Museum in Edinburgh.
See also
In Spanish: Castillo de Urquhart para niños
