Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle and the Jacobites

The Scottish King James III turned over Urquhart to his ally, the Earl of Huntly in 1476, stripping the previous guardian, John Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, of his titles after he made an alliance with Edward IV of England against the Scottish King.

Huntly brought in Sir Duncan Grant of Freuchie to restore order to the area around Urquhart Castle. By 1509, Urquhart Castle, along with the estates of Glen Urquhart and Glenmoriston, was granted by James IV to Duncan Grant’s son John Grant of Freuchie in perpetuity, on condition that he repair and rebuild the castle. 

The Grants maintained their ownership of the castle until 1512, although the raids from the west continued, until the last and final one, known as The Great Raid in 1545. By the end of the 16th century, the Grants had rebuilt Urquhart into a powerful bastion and used it to control the western Highlands.

When James VII was deposed in the Revolution of 1688, Ludovic Grant of Freuchie, chief of clan Grant, sided with William of Orange and Colonel Sir James Leslie garrisoned the castle with English regulars. They were well-provisioned and despite a force of 500 Jacobites briefly laying siege to the castle, the garrison were able to hold out until after the defeat of the main Jacobite force at Cromdale in May 1690. 

When the soldiers finally left  in 1692, they blew up the gatehouse to prevent reoccupation of the castle by the Jacobites. Large blocks of collapsed masonry are still visible beside the remains of the gatehouse. Parliament ordered £2,000 compensation to be paid to Grant, but no repairs were undertaken. Subsequent plundering of the stonework and other materials for re-use by locals further reduced the ruins, and the Grant Tower partially collapsed following a storm in 1715.

Early History of Urquhart Castle

It is believed that the castle site was originally an extensive fort built between the 5th and 11th centuries and that it may have been converted into a Royal residence by William the Lion in the 12th century.

The earliest record of Urquhart Castle is from 1296, when it was captured by Edward I of England. This was at the beginning of the Wars of Scottish Independence, which continued intermittently until 1357.

In 1297, Sir Andrew de Moray ambushed the constable of the castle and laid siege to Urquhart. Although his initial night attack was unsuccessful, the English were dislodged from the castle shortly after and in 1298 Urquhart was again controlled by the Scots.

Although it was a short-lived control, as in 1303 Sir Alexander de Forbes, who was the commander of the castle, failed to hold off another English assault. This time Edward installed as governor Alexander Comyn, brother of John, as the family had sided with the English against Robert Bruce. 

Then in 1307, as Bruce completed his defeat of the Comyns by capturing the Great Glen including Urquhart Castle as well as Inverlochy and Inverness. After this time Urquhart became a royal castle, held for the crown by a series of constables.

This was a turbulent period in Urquhart Castle’s history as ownership frequently passed back and forth between the English and Scottish crowns. And no sooner did that conflict cease, than a new conflict arose.

By the late 14th Century, the Scottish crown was trying to defend Urquhart against incursions by the Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles. The Macdonalds were powerful rulers of a semi-independent principality in western Scotland, with a claim to the earldom of Ross.

For nearly 150 years, the ownership of the castle changed hands between the two sides many times, before George Gordon, the 2nd Earl of Huntly finally took control of the area.

Visiting Urquhart Castle

The castle is now owned by Historic Scotland and is a popular tourist attraction. In 2002 a visitor centre was built on site, as well as car parks. It is well worth a visit if you are interested in Scots and Jacobite history, or even if you just want to admire the scenery and soak up the atmosphere up and down Loch Ness.

As well as admiring the strategic setting of the castle, you can partially access the Grant Tower, view what would have been the Great Hall and peer into the gloomy prison cells. There are also medieval artefacts on show that were left behind by the old castle residents.