Castle Stuart is a restored

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

on the banks of the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotl ...

, about northeast of

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

. The land the castle was built on was granted to

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531 – 23 January 1570) was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland, James V of Scotland. A supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent ...

by his half-sister,

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

, following her return to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1561. The successive murders of Stewart and his son-in-law,

James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray James Stewart (later Stuart), 2nd Lord Doune, 2nd Earl of Moray (c. 1565 – 7 February 1592) was a Scotland, Scottish nobleman, the son of James Stewart, 1st Lord Doune and Margaret Campbell. He was murdered by George Gordon, 1st Marquess o ...

, meant that the castle was finally completed by his grandson,

James Stuart, 3rd Earl of Moray James Stuart, 3rd Earl of Moray (1581 – 6 August 1638) was the son of James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray and Elizabeth Stuart, 2nd Countess of Moray. Early years Moray was only around the age of 11 when his father was murdered and within mont ...

, in 1625. Though the castle initially flourished, it fell into disuse as the fortunes of the

House of Stuart The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fi ...

sank during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

and

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

was executed. The castle lay derelict for 300 years before being restored; it is currently used as a luxury hotel.

Golf links

The seaside links

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

at Castle Stuart along Moray Firth opened in 2009, co-designed by two

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

: managing partner Mark Parsinen and golf course architect Gil Hanse. It was voted as Best New Course for 2009 by ''

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

'' magazine. The course hosted the Scottish Open in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

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2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, and

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Scorecard

Source:

References

External links

*
Castle Stuart Golf LinksHighland Golf Links
– Castle Stuart
European Tour
– Scottish Open Castles in Highland (council area) Houses in Highland (council area) Category A listed buildings in Highland (council area) Listed castles in Scotland Clan Stewart {{Scotland-castle-stub