Inverlochy Castle ( gd, Caisteal Inbhir Lòchaidh) is a ruined, 13th-century castle near Inverlochy and Fort William,

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

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 ...

. The site of two battles, the castle remains largely unchanged since its construction. It is now in the care of

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ( gd, Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the mer ...

History

Inverlochy Castle was built ''

circa Circa is a word of Latin origin meaning 'approximately'. Circa or CIRCA may also refer to: * CIRCA (art platform), art platform based in London * Circa (band), a progressive rock supergroup * Circa (company), an American skateboard footwear com ...

'' 1270–1280 by John "the Black" Comyn, Lord of

Badenoch Badenoch (from gd, Bàideanach, meaning "drowned land") is a traditional district which today forms part of Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by th ...

and

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; gd, Loch Abar) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creation ...

, and chief of the

Clan Comyn Clan Cumming ( gd, Na Cuimeinich ), also known as Clan Comyn, is a Scottish clan from the central Highlands that played a major role in the history of 13th-century Scotland and in the Wars of Scottish Independence. The Clan Comyn was once the m ...

. It may have been built on the site of an earlier

Pict The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ear ...

ish fortification and settlement, which the historian

Hector Boece Hector Boece (; also spelled Boyce or Boise; 1465–1536), known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and the first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Abe ...

(1465–1536) records as a "city" that was destroyed by

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...

succeeded to the Scottish throne in 1306. In 1307 King Robert captured and burned the castle. The Comyns were thus dispossessed, and the ruined castle was unoccupied for a time. In 1431, clansmen of Alexander MacDonald,

Lord of the Isles The Lord of the Isles or King of the Isles ( gd, Triath nan Eilean or ) is a title of Scottish nobility with historical roots that go back beyond the Kingdom of Scotland. It began with Somerled in the 12th century and thereafter the title w ...

, defeated King James I's larger army in the first Battle of Inverlochy, fought close by the castle. It came under control of the Clan Cameron until 1501. In 1505, the partially ruined castle was granted to

Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly (died 1524) was a Scottish nobleman. He was a member of Parliament, a member of the Privy Council, a regent and Lieutenant of the kingdom. Biography He was the son of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly and hi ...

, who was charged by King

James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauchi ...

with repairing the castle for use as a Royal garrison. His brother William Gordon, Laird of Gight, became master of Inverlochy, and was slain commanding the Camerons at Flodden. In 1645, the castle served as a stopping-off point for the

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

army of

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612 – 21 May 1650) was a Scottish nobleman, poet and soldier, Lord Lieutenant, lord lieutenant and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wa ...

during his

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

against the

Covenanter Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...

forces of the

Marquess of Argyll A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman w ...

. This culminated in a victory for the royalists in the second Battle of Inverlochy, on 2 February 1645. In the 19th century, the estate was bought by James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger, who built a

Scottish baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

mansion to the north-west, which is now the Inverlochy Castle Hotel. Minor enhancements, including the restoration of loops and

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

s, were carried out by Lord Abinger in advance of the visit of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

in 1873.

Description

Inverlochy is now a ruin, but is unusual because it has remained unaltered since it was built in the reign of King Alexander III. The castle is sited on the south bank of the

River Lochy The River Lochy flows southwest along the Great Glen from Loch Lochy to Loch Linnhe at Fort William in the West Highlands of Scotland. Its two major tributaries are the short River Arkaig which drains Loch Arkaig into Loch Lochy and the River ...

, at the strategically important entrance to the

Great Glen The Great Glen ( gd, An Gleann Mòr ), also known as Glen Albyn (from the Gaelic "Glen of Scotland" ) or Glen More (from the Gaelic ), is a glen in Scotland running for from Inverness on the edge of Moray Firth, in an approximately straight ...

, a key passage through the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

. With one side defended by the river, the castle's other three sides were originally protected by a water-filled ditch. Inverlochy is a castle of ''

enceinte Enceinte (from Latin incinctus: girdled, surrounded) is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the position. For ...

'', with its main defence being a substantial curtain wall. The simple layout comprises a quadrangular courtyard, across, surrounded by a wall up to thick and up to high, with round towers at each corner.MacGibbon, David and Ross, Thomas. (1887) ''The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland'' Vol. 1. Edinburgh: David Douglas The largest of these, known as the Comyn Tower, is across the interior, and served as the castle's "donjon", or

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

. The smaller towers are , and all four have stairways curving up within the thickness of the walls. The main entrance was to the south, with a "water gate" facing the river to the north. Both entrances were defended by a

portcullis A portcullis (from Old French ''porte coleice'', "sliding gate") is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down gr ...

, and the south door may have had an interior gatehouse. The ruined castle is now a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

References

External links

Inverlochy Castle
at Historic Environment Scotland
www.inverlochycastle.co.uk
*
Inverlochy Castle Virtual Tour
{{coord, 56, 49, 57.31, N, 5, 4, 51.61, W, display=title Castles in Highland (council area) Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Highland Clan Comyn Fort William, Highland