Ardvreck Castle
The ruin of a 1490s Macleod tower house on a promontory in Loch Assynt, where Montrose was taken prisoner in 1650.
At the eastern end of Loch Assynt, a narrow neck of land runs out into the water, and on its tip stands a broken finger of grey stone, all that remains of Ardvreck Castle.
The mountains of Sutherland rise all around.
The Macleods of Assynt built it around 1490 as a three-storey tower house, and parts of its stair and vaulted basement can still be traced. It entered history in April 1650, when the defeated Marquis of Montrose fled here after the battle of Carbisdale. He was held at the castle and handed over to government troops, and executed in Edinburgh a few weeks later. The Mackenzies took Ardvreck in 1672 and later built Calda House nearby, whose shell still stands by the road.
A car park and a good path lead out to the castle. Admire Calda House only from a safe distance.
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Keep clear of Calda House, which is unsafe.
- Where
- Loch Assynt, by the A837.
- Built
- About 1490.
- Owners
- The Macleods of Assynt.
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Add your reviewOn a promontory at the east end of Loch Assynt, beside the A837 north of Inchnadamph; a car park and path lead to it.
Places to stay near the castle, and when each is next free.
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What we have written about it, the collections it is in and more in Assynt.
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