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Castles
in Sutherland.

It’s 20:03 in Sutherland.
Sutherland

From Loch Assynt to the Moray Firth.

Sutherland's castles could hardly be more different from one another. On a promontory in Loch Assynt stands the ruin of a Macleod tower house of the 1490s, where Montrose was taken prisoner in 1650. Above the Kyle of Tongue, a small ruined tower sits on its bluff, a short walk from the village. Near Golspie there's a great house of conical spires like a French chateau, with formal gardens running down to the Moray Firth. And on a rocky headland at Achmelvich, there's a tiny concrete 'castle' built in 1950. Wear good boots for the ruins, as the paths can be wet.

Ardvreck Castle→
Dunrobin Castle→
Hermit's Castle→
Castle Varrich→
Castle of the day18 hours ago

Ardvreck Castle.

The ruin of a 1490s Macleod tower house on a promontory in Loch Assynt, where Montrose was taken prisoner in 1650.

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From our guide17 hours ago

Castle Varrich.

On a wooded bluff above the Kyle of Tongue stands a small, square ruined tower, and nobody is quite sure how old it is. Some believe the Norse built the first castle here, others that it was raised in the 1500s by the Bishops of Caithness or the Mackays, who held much of this country. The climb from the village is short and easy to follow. From the top you look over the long sands and shallows of the Kyle, the causeway across it, and the many tops of Ben Loyal to the south.

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Did you know15 hours ago

Tongue, in Sutherland, is named for a tongue of land, and its tower stands on a bluff above the Kyle of Tongue.

The name comes from the Old Norse tunga, a tongue of land projecting into the loch. Castle Varrich is a small tower on the summit of a bluff above the Kyle of Tongue, and its origins are unclear. Some think it is the Beruvik of the Norse Orkneyinga saga, while others say it was built in the 1500s by the Bishops of Caithness or the Mackays.

See Castle Varrich · Sutherland
From the magazine14 hours ago

The gardens of Dunrobin Castle, near Golspie in Sutherland, were laid out in 1850 by Sir Charles Barry, who modelled them on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.

Barry, an architect whose other work included rebuilding the Houses of Parliament, gave the gardens fountains, parterres and even a croquet lawn, all overlooked by a castle that could have come from a fairy tale. Although they sit above the wet and wild Moray Firth, the gardens were designed to be sheltered, so they grow scarlet hawthorns, topiarised whitebeams and a South American rhubarb with leaves eight feet long. Almost 175 years on, his original vision is largely intact, though today's gardeners have added pyramid plant supports and an avenue of Tuscan laurels of their own. Just off the main parterre, peregrines and Harris hawks swoop at the falconry displays.

See Dunrobin Castle · Sutherland
Did you know12 hours ago

Carbisdale Castle, near Bonar Bridge in Sutherland, has only three clock faces, and the story goes that the fourth was left off out of spite.

The castle was built in the early 1900s for Mary Caroline, Duchess of Sutherland, after a dispute over her late husband's will. His family gave her a settlement and agreed to build her a castle, as long as it stood outside their lands. She chose a hillside just over the border, where it could be seen from the main road and the railway the family used to travel south. People widely believed she did it to annoy them, and it became known as the Castle of Spite. The clock has no face on the Sutherland side, it is said, because she did not want to give them the time of day.

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Quiz6 hours ago

Dornoch Distillery, one of the smallest in Scotland, works in which old building in the garden of Dornoch Castle Hotel?

From our guide5 hours ago

Dunrobin Castle.

Just north of Golspie, Dunrobin rises over the Moray Firth like a French chateau, all white turrets and conical spires. It has been the home of the Earls and then the Dukes of Sutherland for centuries, and with 189 rooms it is the largest house in the northern Highlands. Sir Charles Barry, architect of the Houses of Parliament, gave it its present look. A self-guided tour takes in some twenty rooms, from the panelled dining room to the library. Save an hour for the formal gardens running down to the sea, where a falconer flies birds of prey through the season.

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Castles3 hours ago

Hermit's Castle.

A tiny concrete 'castle' built on a rocky headland at Achmelvich in 1950, long abandoned and one of the oddest buildings in Scotland.

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Did you know2 hours ago

Dornoch Castle Hotel, in Sutherland, was never a castle.

Dornoch Castle Hotel stands on the south side of Cathedral Green in Dornoch, facing the cathedral. It began not as a castle but as the bishop's palace, built to accompany the cathedral.

See Dornoch Castle Hotel · Sutherland
From the magazine59 minutes agoThe printed copy of Issue 02Issue 02Spring / Summer 2021

Hermit's Castle, a tiny concrete building on a headland at Achmelvich Bay in Assynt, was built in the 1950s and is said to have been used for only a single weekend.

Achmelvich Bay, four miles by road from the port of Lochinver, is the kind of beach postcards were invented for, with clear water, a crescent of white sand and grey-green headlands. On one of those headlands stands the castle, an eccentric abandoned building with a stepped base and a few small square windows looking out to sea. Its grey concrete matches the rocks around it so closely that it can be hard to spot, which is part of the fun of finding it. It is a short scramble along the coast from the beach, and the rocks can be slippery, so go carefully.

See Hermit's Castle · Sutherland

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