Cairnburgh Castle

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Cairnburgh Castle is a ruined castle on the islands of Cairn na Burgh Mòr and Cairn na Burgh Beag , which are part of the northern Treshnish Isles at the mouth of Loch Tuath on the Isle of Mull in the Scottish administrative unit Argyll and Bute . The Changing Scottish Landscape, 1500–1800 from 1991 characterizes it as "one of the most remote fortresses in Great Britain (...) [and] one of the most peculiar".

construction

Unusually, the castle spanned both islands. On Cairn na Burgh Mòr there is a barracks block , a chapel , the courtyard and a guardhouse, while on the smaller island of Cairn na Burgh Beag there is another guardhouse and a well.

history

13th Century

The castle, whose history probably began as a Viking fortress called "Kiarnaborg", has been in the hands of various lords since it was first mentioned in 1249. It is mentioned in the Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar of the 13th century as the property of an island king of the Somerled family , from whom the Scottish King Alexander III. demanded. The Gazetteer for Scotland reports that from at least 1249 to 1269 the castle was owned by the MacDougall clan , descendants of Somerled and his son Dubgall . When the MacDougall clan supported John Balliol against Robert the Bruce in the Scottish Wars of Independence , they had forfeited the castle to the crown. First the MacDonald clan owned the castle, then it fell to the MacLean clan .

16th Century

Various conflicts were fought there during the time that Clan MacLean owned the castle, but the cliffs that surrounded it made it very easy to defend. In 1504 it was besieged by the troops of King James IV when the MacLeans rebelled along with Domhnall Dubh , the chief of the MacDonald clan.

17th century

In 1647 Cairnburgh Castle was briefly captured by General David Leslie's troops during the War of the Three Kingdoms . In the following decade it was set alight by Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army . The fire is blamed for the loss of a number of manuscripts that were brought to the castle by Iona for security reasons under the law on the destruction of the “Monuments of Idolatry” in 1561 . In 1679 Cairnburgh Castle withstood an attack by the Campbells , but fell after another in 1692.

18th century

Twice during the Jacobite Uprising , in 1715 and 1745, the government used Cairnsburgh Castle to house troops. In 1759 the writer Isabella Kelly was born in the castle .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Cairnburgh Castle . Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  2. ^ A b Ian D. Whyte, Kathleen A. Whyte: The changing Scottish landscape, 1500-1800 . Taylor & Francis. P. 91. 1991. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  3. ^ William F. Skene: Celtic Scotland: a history of ancient Alban . Edmonston & Douglas. Pp. 489, 1876. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  4. ^ John Marsden: Somerled: And the Emergence of Gaelic Scotland . Tuckwell Press, Ltd .. p. 38. January 1, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  5. ^ A b Ian D. Whyte, Kathleen A. Whyte: On the trail of the Jacobites . Taylor & Francis. P. 36. 1990. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  6. ↑ James Andrew Corcoran, Patrick John Ryan, Edmond Francis Prendergast: The American Catholic quarterly review . Hardy and Mahony. Pp. 537, 1902. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  7. ^ William Stewart: British and Irish poets: a biographical dictionary, 449-2006 . McFarland. P. 210 July 2007. Accessed March 30, 2017.

swell

Coordinates: 56 ° 31 ′ 6 ″  N , 6 ° 22 ′ 52 ″  W.