Inverlochy Castle
| Inverlochy Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 Inverlochy Castle 1994 |
||
| Creation time : | 1270-1280 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg (Kastellburg) | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Scottish nobility | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Inverlochy | |
| Geographical location | 56 ° 49 '56.1 " N , 5 ° 4' 56.4" W | |
| Height: | 27 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
|
||
Inverlochy Castle is the ruin of a low castle near the village of Inverlochy and the town of Fort William in the Scottish administrative division of Highland . Two battles took place near the 13th century castle. The building, now managed by Historic Scotland , has remained largely unchanged since its construction.
history
Inverlochy Castle was built between 1270 and 1280 for John "the Black" Comyn , Lord of Badenoch and Lochaber and chief of the Comyn clan . Possibly the castle was built on the site of an earlier, Pictish fortress and settlement, which the historian Hector Boece (1465–1536) mentions as a "city" that was destroyed by the Vikings . When Robert the Bruce ascended the Scottish throne in 1306, the Comyns, his rivals for the throne, were expropriated and the castle was uninhabited for a period. In 1431, members of the clan of Alexander MacDonald, the Lord of the Isles , defeated the outnumbered army of King James I in the first battle of Inverlochy , which was fought near the castle. The castle was in the hands of the Cameron clan until 1501 .
In 1505, the partially destroyed castle was loaned to Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly , whom King James IV commissioned to repair it so that the castle could be used for a royal garrison. His brother, William Gordon, Laird of Gight , became Master of Inverlochy and fell at the Battle of Flodden Field . In 1645 Inverlochy Castle served as a stopover for the royalist army under James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose , during his campaign against the forces of the Kovenanters under Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll . This culminated in a royalist victory in the second Battle of Inverlochy on February 2, 1645.
In the 19th century bought James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger , the estate and let in the northwest corner of a cottage in the Scottish Baronial style building, which today Inverlochy Castle Hotel is. Small improvements to the castle, such as the restoration of the loopholes and battlements , were carried out by Lord Abinger before Queen Victoria's visit in 1873.
description
Inverlochy Castle is now in ruins. It is noteworthy, however, that the castle since its construction in the reign of King Alexander III. remained unchanged. The ruin is located on the south bank of the River Lochy at the strategic entrance to the Great Glen , an important route through the Highlands . One side of the castle was protected by the river, the other three sides originally by a moat. Inverlochy Castle had a strong curtain wall as the main defense structure . The simple floor plan consists of a square inner courtyard, which is surrounded by a wall up to 2.7 meters thick and 7.6 meters high with round towers at each corner. The tallest of the towers, Comyn Tower , has an inner diameter of 6.1 meters and served as the keep of the castle. The smaller towers have an inner diameter of 4.3 meters and all four towers have stairs that lead up into the walls. The main entrance was in the south, the "Water Gate" was in the north facade on the river bank. Both entrances had portcullis and there was probably an inner gatehouse at the southern entrance .
Inverlochy Castle is a Scheduled Monument .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Entry on Inverlochy Castle in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
- ↑ a b c d David MacGibbon, Thomas Ross: The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century . D. Douglas. 1887. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
- ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
Web links and sources
- Inverlochy Castle . Historic Environment Scotland.
- Old Inverlochy Castle site.
- John Lewis, Helen Smith: Excavations at Inverlochy Castle, Inverness-shire, 1983-95 . In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland . Pp. 619-644. 1998.