Milntown Castle

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Milntown Castle
The door to the vault of Milntown Castle on the site of what would later become Tarbat House, as described by Alexander Mackenzie in 1898: "The only remains of the old castle that still exist today are the door to the vault and the high terraces."

The door to the vault of Milntown Castle on the site of what would later become Tarbat House, as described by Alexander Mackenzie in 1898: "The only remains of the old castle that still exist today are the door to the vault and the high terraces."

Creation time : Early 16th century
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: Burgstall, only traces
Standing position : Scottish nobility
Place: Milton
Geographical location 57 ° 44 '11 "  N , 4 ° 3' 50"  W Coordinates: 57 ° 44 '11 "  N , 4 ° 3' 50"  W.
Height: 18  m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference
Milntown Castle (Scotland)
Milntown Castle

Milntown Castle is a decayed low castle near Milton in Easter Ross in the Scottish Highland administrative division . At the beginning of the 16th century, the Munro of Milntown family , a branch of the Munro clan , had the castle built. In 1656 the property was sold to George Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Cromartie , also known as George MacKenzie of Tarbet . He renamed the castle New Tarbat Castle , after its original family seat Tarbat Castle near Portmahomack , now known as Ballone Castle . Mackenzie had Milntown Castle demolished, leaving only a small portion of the ground floor. Then he replaced the castle with a new country house nearby. When the new country house was finished, the old Milntown Castle was made into a folly for the gardens. This country house itself was demolished in 1787 and replaced by a Georgian house called Tarbat House in 1787 by his descendant, John Mackenzie, Lord MacLoud .

Records of the castle

Even if the castle has not existed for a long time, descriptions of it exist in some books, for example the History of the Earldom of Sutherland by Sir Robert Gordon (1580-1625) and the History of the Munros and Fowlis by Alexander Mackenzie von 1898.

Sir Robert Gordon wrote:

“Around 1500 the Munros of Milntown began building Milntown Castle; their closest neighbors, the Rosses of Balnagowan , tried to keep them from building, but John, Earl of Sutherland , defended the scheme himself against the Balnagowan's boasting. When he returned home to Sutherland, he left a number of men in Milntown to defend it against the Rosses until the castle was completed, a favor the Munros of Milntown still do today. "

Alexander Mackenzie wrote:

“Sir George MacKenzie of Tarbet changed the name to Tarbat from his own title when he bought the castle and estate of Milntown. He was then a Lord of Session under the title Lord Tarbet. But the rural population still calls the place in Scottish Gaelic "Balie-Mhuillinn Andrea". The only remains of the old castle that still exist are the door of the vault and the high terraces near the place where it once stood. In 1728 Viscount Tarbet commissioned Maurer to "tear down Munro's old work", remove the foundations and build a new house. Some of the oldest residents of Milntown village remember hearing their parents, some of whom were helping with the demolition of Milntown Castle, no doubt say, with a certain degree of exaggeration, that the great hall was so large "that the violins at one end at other end could no longer be heard ». The castle is said to have been the most elegant and finest in the north, impressively decorated with tourelles . She stood on the side of today's country house. There were many beautiful trees on the property by the old building. A large beech was called " Queen Mary's Tree" because it was believed to have been planted by the Queen when the Beauly Priory visited. It was more than 100 feet (30 meters) tall; it should have taken a whole week to cut it and it should have been so heavy and difficult to remove that it had to be dug in where it fell over. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ballone Castle . In: Canmore . Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  2. ↑ Milntown Castle . In: Canmore . Royal Commission in the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  3. ^ RW Munro: Mapping the Clan Munro . Clan Munro Association, Lindsay & Co, Edinburgh 1987.
  4. ^ Martin Coventry, Castles of the Clans: The Strongholds and Seats of 750 Scottish Families and Clans. ISBN 978-1-899874-36-1 . P. 441ff.
  5. ^ Sir Robert Gordon, A Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland . Originally written between 1615 and 1630. Republished in 1813. p. 146.
  6. ↑ Alexander Mackenzie: History of the Munros of Fowlis . 1898. pp. 288-289.