Duncraig Castle

Duncraig Castle stands on the northern shore of Loch Carron in the Highlands, near the village of Plockton. Built in 1866 in the Scottish baronial style by Alexander Ross for Alexander Matheson, it is a three-storey mansion with eighty rooms. The building has an asymmetrical nine-bay layout, gables, crenellations, a chapel and an octagonal water tower. Its estate covers forty acres of forest, with a boathouse and two private islands. The castle is linked to the Kyle of Lochalsh railway line by Duncraig station, opened in 1897 as a private stop for the Matheson family. The castle’s history reflects changing fortunes and uses. After the Mathesons sold it in the 1920s to Sir Daniel Hamilton and Lady Margaret Hamilton, it became a planned community education centre. During the Second World War it served as a naval hospital. Later it became a home economics college for girls until 1989. The building then stood empty for over a decade before the Dobson family moved in with seventeen relatives in 2003. Their story was turned into a BBC television series in 2004. Visitors today find a grand but still evolving house. The interior includes a large dining room and modernised guest accommodation. The surrounding estate offers woodland walks and views across Loch Carron. Duncraig station nearby has a single platform and a hexagonal shelter with a pyramid roof. Though the bed and breakfast has closed, the castle remains a striking presence on the lochside, its history visible in every gable and room.