Nairn Castle

Nairn Castle once stood in the town of Nairn, beside the Moray Firth in the Highlands. King Alexander I made Nairn a royal burgh in the 12th century, giving it trading rights and a market. The castle’s exact site remains uncertain, with no clear remains above ground today. Historians still debate whether any stonework survives beneath the soil. Old maps and records place it near the river mouth or the old shore line. Historians recognise the castle’s importance through references in the 19th-century Encyclopædia Britannica. George Bain’s 1893 *History of Nairnshire* gives the earliest detailed account of the site. Later studies by John Gifford in 1992 describe the castle’s role in the town’s early development. The lack of visible ruins adds mystery rather than disappointment. Visitors walk along the shoreline where the castle once stood. The wide sandy beach stretches east from the town centre. Nearby, the River Nairn meets the firth, creating a calm estuary. The old market cross still marks the heart of the royal burgh. Plaques explain the castle’s story to anyone who passes. The absence of walls invites imagination rather than frustration.