Chanonry of Ross

The Chanonry of Ross stands on the Black Isle near Fortrose in the Highlands. It was once the site of a castle built around 1500 by John Fraser, Bishop of Ross. After the Reformation the castle passed to the Mackenzies of Kintail, later Earls of Seaforth. Oliver Cromwell ordered its dismantling in the 17th century to provide stone for a fort at Inverness. Today only a single carved stone remains, built into a house on Station Road. The stone bears the coat of arms and initials of Countess Barbara of Seaforth, wife of the second Earl. The place is worth the journey for the story it tells of power and feud in the 16th century. Mary, Queen of Scots visited in 1564 during her progress through the north. In 1569 a dispute over the castle’s ownership between the Mackenzies and the Munros of Milntown sparked a three-year siege. Regent Moray and later regents took sides, letters flew between clan leaders, and thousands of men gathered around the walls. The conflict became part of the wider Marian civil war that raged across Scotland. Visitors find a quiet corner of Fortrose where the past is still visible. A single carved stone in a gable marks the castle’s former presence. The surrounding streets follow the line of the old fortress ditches. Beyond the town the Black Isle stretches into the Moray Firth, its shores rich with birdlife. The ruined church of Fortrose, once part of the chanonry, overlooks the water. Here the wind carries the same stories that once drew queens and clans to this stretch of coast.