Castle Sinclair Girnigoe

Two ruined castles stand side by side on a narrow promontory that juts into Sinclair Bay. Castle Girnigoe, built in the late 15th century by William Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Caithness, overlooks the North Sea from its rocky edge. A century later his descendant added Castle Sinclair, a smaller courtyard stronghold with a gatehouse and curtain wall. Both were linked by a drawbridge across a deep ravine that still divides the ruins. The site is protected as a scheduled monument and is the only Scottish castle on the World Monuments Fund watch list. The castle’s history is marked by violence and political intrigue. In 1577 the fourth earl imprisoned his own son in Girnigoe for seven years, feeding him only salted beef until he died of thirst. The rebel Earl of Bothwell stayed here in 1594. Later the sixth earl lost the castle to his creditor, John Campbell of Glenorchy, after which a cousin besieged it with artillery and took it in 1680. The feud ended when the Duke of York secured the title for the attacker in 1681. Visitors walk among grass-grown ruins where a five-storey tower once rose above the sea. The kitchen vault still holds a small secret chamber in its ceiling. From the headland the view stretches north across the bay to the horizon. The Clan Sinclair Trust carries out ongoing archaeological work to keep the stones standing.