Lochore Castle

Lochore Castle stands on the edge of Loch Ore in Fife, a ruined 14th-century tower house that once occupied an island called Inchgall. The name Inchgall means ‘Isle of Strangers’, and the castle’s history begins with Duncan of Lochore building a motte there in the 12th century. The Valance family later enlarged the site and added the stone keep, which reached four storeys high. After passing through the hands of the Wardlaws and the Malcolms, the castle fell into disrepair. In the late 18th century the loch was drained, leaving only fragments of the original structure. The keep once formed part of a larger courtyard surrounded by four corner towers and ranges of buildings. A causeway probably linked the island to the mainland on its eastern side. Mining in the 20th century stripped away much of the surrounding landscape, but restoration work in the 1980s refilled the loch and reshaped the parkland. Today the castle’s remains lie within Lochore Country Park, a green space south of Loch Ore. Visitors walk among grassy mounds and low stone walls that mark the footprint of the old courtyard. The loch’s edge offers views across still water to the scattered ruins, while paths wind through the park’s planted trees and heather. Interpretive signs explain how the site once functioned as a defended island home. The restored shoreline and islands in the loch echo the castle’s original island setting.