Dunrobin Castle

Dunrobin Castle stands on a cliff above the Dornoch Firth in the Highlands, one mile north of Golspie. Its oldest parts date from the Middle Ages, though most of what visitors see today was designed by Sir Charles Barry between 1835 and 1850. Barry had just finished the Palace of Westminster and brought French château style to the Scottish north. The castle occupies the site of an early medieval fort and was once the stronghold of the Earl of Sutherland, chief of Clan Sutherland. A private railway station opened in 1870 to serve the family, and the grounds cover 558 hectares of formal gardens and parkland. The castle’s history is marked by clan feuds, Jacobite raids and later restoration. In 1745 the Jacobites took the castle by surprise while the earl escaped through a back door to join the Duke of Cumberland’s army. A fire in 1915 damaged Barry’s 19th-century interiors, and Sir Robert Lorimer rebuilt them while keeping earlier woodwork by Grinling Gibbons. The Sutherland family still lives in private rooms, but the house and gardens have been open to the public since 1973. Inside, the entrance hall shows the Sutherland earls’ armorials and a grand stairway 15 metres high. The dining room stretches twelve metres, lined with portraits and a Khorassan carpet, while the drawing room holds Canalettos and 18th-century tapestries. The library holds over ten thousand books, and a harmonium organ stands in one hallway. Outside, French-style parterres with circular pools stretch into the distance, and falconry displays take place beside the 18th-century summer-house museum.