Cherry Island

Cherry Island lies at the south-western end of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is the loch’s only island, a small, circular crannog built up from stones and timber in the Iron Age. The water level rose when the Caledonian Canal was constructed in the early 19th century, so the island is now smaller than it once was. A stone-and-oak castle stood here in the 15th century, serving as a fortified refuge for local people. The Reverend Odo Blundell suggested in 1909 that it may have been a hunting lodge, with a companion islet that vanished beneath the waves. The island’s name in Gaelic, Eilean Muireach, means Murdoch’s Island, recalling a forgotten figure from the past. Archaeologists recognise crannogs like this as rare traces of Iron Age life around the loch. The raised causeway and timber piles still show how the builders worked with the water rather than against it. A second, smaller island once stood nearby, but it was submerged when the canal raised the water level by about one metre. Visitors reach the island by boat from the shore near Drumnadrochit. The short crossing shows how the crannog sits low in the water, its outline just above the surface. From the deck you can see the dark peat-stained water of Loch Ness and the wooded hills beyond. The island itself is grassy and quiet, with no buildings left standing. It offers a quiet spot to imagine the Iron Age families who once lived here and the hunters who may have used the castle centuries later.