Achnacarry Castle

Achnacarry Castle stands beside Loch Arkaig in the Scottish Highlands, twenty-four kilometres north-east of Fort William. The first stronghold was built around 1655 by Sir Ewen Cameron on a narrow stretch between Loch Lochy and Loch Arkaig. Earlier, in the early 16th century, his ancestor had built Tor Castle on land claimed by the Mackintoshes. The Camerons lived at Tor Castle until Sir Ewen demolished it to build a new house farther from rival clans and Cromwell’s troops. Visitors once described the wooden building as the finest of its kind in Britain, with a pillared hall, flowing wine and music echoing under its rafters. The castle became a rallying point during the Jacobite rising of 1745. Donald Cameron, the Gentle Lochiel, was planting beech trees along the River Arkaig when Prince Charles landed. After Culloden in April 1746, Cameron led the retreat and later watched government troops under George Munro burn the house to the ground. Many treasures had been removed, but the great timber building was reduced to ashes. A new stone castle in Scottish Baronial style rose in 1802 under Donald Cameron, the twenty-second chief, designed by James Gillespie for his wife Anne Abercromby. Today’s Achnacarry Castle served as the Commando Training Depot from March 1942 until 1945. Allied commandos from Britain, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Belgium trained here in live-fire exercises. Roughly twenty-five thousand soldiers passed through the courses, which ended with opposed landings near Bunarkaig on Loch Lochy. Some lives were lost during training, and the house itself was struck by shells. Each year or so, military associations hold a Commando March from Spean Bridge to the castle, timed marches carrying full equipment over the hills.