Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle stands on Strone Point, a rocky headland jutting into Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. The A82 road runs past its walls, 21 kilometres southwest of Inverness and two kilometres east of Drumnadrochit. It is one of Scotland’s largest castles by area and draws nearly half a million visitors each year. The ruins span seven centuries, from medieval fort to royal stronghold and clan strongpoint. Excavations show traces of an early medieval fort on the same spot. The castle played a part in Scotland’s Wars of Independence. Edward I of England captured it in 1296 and installed an English constable. Sir Andrew de Moray ambushed the constable on his return from Inverness and besieged the castle that same year. Robert the Bruce took Urquhart in 1307 during his campaign through the Great Glen. Later, the MacDonald Lords of the Isles seized it twice, holding it for more than fifteen years in the early 15th century. Visitors walk past the gatehouse into the Nether Bailey, where the five-storey Grant Tower still rises above the loch. The northern enclosure contains the most complete ruins, including the gatehouse and parts of the curtain wall. The southern enclosure, on higher ground, holds only scattered foundations of earlier buildings. From the headland the view stretches across Loch Ness to the hills beyond. The water’s edge below shows where the original ditch and drawbridge once defended the entrance.