Loch ness and Urquhart castle

No sign of Nessie!
Urquhart has a lively history. It was one of the great castles taken by the English when Edward I invaded in 1296. The Lords of the Isles then seized the castle repeatedly in the later Middle Ages, in an effort to expand their territory into the north-east.

The castle came under the control of Robert the Bruce after he became King of Scots in 1306. In 1332, in the dark days following Robert I’s death, Urquhart was the only Highland castle to hold out against the English.
Urquhart Castle was garrisoned for the last time in 1689, following the exile of the Catholic King James VII, and his replacement by the Protestant monarchs William II and Mary II. In 1692, the towering gatehouse was deliberately blown up so that the castle could never again be a military stronghold.
Urquhart soon fell into decay, and part of the Grant Tower crashed to the ground in 1715 during a violent storm.
Attitudes to the ancient stronghold changed in the 1800s, and Urquhart came to be seen as a noble ruin in a majestic setting. It passed into state care in 1913 and is now one of the most visited castles in Scotland.Read more