Does anyone live in eilean donan castle

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Find the latest information on travel, and Good to Go Covid-safe businesses. Pay a visit to this iconic Scottish monument which is one of the most photographed in the country. Eilean Donan Castle is one of the most recognised castles in Scotland, and probably appears on more shortbread tins and calendars than any other.

It is, without doubt, a Scottish icon and certainly one of the most popular visitor attractions in the Highlands. When you first set eyes on it, it is easy to understand why so many people flock to its stout doors year after year. Following their arrival in the ample car park, visitors arrive at the bright modern visitor centre which houses the Ticket Office, Gift Shop and Restaurant. The entire operation is operated by the Conchra Charitable Trust which was established back in the s by the MacRae family, who own the castle, and whose primary role is to preserve the building and its artefacts for the nation and future generations.

The first castle was later established in the 13 th century by Alexander II in an effort to help protect the area from Viking incursions. At this stage in history the original castle encompassed the entire island and is believed to have been constructed with seven towers connected by a massive curtain wall. Over the centuries, the castle contracted and expanded for reasons that still remain a mystery to this day, until when it was involved in one of the lesser known Jacobite uprisings.

When the British Government learned that the castle was occupied by Jacobite leaders along with a garrison of Spanish soldiers, three Royal Navy frigates were sent to deal with the uprising. On the 10 th of May , the three heavily armed warships moored a short distance off the castle and bombarded it with cannons.

With walls of up to 5 metres thick, these cannons had little impact, but eventually the castle was overwhelmed by force. Discovering barrels of gunpowder inside, the Commanding officer gave orders to blow the castle up; following which Eilean Donan lay in silent ruin for the best part of two hundred years.

A thick curtain wall encircled the lower part of the isle; with a sea-gate for access. One old source says that Eilean Donan Castle may once have been as many as seven towers.

During the c15th, the castle contracted in size to become one, compact, fortified tower, poised to defend itself from any sea-bourne threat. The reason we know so little about medieval Eilean Donan castle is because the fortress was blown to smithereens in The castle was involved in the Jacobite risings — series of rebellions and battles aiming to restore the last Catholic monarch, the exiled James II, to power. In fact, the Scottish highlands were a hotbed of rebellion.

In , Spain stuck its oar in, and sent troops to support the Jacobite cause. To simplify things slightly, Spain was battling Britain and France in war in Europe, and this was a good way to destablise the Brits in their own backyard.

When the British got wind of it, the navy sent up three tall ships to prevent an insurrection. As a result, the castle was bombarded for about two days — a testament to the thickness of the walls.

When the Spanish garrison at last gave up, the men were taken prisoner elsewhere in Scotland. To prevent the same thing from happening again, the Royal Navy used many of the barrels of gunpowder stored in Eilean Donan Castle to blow up the remaining walls, and destroy the fortress for good. Or so they thought…. For the next years, the ruins of Eilean Donan castle were forgotten.

They were left to crumble and decay. This photograph, which was taken before , shows the castle in its ruined state. Like so many men before him, Major MacRae-Gilstrap had dreams of greatness, and wanted to build a castle to prove his worth. It seems the Major thought that owning a castle would help him claim the ancestral title of Constable of Eilean Donan. With this plan in mind, he set about rebuilding an idealised version of Eilean Donan castle, loosely based upon the decaying ruins.

After drawing up all manner of fantastic plans, they started to build the castle after World War I ended. Indeed, the chief of works is said to have based the designs upon a dream he had of what the restored castle might look like. Although they rebuilt the modern Eilean Donan on the footprint of the Medieval castle, they added and exaggerated lots of features. Scotland is full of castles , from the grand and still lived in , to evocative ruins, now haunted by birds, beasts, and the ghosts of the past, there are hundreds of these historical buildings.

No evidence has been found of any early Christian occupation, but that does not mean it is not there, buried beneath the current thick castle walls. What has been discovered by archaeologists is vitrified rock — a common practice during the Iron Age, when the builders of hillforts subjected their walls to high temperatures and fused and even melted the stone.

No one is exactly sure why this was the case, but it does point to occupation of this tiny island stretching for perhaps years. The first documented castle was built in the 13th century during the reign of the Scottish King Alexander II. Initially, nearly the whole island was contained by a wall, much larger than the current castle, and ensuring a solid bastion in what were the borderlands between the Viking Lords of the Isles to the west and north, and the Kingdom of the Scots.

The highest point of the island housed the substantial main keep, and towers gave excellent opportunity to spot any encroaching Vikings, and fire down upon them. Folk-tales tell of the son of the Chief of the Matheson Clan who did this, and later began to talk to the birds! He had many adventures, travelling for many years, and over many miles, before returning to his homeland. The King was so taken with his tales and skill that he asked him to build the castle.

A different legend states that the island was the burial place of the King of the Otters, whose descendants can be seen on the shores to this day. Manning a vast castle was expensive and difficult, and a smaller building on a tiny island was just as easily defended — by fewer soldiers.

Even for shallow-keeled boats, the waters around Eilean Donan are not very deep and, as such, potential attackers would have to wade ashore, their woollen garments, arms and armour weighing them down before they even got close to the walls.

The other clans who have held a long historical relationship with the castle include the MacRaes the personal bodyguards of the Chief of the MacKenzie clan , the MacLennans, and the MacKenzies, with the defence and ownership of Eilean Donan switching between these allies over the centuries.