Urquhart Castle is at the northern part of Loch Ness.It is a midieval castle that was in an ideal location for a fortress, with water of the Loch on three sides.
The first mention of anyone on the site of what would later be the castle was in 580, when a monk visited the area on his way to Inverness to convert the king of the Picks to Christianity. He found an elderly man at the location of the future castle, and he taught the man and baptised him, along with his family. This monk was also the first recorded person to have claimed to have see the Loch Ness Monster.
The castle was built in the 1200's. Through the years there were battles over the ownership of the castle between the English kings and the MacDonald clan. It was last garrisoned by the English in the 1600's. When they left the site for the last time, they blew up the gatehouse so that the castle could not be used any more for a military stronghold.
As interest in the history of the area has grown, the castle ruins have become a popular tourist attraction.
The first photo shows a model of a Trebuchet,a war machine. It was a giant catapult for hurling stone balls at the walls of castles.
The following is a photo of the countryside as we were leaving the Loch Ness area and driving southeast from Inverness (at the northern end of Loch Ness) toward Stirling and Edinburgh.
2 comments:
Did you see the Loch Ness Monster? You could have solve a lot of speculations. Those pictures were interesting. Such pretty country.
Did you happen to see this castle at night? It was lit up with soft, dim yellow lights which made it look creepy against the backdrop of Loch Ness. Overall, I was disappointed in Loch Ness after spending time at Loch Lomond.
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