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Day 7, July 8th
URQUHART
CASTLE!

“After the [Corrimony Cairn & Pooh Stick]
excursion we head for Urquhart [“ER-cut”]
Castle where you have about an hour to
explore both it and its new, and very
impressive, visitor center.

The normal price is £5.50,
but admission is included in the
price of your tour
so there is no extra to pay.”

“Since 1692, “Scotland's third largest castle
was left as a ruin, plundered for stone and
only protected since the nineteen-thirties.

Today it is in the care of Historic Scotland
... an arm of the government.”

BELOW read a bit o’ HISTORY blatantly stolen from an
Urquhart Castle Website (accompanied by color renderings),
OR … SKIP to MY Urquhart Castle Pix

“Urquhart Castle was [started in the thirteenth century, and was] built both as a fortress and as a residence. In war-time its strategic military position provided the lord and those under his protection with as secure a defense as it was possible to achieve. Urquhart Castle witnessed a lot of warlike activity throughout its 500 year history. It figured prominently in the Scots' struggle for independence from England in the fourteenth century [when Robert the Bruce laid siege to it, capturing it in 1308] …”


(A model of Urquhart Castle)

(An artist’s rendering of Urquhart Castle)

“The Revolution of 1689, which saw the flight into exile of the last Stewart king, James VII of Scotland and II of England, and his replacement by the Protestant William and Mary, saw the castle garrisoned for the last time. … the place was last inhabited by government troops during the Jacobite troubles in the 1690s [during the FIRST “rising”]. … When the Jacobites eventually withdrew [abandoning their siege in 1692] the [occupying] British army blew it up with gunpowder to stop it being occupied by Jacobite forces.”

“The castle stands on a rugged and irregular promontory jutting into the ice-cold waters of Loch Ness. The landward side of the promontory, most vulnerable to attack, was defended by a great rock cut ditch, 30m across at its widest and an average of 5m deep. The ditch was crossed by a stone causeway with a gap in the middle. A modern gangway replaces the drawbridge that once crossed it.

The drawbridge was operated from a wooden superstructure long since removed, but the post holes supporting the structure can still be seen, as well as the stone buttresses on either side which counteracted the immense thrust of the timbers and lifting mechanism.”

“The northern half of the promontory, on the left from the gatehouse, is called the nether (or lower) bailey. If the first castle was centered on the upper bailey, it is clear that by
the fifteenth century the heart of the castle had moved to the nether bailey, and particularly to the lofty tower-house
at its far end.

The nether bailey was also defended by a stone curtain wall skirting the outer edge of the rock. It survives to a greater height and the west or landward wall has various loopholes through which archers and gunners could shoot at the
besieging force.”

“The most prominent feature of the entire castle is the tower-house at the northern end of the promontory.

It is also almost the only part of the complex retaining distinctive architectural detail. Because of this it is more closely dateable than the rest of the castle. The massively thick basement walls probably belong to the late fourteenth century.

The tower-house itself dates to the sixteenth century and was probably the ‘tower’ which King James IV instructed John Grant of Freuchie ‘to repair or build at the castle’ in 1509.

The parapets and turrets at the top, later alterations, may be the work of the master mason James Moray, who was carrying out major repairs to the castle in 1623.

The tower-house was the lord's private residence in the castle.”

The weather for my
visit was overcast, but
NOT dark & misty!
(As in this fabulous Pic!)

In fact, the weather couldn’t
have been more perfect
for my visit this day!

Here Come MY PIX!

The all new Urquhart Castle Visitor Center shows a very well made VIDEO presentation about the castle and its history on the hour – every hour. So, you can do some shopping in the center’s large Gift Shoppe either before or after the video. Once finished with the Visitor Center, you hike down a cement path to the Castle Ruins.

The original
MOAT
is empty,
but it’s
still there.

The
“drawbridge”
is gone –
replaced by
a very sturdy
“regular” bridge.

Get over it.
As you approach
the castle, you
walk right past
what appears to
be an entirely
OPERATIONAL
“Trebuchet.”

What’s a
“Trebuchet?”

It’s a medieval
“catapult”
used to hurl
stones (or the like)
into Castle walls,
for the purpose
of bringing them
DOWN!

As you
cross over
the bridge,
BAGPIPE
music
– and/or
Celtic
music
– can
be heard.
That’s because
there are
musicians
playing in
the “loft”
portion of
the Castle
ruins that are
immediately
above
the bridge.

Hereafter, is simply a collection o’ PIX I took while touring the Castle.
This PIC
was taken
from the
BOAT
I boarded
(after touring
the Castle)
to SAIL
LOCH
NESS!

Go To the LAST DAY SEVEN Pix Page:
LOCH NESS CRUISE

Return to CHAS’ UK Trip Directory Days 6 through 12

Return to CHAS’ UK Trip Directory Days 1 through 5

Return to the Miller Fandamily PIX DIRECTORY

Return to The Miller Fandamily’s HOME PAGE
(the one with other Main-Directory Page Links)

If you have suggestions for The Miller Fandamily Web Site,
OR contributions to the photo gallery!
please Email WebMistress Chas!
c-d-miller@neb.rr.com
That’s: c-d-miller@neb.rr.com –
those are hyphens/dashes (-) between the “c” and “d” and “miller”