BILL MCALLISTER: Ever-changing castle has weathered the centuries
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The fencing off of Inverness Castle for refurbishment is unsightly and disappointing to visitors. Ironically, this echoes the original fortress.
For it was a wooden paling which was the first “castle” a thousand years ago – the hill constructed for the purpose. Earth from the Longman beach created height to dominate the town and ford across the Ness.
When Macbeth killed King Duncan I near Elgin in 1040, there was a “castle” in Inverness. Macbeth spent little time there but one theory is he was seeking refuge there when Malcolm III’s men caught and killed him in Aberdeenshire.
Out of spite, Malcolm is said to have destroyed Inverness Castle and his son, David I, built a new one, which, for the first time, included some stone.
Shaw MacDuff, who accompanied Malcolm IV to quell a Moray revolt in 1163, was made hereditary Constable of the castle and his family held the office for more than two centuries.
The castle has had a lively existence, burned down several times and captured and recaptured in clan conflicts, the Civil War, Covenanters War and Jacobite Risings.
In 1297 it was captured by William Wallace and Andrew de Moray. In 1303 it was retrieved by Edward’s forces only for Robert the Bruce to later burn it down.
A newer version had been built by 1383 while substantial fortifications, including a new north tower, were introduced around 1400.
King James I summoned clan chiefs to the castle in 1427 and promptly arrested many of them, imprisoning some in the tower, executing others and scattering the rest in prisons.
A spacious hall, kitchen and chapel were added in 1508 by the governor, the Earl of Huntly.
In 1718, after the first Jacobite rising, government rebuilt the castle, converting part into barracks and adding a governor’s residence. According to one account, what was then renamed Fort George stood six storeys high.
The castle was demolished by the Jacobites in 1746 to avoid Hanoverian occupation. A French officer named L’Epine lit the fuse, thought it had failed and approached, his dog following. An explosion erupted and L’Epine died.
Across the river, on the opposite bank, was the “flying” dog, which lost its tail but otherwise suffered only minor injuries!
The ruin’s stone was often raided by local builders, while a new Fort George was built at Ardersier – Inverness council asking too high a price to lease Castle Hill for a rebuild.
In 1834 then owner Duke of Gordon sold the site to the council and two years later, for £7000, its present shape emerged as a sheriff courthouse, designed by Edinburgh architect William Burn, with magistrates, masonic lodges and school pupils at the opening.
By 1849 a jail had been added at the end by the town house. It closed in 1901.
Inverness-shire County Council commandeered the former jail for its meetings – I actually reported there as a young journalist – and reorganisation in 1975 saw that council replaced by Highland Regional Council.
Was the first castle at Auldcastle Road, as local lore suggests, with its commanding view of any attacks from the sea or Moray?
It would certainly have been a good location – but the fact is that no accurate record exists of this being the case.
Now there is a palisade around Castle Hill again and I’m told the firm transforming it carried out the rebuilding of Windsor Castle after the blaze there 30 years ago.
The visitors coming will usher in a new era for our old castle….
Sponsored by Ness Castle Lodges.
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