Dingwall Castle

Dingwall Castle was a medieval fort and royal castle in the town of Dingwall, in eastern Ross-shire, and the site is believed to have been established by Norse settlers in the area in the eleventh century. During the Wars of Scottish Independence the castle was garrisoned by the forces of Edward I of England, and was afterwards captured for Robert the Bruce by Scottish forces led by Uilleam II, Earl of Ross, chief of Clan Ross. From Dingwall the earl led the men of Ross to fight the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, and in 1321 King Robert granted him the castle together with the town and lands of Dingwall as his reward.

In 1370 a feud arose between William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland, and Iye Mackay, 4th of Strathnaver, and a meeting was arranged at Dingwall Castle to resolve it. Iye Mackay and his son Donald were both murdered in the castle while they slept, by Nicholas Sutherland, 1st of Duffus, brother of the Earl of Sutherland.

Sometime at the beginning of the fifteenth century the governor of the castle, an appointee of Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, is said to have met Thomas Munro, brother of Hugh Munro, 9th Baron of Foulis, at the village of Maryburgh; after an argument dirks were drawn, and Munro killed him. The governor who followed him was in turn said to have been assassinated by one of the Munros, and a Mackay put in his place.

In 1411, shortly before the Battle of Harlaw, Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles and chief of Clan Donald, captured Dingwall Castle as part of his pursuit of the earldom of Ross by right of his wife, Mariota Leslie. In 1436 the next Clan Donald chief, Alexander of Islay, was officially recognised as Earl of Ross and took up his residence at the castle. His son John of Islay fared less well: the earldom was confiscated and in 1475 the castle became a royal possession once more. John Munro, 11th Baron of Foulis, was then made governor, succeeded by Andrew Munro, 2nd of Milntown, and in 1488 by Sir James Dunbar.

In 1507 Andrew Stewart, Bishop of Caithness, carried out improvements after the castle had been assaulted by the MacDonalds and Mackenzies, and a new great hall was built. The governorship then passed through a run of crown men: John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl, from 1516 to 1522; James Stewart, Earl of Moray, brother of James V; David Sinclair, until 1550; and George Munro, 4th of Milntown, also known as "of Docharty", in 1561. In October 1568 supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots, captured Dingwall Castle. Sir Andrew Keith, Lord Dingwall, held the governorship in 1584, and Sir John Preston, later Earl of Desmond, in 1605.

The Crown abandoned Dingwall Castle in about 1600 and it eventually fell into ruin; it ceased to be maintained after the death of James VI in 1625. It was then used as a quarry until 1817, when it was finally levelled, and only a few fragments remain. A tunnel ran from the castle site to the basement of nearby Tulloch Castle; it has since collapsed, though the passageway can still be viewed through an air vent on the front lawn of Tulloch's grounds. The remains have been protected as a scheduled monument since 2001.