Scotland · Restored
Dornoch Castle
Dornoch Castle is a late-medieval fortified residence in the town of Dornoch, Scotland, originally built around 1500 as the Palace of Dornoch for the bishops of Caithness. The building was repaired and altered several times and by the late 19th century displayed additional towers and heightened blocks. Today the structure survives as a restored building in use as a hotel.
Its prime
1880
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1880
What Dornoch Castle looked like in its prime.
A compact, street-front castle of warm brown ashlar sandstone composed of irregular connected blocks and towers. A prominent cylindrical corner tower with narrow vertically aligned windows rises above adjacent pitched slate roofs; an added three-storey east tower and a heightened south‑west block alter the roofline. Numerous tall stone chimney stacks, dormer windows and a ground-level arched entrance face Castle Street opposite the cathedral; the masonry shows dressed stonework and corbelled turret details.
Its story
The story of Dornoch Castle.
A Palace for the Bishops of Caithness, c.1500-1557
Dornoch Castle began around 1500 as the Palace of Dornoch, raised opposite Dornoch Cathedral as the home of the bishops of Caithness. In 1557 Bishop Robert Stewart gifted the building to John Gordon, 11th Earl of Sutherland, and his heirs, who were made hereditary constables of a palace "situated in the Irish (Gaelic-speaking) country among the wild, unbridled, untamed, and savage Scots."
Burned in the McKay and Murray Feud, 1570
In 1570 the castle was set alight in a feud between the McKays and the Murrays. The people of the town endured a week in the tower of the cathedral and in the castle. The rebuilding which followed included the addition of the upper part of the tower.
Decay, Restoration and the Sheriff's Court, 17th Century to 1859
The castle was believed to have been haunted by the ghost of Andrew McCornish, a covenanter hanged for sheep stealing in the 17th century.
The building decayed during the 18th century and was restored between 1813 and 1814. In the first half of the 19th century court hearings were held in a room in the tower, reached by a spiral staircase, until Dornoch Sheriff Court was erected further east along Castle Street in 1850. After extensive remodelling by William Fowler, the castle became a residence for George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, in 1859.
Sale, Hotel and Distillery, 1880-2000
Further alterations were made around 1880, among them the heightening of the south-west block and the addition of a three-storey east tower. The castle was sold to a private developer in 1922 and converted into a hotel in 1947, its facilities including 24 bedrooms and some garden rooms, which were added in the 1970s. It was listed as a category B building in March 1971. Since 2000 it has been in the ownership of the Thompson family, who also own and operate the Dornoch distillery next to the hotel.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1880.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Dornoch Castle, including 2 interiors: spiral staircase (tower), tower courtroom. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Recreate Dornoch Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Dornoch Castle.
The families that held Dornoch Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Gifted in 1557 to John Gordon, 11th Earl of Sutherland, and his heirs as hereditary constables of the Palace of Dornoch.
Sutherland-Leveson-Gower
Residence of George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, from 1859; sold to a developer in 1922.
