Kilcoy Castle

Kilcoy Castle is a Z-plan fortalice near Muir of Ord and Tore on the Black Isle, in Ross and Cromarty. Building began as early as 1580 under the Stewart family, and the work was completed around 1618 by Alexander Mackenzie, third son of Colin Cam Mackenzie of Kintail; the castle dates from no later than that year.

Alexander Mackenzie came to Kilcoy by marriage, under a contract of 15 August 1611, to the widow of Sir James Stewart of Kilcoy. That match brought him a charter of the lands of Kilcoy dated 18 July 1616 and a further charter of the Barony of Kilcoy dated 29 January 1618.

The tower house rises through five storeys, with two round corner towers and many gun loops, its crow-stepped gables carrying dormer-head windows of probably late 17th-century date. The estates passed through the male line of the Mackenzies of Kilcoy until the death in 1883 of Sir Evan Mackenzie, 2nd Baronet, when they were inherited by his eldest daughter, who married a Colonel Burton.

Kilcoy fell into a ruinous state during the late 18th and 19th centuries. It was restored in about 1891 by the Inverness architects Ross and McBeth, who added a four-storey wing to the north.

The castle is owned by relations of the original Stewart builders of Kilcoy. The Menkings of Kilcoy maintain it as their official residence but are rarely in residence, and it is used primarily for evangelical and charitable purposes, regularly hosting events for Christian and local charities; the Garioch Charitable Trust holds its annual trustee meetings there. Mark Menking of Kilcoy, the current Baron of Kilcoy, is heir to the Lordship of the Garioch in Aberdeenshire, held by George David Menking of Garioch. The gardens are periodically open to the public under Scotland's Gardens Scheme, and the castle has been a category A listed building since 1971.