Urquhart Castle

One of the largest castles in Scotland, this extensive ruin occupies a commanding situation on a promontory jutting forth into Loch Ness, and must have been even more imposing before the level of the water was raised. Occupying the site of a vitrified fort, the castle began as a motte with a double bailey, the defences of which were rehabilitated in stone during the fourteenth century. Most of the existing buildings, however, including the gate-house and the upper part of the great square tower, date from after the Chiefs of Grant got possession of the castle in 1509. It has played a great part in Scottish history from the invasion of Edward I until the Jacobite rising of 1689, after which it was blown up. Located on the west shore of Loch Ness, one and a half miles south-east of Drumnadrochit.