A Brief History: Ardvreck Castle

Ardvreck Castle has got to be one of our most favorite castles in Scotland (so far!)
The ruins of the castle sit in the middle of Loch Assynt surrounded by glorious mountains that will simply take your breath away.

The castle was built in the 15th century by the McLeod Clan and has quite a bit of inglorious history about it. Marquis of Montrose sought refuge here in 1650 after losing the battle of Carbisdale to a much smaller army. After seeking sanctuary, Neil McLeod’s wife Christine tricked Marquis into the castles dungeon and sent government troops to come and collect him, where he was executed a month later in Edinburgh. A massive violation and betrayal of highland hospitality.

The castle was attacked and captured in 1672 by the Mackenzies of Assynt (karmic retribution in our opinion!) and in 1726 they replaced it with the more modern Calda House - which the ruins can also be seen from Ardvreck Castle.

Not a huge and lengthy history to this castle, but it doesn’t matter in our opinion! It’s one of the easier castles to access, looks fabulous in rain, snow or sunshine (even better if you’re rocking a red dress) and well worth a stop on your NC500 journey.

We hope you enjoyed your brief history of Ardvreck Castle and are super keen to visit this amazing ruin! Let us know below which castle you’d love to know more about.