Bridge and Castle Buildings, Urquhart castle, Loch Ness, Highlands, Scotland, U.K Situated in one of Scotland’s most dramatic locations, the ruins of Urquhart Castle reflect the castle’s turbulent past. A lively visitor centre sheds further light on everyday life at the castle. Historical background According to records, St Columba visited Loch Ness around 580. He travelled through Glen Urquhart, pausing to banish a marauding ’water beast’ and to baptise a Pictish nobleman as he lay dying in his fort. Although there is no concrete evidence to link this fort with the site at Urquhart, archaeological remains confirm that the highest part of the castle was a well-fortified site at this time. The castle surfaces from obscurity more than five hundred years later, around 1230, when Alexander II granted the Urquhart estate to Sir Thomas le Durward. His son, Alan, constructed the first castle on the south of the promontory at Urquhart. Holding a key strategic position in the glen, the castle suffered during the Wars of Independence. Captured by Edward I of England in 1296, it was surrendered to the Scots in 1298. The castle soon changed hands again when in 1308 Robert the Bruce took control of Urquhart for the Scottish Crown. From the end of the 14th century, the focus of conflict shifted to the west. The new enemies were the MacDonald clan, the Lords of the Isles. In 1395 the MacDonalds seized the lands and castle of Urquhart and for the next hundred years, the castle and

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