Castles and fortifications in United Kingdom
Knockhall Castle Ruins
Knockhall Castle was built by Lord Sinclair of Newburgh in 1565. It was purchased by Clan Udny, who moved into the castle in 1634. The building was damaged in 1639 when taken by the Earl Marischal for the Covenanters, but was later returned to Udny hands. The Clan remained in the castle until 1734, when an accidental fire gutted the building and the Clan moved back to their other property, Udny Castle. Jamie Fleem ...
Founded: 1565 |
Location:
Newburgh, United Kingdom
Mahee Castle
Mahee Castle is a small ruined tower house near Nendrum Monastery on Mahee Island. It was built in 1570 by Captain Thomas Browne. It was abandoned by the early 17th century, and fell into disrepair. In 1923, H.C. Lawlor and the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society partly renovated the tower house to avoid further erosion and built a buttress wall to support the northwest corner of the tower.
Founded: 1570 |
Location:
Comber, United Kingdom
Kilmory Castle
Kilmory Castle is a large 19th-century house located just to the south of Lochgilphead. It is currently occupied by the headquarters of Argyll and Bute Council. The gardens are open to the public and form part of a country park on the former estate. There was a church at Kilmory in ancient times, and in the 1550s the church and lands of Kilmory were held by the Abbot of Paisley. In 1575 the estate was owned by Donald Cam ...
Founded: 1816-1820 |
Location:
Kilmory, United Kingdom
Mingarry Castle Ruins
Mingarry Castle was considered a strategically important site in terms of communication with overseas areas and as an entranceway to the Sound of Mull. Originally built in the 13th century for the Clan MacDonald of Ardnamurchan, the castle has had many different occupants. King James IV of Scotland used it as a stronghold for fighting off Clan Donald in the late 15th century. In 1515 the castle was besieged by the Clan Ma ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Highland, United Kingdom
Cowd Castle
Cowd Castle is a small two-storey tower which may date from the late 15th century or early 16th century. The doorway is in the west wall. A straight mural stairway (now blocked) led to the upper level.
Founded: 15th century |
Location:
Ardglass, United Kingdom
Westhall Castle
Westhall Castle includes a 16th-century L-plan tower house, which was substantially extended in the 17th and 19th century. The estate was held by the Bishops of Aberdeen in the 13th century, and passed to the Gordons during the Reformation. The original L-plan tower was constructed in the 16th century, with a round tower added in the 17th century. In 1681 it was purchased by the Rev James Horne, vicar of Elgin. Furt ...
Founded: 16th century |
Location:
Oyne, United Kingdom
Quoile Castle
Quoile Castle is a 16th-century tower house, which was inhabited into the 18th century. The south corner of the building has fallen down and shows a cross-section of the castle. In the north east wall the doorway has been rebuilt and gives access to a straight mural stairway. This is protected by murder-holes at the bottom and at the top. The inner doorway at the ground floor opens into a chamber with a stone vault an ...
Founded: 16th century |
Location:
Downpatrick, United Kingdom
Margaret's Castle
Margaret"s Castle is a small Tower house probably built in the 15th century. Only two storeys still exist but there is evidence that it was at least three storeys high. It is vaulted above the ground floor with a rectangular tower with projecting turrets in the north west wall. The doorway between the turrets was protected by a murder-hole. A spiral stairway rises within the west turret. Ardglass had at least six ...
Founded: 15th century |
Location:
Ardglass, United Kingdom
Greencastle
In a beautiful setting with excellent views of the Mourne Mountains and Carlingford Lough, Greencastle is mainly 13th-century in date. It was built at royal expense and guarded the southern approach to the Anglo-Norman Earldom of Ulster. After capturing the town of Carrickfergus in 1315/16, a Scottish army under Edward Bruce headed to the important town of Dundalk, one of the seats of Anglo-Norman power in Ireland. It wa ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Kilkeel, United Kingdom
Ardencaple Castle Tower
Today, all that remains of the Ardencaple Castle is a tower, perched on the edge of a plateau, looking down on a flat tract of land between it and the shore of the Firth of Clyde. The original castle was thought to have been built sometime in the 12th century, and part of the remains of the original castle were said to have existed in the 19th century. In 1957 most of the castle was demolished by the government in order t ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Helensburgh, United Kingdom
Dunderave Castle
Dunderave Castle is an L-plan castle built in the 16th century as the Scottish seat of the MacNaughton clan. The castle lies on a small promontory on the northern shores of Loch Fyne. The castle is in use as a residence. The present castle was built after their previous castle was destroyed following a Plague infection. The old castle, and remnants of McNaughton crannógs, can still be seen on the lochan known as th ...
Founded: c. 1500 |
Location:
Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
Kilravock Castle
Kilravock Castle was originally built around 1460 and has been the seat of the Clan Rose since that time. The castle is a composite of a 15th-century tower house and several later additions. The lands were owned by the Boscoe family and it passed via marriage of Andrew Boscoe to his wife Elizabeth Bissett of the Bissett family in the 12th century, after Bosco"s death his widow then deposed the lands via marriage of t ...
Founded: c. 1460 |
Location:
Highland, United Kingdom
Kinlochaline Castle
Kinlochaline Castle is a 12th-century Scottish castle located at the head of Loch Aline, positioned strategically for coastal defence. Four stories tall, 43 by 34 feet, with walls that are 10 feet thick blocks of rare sandstone. The castle was burned in 1644, when it was besieged by Alasdair Mac Colla during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The castle was attacked by the Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll in 1679, duri ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Highland, United Kingdom
Coeffin Castle Ruins
Coeffin Castle was built on the site of a Viking fortress. The name Coeffin is thought to come from Caifen who was a Viking prince, and whose sister supposedly haunted the castle until her remains were taken back to be buried beside her lover in Norway. Coeffin Castle was built in the 13th century, probably by the MacDougalls of Lorn. Lismore was an important site within their lordship, being the location of St. Moluag's ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
Castle Lachlan
Castle Lachlan, or New Castle Lachlan, is an 18th-century baronial mansion or country house located at Strathlachlan. It was built in 1790 by Donald Maclachlan, 19th laird, to replace the 15th century Old Castle Lachlan, which stands nearby on the shores of Loch Fyne.
Founded: 1790 |
Location:
Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
Kilclief Castle
Kilclief Castle was the earliest tower-house in Lecale area, and was built between 1412 and 1441. It was originally occupied by John Sely, who is said to have built the castle. John Sely was Bishop of Down from 1429 to 1443, when he was ejected and deprived of his offices for living there with Lettice Whailey Savage, a married woman. The building was garrisoned for the Crown by Nicholas Fitz Symon and ten warders from ...
Founded: 1412-1441 |
Location:
Strangford, United Kingdom
Kames Castle
Kames Castle is a castellated mansion house on the Isle of Bute. On the shore of Kames Bay near Port Bannatyne, the castle consists of a 14th-century tower, with a house built on it in the 18th Century. The Castle is set in 20 acres (81,000 m2) of planted grounds, including a two-acre 18th century walled garden. Originally the seat of the Bannatyne family, Kames is one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in Scotla ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Isle of Bute, United Kingdom
Levan Tower House
Levan Castle is a fortified tower house in Levan area of Gourock, Inverclyde. A building had been on the site from the 14th century, but the present structure was substantially enlarged after 1547 and formed part of the Ardgowan Estates. In the 19th century a large mansion was built within a few metres of the ruined castle and was given the same name. The original castle was renovated in the 1980s. The castle has un ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Gourock, United Kingdom
Bréhon Tower
An obelisk was erected on Bréhon island in 1744 to serve as a sea mark. However the lack of visibility of the obelisk led to its replacement in 1824 by a tower 40 ft high and 34 ft in circumference, topped by a globe. During the tenure (1803-1813) of Lieutenant Governor General Sir John Doyle, there were plans to erect a guardhouse on Bréhon, but nothing came of these. Doyle was responsible, however, for sub ...
Founded: 1854-1856 |
Location:
Guernsey, United Kingdom
Foulis Castle
Foulis Castle is a white washed mansion that incorporates an old tower house with gun loops. The castle was held by the Clan Munro from the 12th century or earlier and they had a stronghold there. The remains of an 11th-century Motte (man-made mound topped by a wooden palisade), believed to be the very first fortification at Foulis, still remain in the castle grounds today. Foulis Castle itself is mentioned briefly in re ...
Founded: c. 1154 |
Location:
Evanton, United Kingdom