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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 records that date back to the 14th century although the original Tower of Foulis was believed to have been built in 1154. In 1542 Donald Mackay of Strathnaver, chief of the Clan Mackay was imprisoned in Foulis Castle, when he was captured after the Battle of Alltan-Beath.
The castle survived up to the 18th century until it was attacked by Jacobites in 1746. Sir Robert Munro, 6th Baronet was killed at the Battle of Falkirk Muir in 1746 and the castle was sacked and burned by the Jacobites in the same year. Robert's son the next successive chief, Sir Harry Munro, 7th Baronet returned home from captivity to find the castle had been set on fire and much of the castle had been destroyed. The Jacobites were defeated just a few months later by Government forces at the Battle of Culloden. Sir Harry Munro set about rebuilding the castle incorporating what he could of the original building. However as the Battle of Culloden had brought a complete end to the Highland clan system there was no need for such a defensive fort anymore. As with many castles at this time it was re-built as a large mansion house as we see it today. The castle was re-built as a large classical mansion between 1754 and 1792. Foulis Castle still remains the home of the Chief of Munro, Hector W Munro of Foulis.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.