Eilean Donan, Scotland, 2022 (Explored November 16, 2022)
Eilean Donan (the Island of Donnán) is a small tidal island situated at the confluence of three sea lochs (Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh) in the western Highlands of Scotland. The Island’s most striking feature is a castle by the same name that was built in the 13th century that was used as a stronghold by Clan Mackenzie and Clan MacRae. The island is named after Donnán of Eigg, a Celtic saint who was martyred in 617 who is believed to have established a church on the island, of which no trace remains.
In the early thirteenth century, during the reign of Alexander II, a large curtain-wall castle (wall of enceinte) was built to enclose much of the island. At the time, the area around the island was at the boundary of the Norse-Celtic Lordship of the Isles and the Earldom of Ross: Eilean Donan provided a strong defensive position against Norse expeditions.
A founding legend has it that the son of a chief of the Mathesons acquired the power to communicate with birds; as a result of this power, and after many adventures overseas, he gained wealth, power, and the respect of Alexander II, who asked him to build the castle to defend his realm.
After the Mackenzies' involvement in the Jacobite rebellions early in the 18th century, government ships destroyed the castle in 1719. The present-day castle is Lieutenant-Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap's 20th-century reconstruction of the old castle.
Eilean Donan, Scotland, 2022 (Explored November 16, 2022)
Eilean Donan (the Island of Donnán) is a small tidal island situated at the confluence of three sea lochs (Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh) in the western Highlands of Scotland. The Island’s most striking feature is a castle by the same name that was built in the 13th century that was used as a stronghold by Clan Mackenzie and Clan MacRae. The island is named after Donnán of Eigg, a Celtic saint who was martyred in 617 who is believed to have established a church on the island, of which no trace remains.
In the early thirteenth century, during the reign of Alexander II, a large curtain-wall castle (wall of enceinte) was built to enclose much of the island. At the time, the area around the island was at the boundary of the Norse-Celtic Lordship of the Isles and the Earldom of Ross: Eilean Donan provided a strong defensive position against Norse expeditions.
A founding legend has it that the son of a chief of the Mathesons acquired the power to communicate with birds; as a result of this power, and after many adventures overseas, he gained wealth, power, and the respect of Alexander II, who asked him to build the castle to defend his realm.
After the Mackenzies' involvement in the Jacobite rebellions early in the 18th century, government ships destroyed the castle in 1719. The present-day castle is Lieutenant-Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap's 20th-century reconstruction of the old castle.