Publication Account

Date 1977

Event ID 1018423

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018423

The castle at Inverness dates from the period of William the Lion's ll79 campaign in the North and is in all likelihood a David I erection (Barrow, 1960, 44) Castle and burgh both had a stormy history in the middle ages. Captured by Bruce in 1308 (Barrow, 1965, 279), the castle was refurbished in 1362 when news of war was imminent, and was used for sheriff courts in the last half of the fourteenth century. Accounts for 1412-1415 in the Exchequer Rolls suggest that the Earl of Mar rebuilt the castle at Inverness, including turrets and a stone surrounding wall. In 1508 the third Earl of Huntly was given a commission as justiciar of the North and ordered to carry out improvements on the castle, including the construction of a hall, kitchen and chapel. This project was not, however, carried out until 1540 (Macdonald, 1895-1899, 278). Although garrisoned for a short time by Hanoverian troops after the '15, it was described by Captain Burt in 1735 as being ruinous. Jacobite rebels in 1746 blew up the castle. The present castellated structure on Castle Hill was built between 1843 and 1836. All that remains of the previous castles is a well, discovered in 1909, the stairway leading to Castle Street and part of the rampart wall between Castle Street and the Castle Hill itself (Ordnance Survey, Record Cards, Reference NH 64 NE 9).

Information from ‘Historic Inverness: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1977).