Eilean Ghruididh

NG96NE 1 9517 6927.

(NG 9515 6927) Eilean Grudidh on Loch Maree was one of the strongholds of the MacBeaths, who came from Assynt 'presumably in the thirteenth century'. They were ousted from the area in or shortly after 1430 by the M'Leods who were in turn driven out by 1513.

On Eilean Grudidh 'the natural rocky bank of the island appears to have been completed and heightened into a fortification by rude masonry cemented with clay. This fortification surrounded the island; the interior formed a tolerably level plateau, now much overgrown; on this plateau are slight remains of buildings, which in the present day are little more than mounds. At one place there is a deep hole with a circular wall round it; tradition says this was a dungeon. The area of Eilean Grudidh is barely half an acre.

J H Dixon 1886; B G Macrow 1953.

The fortification on the wooded 'Eilean Grudidh' on Loch Maree is generally as described. It is diamond shape in plan and measures 44.0m N to S by 36.0 diagonally with walls 1.0m thick and 2.0m high. There is no trace of any buildings in the central area, although the dungeon referred to, measuring 5.6m in diameter by 1.8m deep, can be seen in the SE corner. There is a recess at the N corner, probably the entrance, which leads up from the shore line to the inner plateau.

Visited by OS (R D) 8 April 1965.