Dalcross Castle is a restored 17th century

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

, about southwest of Croy,

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and about northeast of

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

. The castle stands on a ridge.Lindsay, Maurice (1986) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Constable. p.180

History

The

Frasers of Lovat The following is a list of the chiefs of the Clan Fraser of Lovat. The Chiefs of Clan Fraser often use the Gaelic patronym MacShimidh. Two Chiefs dispute On 1 May 1984, by decree of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the 21st Lady Saltoun was made'' "C ...

owned the property and the 6th Lord Lovat built a castle here in 1621. The property passed onto the Mackintoshes soon after. Sir Lachlan Mackintosh of Mackintosh, clan chief, died here in 1704. By 1731 the next chief, also Lachlan, died and his body was interred at Dalcross so that his people could pay their respects. When he was buried in the family vault at Petty some 4,000 people attended with the cortege stretching four miles from Dalcross to Petty. Prior to the

battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...

the

Hanoverian The adjective Hanoverian is used to describe: * British monarchs or supporters of the House of Hanover, the dynasty which ruled the United Kingdom from 1714 to 1901 * things relating to; ** Electorate of Hanover ** Kingdom of Hanover ** Province of ...

troops mustered here in 1746. The house was abandoned, and became ruinous, but it was restored and reoccupied in the 20th century, by descendants of the Mackintosh

lairds Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gent ...

. The restoration of the castle was probably by W L Carruthers, in 1896. The castle became a category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

on 5 October 1971, and the entrance arch and gate lodge became a category C

17 April 1986. In 1987 it was also listed as a

Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland The ''Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland'' is a listing of gardens and designed landscapes of national artistic and/or historical significance, in Scotland. The Inventory was originally compiled in 1987, although it is a cont ...

. It was bought in 1996 and modernised by Maxwell & Company Architects. The project was completed in 2003. By 2008 the castle was available for up to 12 guests to stay in.

Structure

Although referred to as an

L-plan An L-plan castle is a castle or tower house in the shape of an L, typically built from the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other locations ...

castle, it may be better described as two offset wings joined at the corner. One wing has five storeys and an attic, while the other has three, their connection being a projecting square tower, which has a

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging turret projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th c ...

, and is topped by a garbled watch-chamber, this creates two re-entrant angles. There have been extensions since the castle was originally built, including a two-storey 18th-century addition to the north

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

. There are many gunloops and shot-holes in the walls, while many windows still have their iron

yett A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for "gate") is a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses. Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mech ...

s. At the foot of the square stair-tower is the entrance from the

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...

, leading to a

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

. This basement contains cellars, a

kitchen A kitchen is a room (architecture), room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a Kitchen stove, stove, a sink ...

with a large

arched An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. ...

, and a

wine cellar A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae, or plastic containers. In an ''active'' wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control s ...

with a small

staircase A stairwell or stair room is a room in a building where a stair is located, and is used to connect walkways between floors so that one can move in height. Collectively, a set of stairs and a stairwell is referred to as a staircase or stairway ...

to the fine first

storey A storey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or story (American English), is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the wor ...

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

, which may also be reached by the wide main stair. above. The

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

chimney piece has a moulded surround a coat of arms, and the motto, “Je Trouve Bien”. The upper bedroom quarters may be reached by a small turnpike stair. A massive

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

stack tops the east wall of the north wing. The building is of red rubble, with tooled and polished ashlar dressings. The doorway has filleted roll to moulded door jambs, and stepped

hood mould In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin , lip), drip mould or dripstone is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a '' pediment''. This moulding can be ...

. The panel above the doorway shows the date 1720. Some windows, including dormers, were added in 1896. There are gardens surrounded by a coped wall of red rubble.

Notes

References

External links

*
Dalcross Castle accommodation near Inverness, Scotland

Dalcross Castle , ScotlandsPlaces
* {{Authority control Castles in Highland (council area) Category A listed buildings in Highland (council area) Listed castles in Scotland Tower houses in Scotland

History

Structure

Notes

References

Further reading

External links