Kinkell Castle, also known as the Tower of Kinkell, is a castle located in the parish

Urquhart and Logie Wester Urquhart and Logie Wester is a parish within the historic county of Ross and Cromarty, Scotland. It is situated in the area known as the Black Isle and is in the Highland (council area), Highland council area. History The parishes of Urquhart ...

, in the former county of

Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty (), is an area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. In modern usage, it is a registration county and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. Between 1889 and 1975 it was a Shires of Scotland, county. Historical ...

, on the peninsula known as the

Black Isle The Black Isle (, ) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the villages of Culbokie, Resolis, Jemimaville, Rosemarkie, Avoch, Munlochy, Tore, and North Kesso ...

, in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

. It was the seat of the Mackenzies of Gairloch, a branch of the

Clan Mackenzie Clan Mackenzie ( ) is a Highland Scottish clan associated with Kintail and Ross-shire. Its chiefs trace their lineage to the 12th century, though the earliest recorded chief is Alexander Mackenzie of Kintail, who died after 1471. The clan suppo ...

Architecture

It is three

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 ...

s tall and also has an

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

. It includes a round tower that houses the stairs and is topped with a watch room. The basement is

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 ...

and once contained the kitchen. The

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...

was on the floor above. The entrance is guarded by gun loops. It is a

Z-plan castle Z-plan is a form of castle design common in Scotland and England. The Z-plan castle has a strong central rectangular tower with smaller towers attached at diagonally opposite corners. Prominent examples of the Z-plan include Brodie Castle in Mor ...

History

The castle was constructed in the 1590s for John Roy Mackenzie, IV of Gairloch. A keystone above the fireplace has the date 1594. In 1619, Mackenzie received a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

under the

Great Seal of Scotland The Great Seal of Scotland (; also the Scottish Seal; formally the Seal appointed by the Treaty of Union to be kept and made use of in place of the Great Seal of Scotland) is a seal used by the first minister of Scotland to seal letters pate ...

for Kinkell to be included in his barony of

Gairloch Gairloch ( ; , meaning "Short Loch") is a village, civil parish and community on the shores of Loch Gairloch in Wester Ross, in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. A tourist destination in the summer months, Gairloch has a golf course, a ...

and for Kinkell to be its chief

messuage In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...

. His

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

and those of his first wife are above the

mantlepiece The fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and c ...

in the great hall. From 1968, the castle was restored by the pop artist

Gerald Laing Gerald Ogilvie-Laing (11 February 1936 – 23 November 2011) was a British pop artist and sculptor. He lived in the Scottish Highlands. Early life Laing was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 11 February 1936, a son of Maj. and Mrs. Gerald Ogilvi ...

and used as the Back Isle Bronze Age foundry for

bronze casting Lost-wax castingalso called investment casting, precision casting, or ''cire perdue'' (; borrowed from French)is the process by which a duplicate sculpture (often a metal, such as silver, gold, brass, or bronze) is cast from an original sculp ...

. He died in 2011 and it has since been maintained by his son. The castle has been

A listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom. For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland. Key The organization of the lists in th ...

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

since March 25, 1971.

References

External links

* * {{coord, 57.55588, -4.41855, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title

Kinkell Castle Kinkell Castle, also known as the Tower of Kinkell, is a castle located in the parish Urquhart and Logie Wester, in the former county of Ross and Cromarty, on the peninsula known as the Black Isle, in the Scottish Highlands. It was the seat of the ...