Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/93

 LOCH-AN-EILAN CASTLE 73 FIRST PERIOD LOCH-AN-EILAN CASTLE, INVERNESS-SHIRE. This castle (Fig. 50), like Lochindorb, is situated on an island in the middle of a loch, surrounded with lofty mountains. The loch is about 1 mile in length, and a quarter of a mile broad. It lies in the midst of the remains of the ancient forest of Rothiemurchus, in Inverness- shire, about 3 miles from the Aviemore Station of the Highland Railway. This castle was also one of the strongholds of the Wolf of Badenoch. It is now occupied by ospreys, whose nest is seen on the top of the tower to the right, and, in order to save them from disturbance, no boats are allowed on the loch, and it is therefore impossible to examine the build- ings, or make a plan of them. They appear, however, to consist of the same high and massive enclosing walls as Lochindorb, and the whole island seems to have been enclosed by the walls. There was a strong square tower to the right, the walls of which rise perpendicularly from the water's edge, while the adjoining central curtain, in which is the entrance door, is battered or sloped inwards. INVERLOCHY CASTLE, INVERNESS-SHIRE. Inverlochy Castle, Inverness-shire, is situated on level ground on the south side of the river Lochy, a short way above its junction with Loch Linnhe, and about 2 miles from Fort-William. There is no record of the origin of this castle, but, according to the Statistical Account, tradition says that it was built by the Comyns. In the absence of any proper history, it has been conjectured that it may have been erected in the latter half of the fifteenth century by George, second Earl of Huntly, and it is stated to have been still unfin- ished in the time of Charles n. As will be hereafter pointed out, some great castles with quadrangles were erected in the fifteenth century, but their leading characteristics are different from those of Inverlochy. They have high and thick enclosing walls, and sometimes round towers also, but the walls of the enceinte inva- riably form an integral part of the buildings which compose the castle. In this case the walls of the enceinte stand alone, without connection with any internal buildings, nor are there any windows or shot-holes in the walls (such as we invariably find in fifteenth-century work) to indicate that any buildings of that kind ever existed. A glance at the plan (Fig. 51) will show that it has much more affinity with the arrangements of the thirteenth-century castles above described, while its great round towers projecting boldly at the four angles bring it into connection with the more finished castles of the period about to be referred to. Inverlochy Castle consists of a great courtyard, measuring 101 feet from north to south, by 90 feet from east to west, surrounded by walls of