On TOPWAR, perhaps, there has never been a story about such a romantic castle like this one. There were castles, mighty as rocks, vast - if you go around - you will knock your feet, ancient, beautiful, as if from a fairy tale, but this will be the first time. But before talking about the castle, let's say where it is. And it is located on "Donan's Island" - a small island in Loch Dewey, located one kilometer from the village of Dorney in the western Highlands. The island itself is part of the Kintile National Park, one of 40 such parks in Scotland. And on this island (or it would be more correct to say - an island) is one of the most famous castles in Scotland after Stirling - Eilean Donan Castle. This is one of the most photographed castles in this land of the Highlanders, was destroyed during the Jacobite uprisings and was rebuilt in the 20th century to become a kind of "icon of Scotland". Now this castle is open to the public, so you can visit it without any problems …
Eilen Donan's “Romantic Castle”.
And this is how he looked until 1912.
Eilean Donan Island gets its name from St. Donan, known as Donnan of the Eig, a Celtic priest who tried to preach Christianity among the savage Picts of northwest Scotland. Obviously, the Picts didn't like this. Therefore, by order of the Queen of the Picts, on April 17, 617, they burned him at the stake, and with him another 150 brothers in the faith.
Top view of the castle. The white building in the upper right corner is a hotel where you can stay and … admire the views of the castle from the window.
But before there was no bridge leading to the castle. And the question is, how were the building materials delivered there?
It is obvious that a Christian community was already established on the island, which gave it its name. Whatever it was, but at the beginning of the XII century, Alexander II (ruled 1214 - 1249), the then king of Scotland, built a castle on it to protect against the attacks of the Vikings.
The castle is very beautiful in good weather.
Whichever side you look at, this is a very unusual, albeit somewhat traditional building.
In 1266 it was handed over to Colin Fitzgerald as a reward for defeating Haakon IV of Norway at the battle near Eilen Donan. His descendants took the typical Scottish family name McKinsey and surrounded most of the island with a wall. Well, in 1511, another clan settled in the castle - the MacRee clan, long-term allies of McKinsey and life-long commandants of the Eilen Donan castle. In fact, both of these families received at their disposal a completely impregnable fortress, which could only be reached by boats, which was not always possible, however. Robert the Bruce also honored him with his stay. In the winter of 1306-07. the owners of the castle gave him refuge at a difficult time for him, but, in fact, its owners managed to avoid participation in the wars for independence of Scotland against the British.
Here it is - "keep" in all its glory. Below is a memorial plaque with the names of 500 members of the MacRee clan who died in the war.
However, Scotland has always lived "very fun" - one clan went to another, which even led to the so-called "clan wars". One ended, and then another began.
The family coat of arms of the owners of the castle and the year of the beginning of its restoration.
During this war in 1539, the MacDonald clan from Slit attacked the castle and laid siege to it for a long time. The commander of the troops of the MacDonald clan was a certain Donald Gorm, who learned that the garrison of the castle was small. In fact, there were only three people in it at all: the newly appointed constable Dubh Mathison, the warden and the son of the former constable McGillehreezd, who killed several MacDonald's in the process. The attackers managed to kill Matheson and the warden, but the constable's son hit Donald Gorm in the ankle with the last arrow. He, like a real Scottish man, did not pay attention to the wound and simply tore the arrow out of the wound. But at the same time, the prong of the tip cut his artery, and he bled out on the hands of his soldiers. They fell into despondency and … retreated!
In the XIII and XIV centuries. the castle looked like this.
And here is its layout today.
In April 1719, the castle was captured by Spanish soldiers who were trying to raise another Jacobite uprising. The adherents of the English King James II and his descendants, exiled in 1688, were called Jacobites, and there were especially many of them just in the highlands of Scotland. The Jacobites were supported by Rome, France and Spain, and the latter sent both money and soldiers to Scotland, because at the same time there was a war for the Spanish inheritance. So the castle became a base of resistance. However, from 10 to 13 May 1719, three frigates of the Royal Navy attacked it at once. According to the records in the ship's log, the British then took prisoner: "… an Irish captain, a Spanish lieutenant, a sergeant, one Scottish rebel and 39 Spanish soldiers, as well as 343 barrels of gunpowder and 52 barrels of musket bullets …".
entrance
Courtyard
Having captured the castle of Eilen Donan, the British set about burning several barns where grain was stored for the soldiers, and then, with the help of the captured gunpowder, they blew up the castle itself. A month later, the Spaniards were defeated at the Battle of Glen Shiel, but only picturesque ruins remained of Eilen Donan Castle itself.
The cannonballs with which the British fired at the castle.
Centuries flew over them, until in the period from 1912 to 1932 Lt. Col. John McRee-Gilstrop restored the castle according to the old plans preserved in Edinburgh. Moreover, this was not only a reconstruction, an arched stone bridge was thrown onto the island, connecting it with the lake shore. In 1983, the McRee family formed a special charitable foundation to continue the restoration of Eilen Donan Castle.
The Scots celebrate the end of the restoration of the castle.
Rally at the memorial plaque with the names of the dead members of the MacRee clan.
Note that since its inception, the castle has gradually increased in size, so that its walls began to come close to the water. But at the end of the XIV century, its area decreased five times, since there were not enough people to defend it. Nevertheless, in the 16th century, a platform was added to its eastern side for newer and heavier cannons. The thickness of the castle walls reached 4 m, which is why in 1719 the frigates shooting at it were unable to destroy it, which is why they had to resort to blowing it up from the inside.
Seeing a Scotsman with bagpipes near the castle is easy. Like our musician in a metro tunnel or underpass.
So a romantic trip to Eilen Donan Castle is a whole "expedition", since the path to it lies across the bridge (and more than one) thrown across the lake. First, passing through the decorated gate, tourists find themselves on a stone dam leading to the islet. The bridge abuts against a hexagonal building. Once there was the main entrance to Eilen Donan, since the bridge that was built only in the 20th century did not exist in the past centuries. The main building of the castle is the donjon or "keep", as the Scots say, built on the high point of the island, probably in the XIV century. Its dimensions are impressive: 16.5 by 12.4 meters (54 by 41 feet), with walls three meters (9.8 feet) thick. The vaulted basement was originally divided into two, with a staircase at the north wall. There were probably two more floors above it, including the attic. The tower was with gables, surrounded by a passage with small turrets located at its corners.
Banquet hall on the second floor.
The old entrance to the castle was very unusual. For some reason, he was in a hexagonal tower with a door, but it was arranged so that there was water inside. It is believed that this tower was erected in the 16th century as a bridgehead, and … water cisterns 5 m deep. The guards could easily control this path, as soon as they removed the wooden bridge thrown over the water.
The modern entrance to the castle is located in the south wall, with an inscription in Gaelic above its descending grating: "As long as there is MacRee inside, the Frazers will never stay outside." It was made at the time when the McRee came to Kintail, but before that they lived on the lands of the Fraser clan, on the southern coast of Bailey Bay. Moreover, it is believed that the following inscription was made on the Fraser castle: "While at least one Fraser is alive inside, do not stand MacRee outside."
Relentless time and people turned many parts of the castle into ruins, so walking along the territory of the island, you can only see the foundations of stone walls that once ran along almost all of its coastline. The castle itself is, in fact, the whole keep. On the ground floor, there is an exhibition of paintings and ancient weapons, and there is also a lot of beautiful furniture and no less beautiful porcelain.
The second floor is set aside for an exhibition of flags, shields, family portraits and other trophies of the MacRee clan, and here you can also see a piece of hair of the rebellious Prince Carl Stewart, also known by the nickname "Handsome Prince Charlie". The wooden ceiling beams are a gift from Canadian MacRee, made from premium pine that was brought here in a treeless area from British Columbia. One of the rooms on the second floor also displays the sprawling family tree of the MacRee clan.
The interior of one of the bedrooms.
You will have to climb to the third floor by a stone spiral staircase. There are six dormitories here named Loch Alsh, Loch Long, Eilean Donan, Ballimore, Loch Duich and Conchra. The wooden door of one of them is an exit to the castle wall. On it is carved "1912" - that is, the year of the beginning of work on the restoration of the castle, as well as the names and years of life of some of its commandants.
How can we do without wax figures now? Well, no way!
Coming down from the wall, tourists enter the kitchen. In it, as it has become very popular now, there is an exhibition with wax figures of the butler, the cook and even the hostess of the house, Ella McRee-Gilstrap, while preparing for dinner around the era of the 30s of the XX century. Moreover, the whole interior was very accurately recreated, and even the food on the plates.
And this is a view of the castle from the hotel window opposite.
Near the entrance to the castle, there are two cannons from the First World War. Why, what is the connection? And the connection is direct - here is also the board of honor of the MacRee clan, which contains a list of those who died during the First World War. Including relatives of Canadians and Australians, there are about 500 names on this board. Well, and this castle is often filmed in films, but this is a completely different story.
