DAY 19b
DUNBEATH ~ Castle (Caithness, Highland, SCO)
Tuesday September 16th, 2008
TODAYS MILEAGE – 436 miles or 702 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 13916 miles or 22396 kilometres
The castle has stood on the rocky peninsula at Dunbeath, since 1428 when the lands belonged to the Earl of Caithness. After passing through the hands of the Innes family, it became the property of the Clan Sinclair of Geanies through the marriage of the daughter of Alexander Sutherland to the first Sinclair Earl of Caithness. The Sinclair’s replaced the existing structure with a four-storey tower house that forms part of the current castle in 1620.
In 1650 Dunbeath was attacked and captured (along with Lady Sinclair) by James Graham, 1st Marquees of Montrose and not returned to the Sinclair’s until the defeat of Montrose at the Battle of Carbisdale in 1650.
The castle was extensively remodelled in the 17th century by Sir William Sinclair and again in 1853 and 1881.
Since 1945, after 325 years of occupation by the Sinclair family, the castle has changed hands several times until its present owner, Stuart Wyndham Murray-Threipland purchased the property in 1997.
