One of Scotland's earliest and best-preserved stone castles of enclosure, its regular thirteenth-century plan survives largely as the Comyns built it.
Inverlochy Castle stands beside the River Lochy, a stronghold raised around 1270–80 by John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch and chief of Clan Comyn. Its design is unusually regular for the period: a square courtyard enclosed by a thick curtain wall, roughly seven metres high, with a round tower at each corner. The largest of these, the Comyn Tower, served as the keep. A water-filled ditch guarded three sides while the river protected the fourth, and the two gateways — a main entrance to the south and a water gate facing the river — were each defended by a portcullis.
The castle sat at a strategic crossing point, and its history is bound up with conflict. Robert the Bruce is recorded as having taken and burned it in 1307. The ground nearby saw two battles that carried the castle’s name: in 1431 clansmen under Alexander MacDonald routed a royal army, and in 1645 the Marquess of Montrose won a sharp victory over Covenanter forces. By the early sixteenth century the crown was paying for repairs to keep a garrison here. Though long a ruin, the walls survive largely as they were built, and the site is now cared for as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
What to look for
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The Comyn Tower, the largest of the four round corner towers, which served as the castle's keep
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The quadrangular curtain wall, up to around 2.7 metres thick and 7.6 metres high, forming a near-square courtyard
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The south main entrance and the north water gate facing the river, each once closed by a portcullis
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The line of the water-filled ditch that protected three sides, with the River Lochy guarding the fourth
Plan your visit
- Location
- 56.8323°N · 5.0823°W
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