Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan Castle is a castle rebuilt between 1912 and 1932 in a later medieval style, based on a free interpretation of the former castle that stood on the site since the 13th century. It incorporates some original remains, including parts of the old keep and enclosing walls. The architect was George Mackie Watson of Edinburgh. The castle is constructed of rubble with tooled dressings. A fanciful gatehouse and associated buildings, dated 1912, project into the courtyard, featuring a staircase turret, a corbelled angle turret, a corbelled and arcaded watch house on the outer wall, and a crude crenellation extending to the curtain walls. To the west is a two-storey block over a vaulted basement, with three bays built on earlier foundations and now topped with a crowstepped roof. The tall, rectangular keep has a caphouse, crenellated wall-walk, and angle turrets. A forestair leads to a barrel-vaulted Billeting Room and Banquetting Hall, featuring a heavy oak ceiling. A large chimney-piece is designed in a 15th-century style. All buildings are connected by a series of battlements. An original seven-sided water cistern projects from the south-east angle. The castle is linked to the mainland by a causeway and a three-arched bridge with rounded cutwaters and corbelled pedestrian refuges.

Eilean Donan Castle was destroyed in 1719 by English frigates and served as a stronghold for the Kintail Mackenzies in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was subsequently rebuilt by Lt Col John MacRae-Gilstrap between 1912 and 1932. The site is a Scheduled Monument.