Today, Eilean Donan Castle is perhaps one of the most photographed castles in the British Isles and possibly the world

Eilean Donan Castle was built in 1220 for Alexander II on a small isle at the meeting point of three sea lochs as a defence against the Vikings. In 1263 Alexander III gave the castle to Colin Fitzgerald, son of the Earl of Desmond and Kildare (later to become the MacKenzies) as a reward for his services at the Battle of Largs and was Clan MacKenzie's most important stronghold from the 13th Century until it was destroyed in 1719. In 1511, the MacRaes, as protectors of the MacKenzies, became the hereditary Constables of the Castle.

When Robert the Bruce was being hunted by the English, he was given refuge in Eilean Donan by John MacKenzie, Second of Kintail in the early part of the 14th century. When Robert became King, he sent his nephew Randolph, Earl of Moray and Warden of Scotland to Kintail. Randolph's crown officer then beheaded fifty local scoundrels and exhibited their heads around the battlements of the Castle as a warning to others.

In 1719, the castle was garrisoned by Spanish troops fighting for the Jacobite cause on behalf of the 5th Earl of Seaforth when three British frigates, Worcester, enterprise and Flambourough sailed into the loch and pounded the castle to rubble with canon-fire. The castle was then ordered to be destroyed using the 343 barrels of gunpowder stored in the garrison's own powder magazine. It remained a ruin for the next two centuries until 1912 when Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap purchased the site and decided to restore his ancestral home. The next two decades were spent restoring the castle to its former glory, at a cost of £250,000.

Today, Eilean Donan Castle is perhaps one of the most photographed castles in the British Isles and possibly the world.

Tourist Information

The Castle & Exhibitions 10am - 5.30pm

Every day 1 April - 31 October

Visitor Centre

(gift shop, coffee shop & toilets) 10am - 5pm

Every day 1 April - 31 October

Gift shop Open all year