Day 221 - The spiritual home of the Clan Donald

Hard at work, deplorable conditions....

Like a broken record...this morning we awoke to nothing but blue sky and a forecast of 22 degrees C. Our first morning in our cottage on the Isle of Skye and some work to catch up on!  The view is pretty spectacular (we have to work hard to walk up to it mind you) from the cottage's patio. I keep thinking I am looking out over the Baja of Mexico. 

Today is Sunday and we had seen on the walk up last night a sign that promoted a fete at the local castle ruin, Armadale Castle. So after getting some work done, we set off down the hill and along the coastal road towards the castle.  It is not so much a castle than a large manor house, and while it is a ruin, the surrounding park land is maintained with gardens, playgrounds, a restaurant in a newer replacement house, and a museum.

The local village fete

The fete was likely on because this was a bank holiday weekend, and the grounds in front of the castle was filled with tents selling crafts and candy, ice cream, and bbq burgers, as well as a tombola (game of chance in which you can win small prizes). There were all kinds of activities and games and once again we were able to experience the local community vibe as we did when we were in Cawsand/Kingsand at the other end of the U.K. Heck, they even set up a makeshift pub, although I am proud to say that I avoided the temptation.

Back of the castle

The Armadale Castle is said to be the spiritual hom of the Clan Donald. Now there is not enough space to describe how the clan system works, so suffice it to say that there are a gazillion names that are associated with the clan, including the obvious MacDonald, MacDonell, McDonald etc. etc.  The Clan Donald were Lords of the Islands (including Skye) beginning in the 13th century through to about the 1490s. This part of Scotland had been once part of the Kingdom of Norway having been settled by the Vikings as well as the Scots (who had descended from the Picts and the Irish).

A look past the centre staircase
into the gardens beyond

The Norwegian king was defeated by the Scottish King Alexander III in 1263 and from that point on the Clan Donald served the Scottish kings, although in the 1400s the clan chose to oppose King James I and the royalist army only to end up having to surrender and forfeit much of what they owned. 

The clan continued its own internal battles among them about supporting the Kings of Scotland and some actually aligned themselves with the English kings in order to secure power for themselves in this region. The Clan MacDonald were associated with Armadale Castle, which was one of a number of castles they owned. During the Jacobite Uprising they supported the House of Stuart against the English, but eventually the MacDonalds of this area of Skye ended up supporting the English crown and as a result maintained their holdings in this part of Scotland.

A house existed on the site of the castle from the late 1700s, but it was in 1815 that the much larger extension was added to give it it's grandeur. It's claimed that shoddy construction and fires led to it being abandoned by the MacDonald family in the 1920s, but I wonder if it, too, was a case of estate taxes taking their toll. Ironically, the oldest part of the castle is still maintained as a residence, or so it looked. 

The property is now part of a trust, set up in the 1970s to preserve what is left, including some magnificent gardens and the Museum of the Islands. The admission fee to the grounds that day for the fete included a visit to the museum, which was excellent for such a remote area of Scotland.  It is housed in a relatively new building and provides some very interesting history of the western isles of Scotland, including a number of ancient artifacts to view.

Museum of the Islands

What turned out to be a quick jaunt to take in some local culture turned out to be a longer, but fascinating, immersion into the local history and culture.

Ale of the Day: Caledonia Outpost IPA, Tennent Caledonian Brewery, Glasgow