Mingary Castle - 4

Following the death of James IV at the battle of Flodden in 1513, the MacDonalds sought revenge on the MacIains. During the campaign they besieged Mingary in 1515 and again in 1517, when they managed to take the castle, after which they claimed to have destroyed it – though only superficial damage was done.

In the new order that followed under James V, a weakened Clan MacIain, now subject to the Earl of Argyll, a Campbell, returned to possession of the castle. They subsequently found themselves on the MacDonalds’ side in a prolonged dispute with the Macleans of Duart which came to a climax when the Macleans, assisted by marines from the Armada ship Florida which had sought shelter in Tobermory Bay, besieged the castle. Helped by Clanranald MacDonalds, the MacIains drove the Macleans off.

The MacIains, however, were not to hold Mingary for much longer. By the beginning of the 17^th century they were in open rebellion against their Campbell overlords, a fight they could not hope to win as the Earl of Argyll had the Privy Council on his side. In 1612 the MacIains were forcibly evicted from the castle, and in 1629 Donald Campbell received a royal charter to all the lands of Ardnamurchan.

In 1644 the castle was besieged and, after a violent assault, taken by Alasdair MacDonald for the Royalists, but he lost it again to the Covenanter General David Leslie three years later. A wreck in the bay in front of the castle was investigated by the Time Team programme, which dated it to 1644 and possibly identified as a Dutch ship fighting on the side of the Parliamentarians.

The castle later returned to the Campbells. In 1696 Archibald Campbell, 10^th Earl of Argyll, granted the lands to Alexander Campbell. In 1723 the estate was sold to Sir David Murray, but it seems to have been back in Campbell hands by the time Bonnie Prince Charlie landed in Moidart in August 1745, when the castle was reinforced by Hanoverian troops.

Around 1770 the estate was bought by James Riddell, the first Baronet of Ardnamurchan, whose family had made their money as merchants in Edinburgh, and it remained with the Riddells until 1848, though the last time the castle was inhabited was 1838, after which it fell into decay.

The castle, now in a dangerous condition, stands on Ardnamurchan Estate lands - Mingary House can be seen in the foreground of the photo. The cost of repairs that would make it accessible to the general public would be huge, quite beyond the pocket of the present owner, yet this is a building of national importance.