Find the nearest History & Heritage in The Scottish Highlands

Castle Varrich is in the far north of the Scottish Highlands, near the village of Tongue, located on a high point of rock, overlooking both the Kyle of Tongue and the village of Tongue. The castle had two floors plus an attic. The ground floor may have been used as stables; it was entered through an existing door on the north wall. There were no stairs between the two floors, suggesting that the ground floor was for horses or cattle. The upper floor entrance was on the south side and would most likely have been accessed by a ladder or removable stair.

Castle Tioram, meaning “dry castle”, is a ruined castle that sits on the tidal island of Eilean Tioram in Loch Moidart, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. The castle can be reached on foot across the tidal causeway, but there is no access to the interior because of the risk of falling masonry.

Keiss Castle, which is now partially ruined, is located less than 1 mile north of Keiss village, on sheer cliffs, overlooking Sinclair’s Bay. The castle was constructed as a Z-plan tower house with 4 floors plus an attic and a vaulted basement. It had a pair of corner towers at opposite angles of a square central block, the main tower being very narrow for its height with tall chimney stacks. The Sinclairs replaced the castle as the family seat with Keiss House replaced Keiss Castle around 1755.

This impressive steeple is 43m in height and was built in 1789-91 on the site of an earlier steeple of about 1690.

The Castle of Mey is located on the north coast of Scotland, about 10 km (6 miles ) west of John o’ Groats. The castle was built between 1566 and 1572 by George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness. The castle did spend some time being called Barrogill Castle. If you are lucky with the weather you can get views from the castle north to the Orkney Islands.

Inverness Castle sits high up overlooking the River Ness in Inverness. The castle you see today is a red sandstone building built in 1836 by the architect William Burn. It is built on the site of an earlier 11th-century defensive structure. The castle is the Inverness Sheriff Court and is NOT open to the public although you can visit the castle grounds and the north tower.

Clava Cairns is a Bronze Age cemetery and the complex consists of ring cairns and standing stones. Today you can still see three cairns in a well preserved condition.

The Strathnaver Museum is based in the former Parish Church of Columba in Bettyhill with its main theme being the tragic story of the Highland Clearances. One room is dedicated to the Clan Mackay and also tells the story of crofting life.

The Clachan Bridge is a simple, single-arched, hump-backed, masonry bridge spanning the Clachan Sound still in use today,  and is in the care of Historic Scotland. The bridge was built between 1792 and 1793 by engineer Robert Mylne with the original design being two arches, but it was finally built with a single high arch, of roughly 22 metres (72 ft) span and about 12 metres (39 ft) above the bed of the channel.

The remote parish of Assynt in Sutherland has a long and varied history stretching back many thousands of years. Early humans used the famous bone caves and buried their dead in the large cairns visible throughout this dramatic landscape. From later in prehistory come cist burials, brochs, duns and crannogs. Fragments of a Celtic cross point to an early medieval Christian presence beside Loch Assynt and it is this area around Inchnadamph which became the heart of medieval Assynt. Here you will find the ruined castle and burial vault of the Macleods of Assynt, the gaunt remains of the grand Calda House of their Mackenzie successors, the old parish church and the remains of flourishing pre-clearance settlements. After the clearances Inchnadamph diminished in local importance but became a mecca for nineteenth century tourists, naturalists and artists. A cairn pays tribute to those who struggled to unravel the complexities of the local geology and a there is also memorial to the air crew who lost their lives on Ben More Assynt during WW II.