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and here are new pictures of 2008:
as it is not allowed to take photographs inside, I cannot provide You with the interesting inside decorations. They
are really worth seeing, I have been there for several times and still like to go inside and breathe the atmosphere
of ancient times... although the "new" visitor-centre spoils the site a bit...
In a superbly romantic setting amid silent, treeclad hills, Eilean Donan Castle possesses a rare and dream-like quality. Yet, standing lone sentinel on its rocky promontory at the meeting point of three sea lochs - Loch Long, Loch Duich and Loch Alsh - it is, in reality, a fortress of solid stone and formidable defences.
It is not hard to realise the position commanded by the Castle during the troubled times of the marauding Norse and Danish adventurers who raided along these coasts. Nor is it difficult, when gazing down today from the heights above the shore of the loch, to visualise an era of savage but somehow glorious warfare, when the Clans fought and the MacRaes found refuge in this impregnable fortress, defying the attacks of their enemies.
Much of the history of the Castle has been preserved within its solid walls and immortalised in the ballads and stories handed down from generation to generation.
In 1984 the castle served as background in several scenes of "HIGHLANDER", a cinema-film with Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert (as a member of the Clan MacLeod, dressed as a MacLeod of Harris). In 1999 James Bond 007 came to Eilean Donan Castle.
The beginnings of Eilean Donan reach back into the early mists of time. Evidence of a Pictish fort was found in vitrified rock uncovered during excavations - some of which has been kept for visitors to see. At the beginning of the seventh century St. Donan (d. 618) lived on the island as a religious hermit; the name "Eilean Donan" means "Island of Donan". This was the period when Christianity was first introduced to the Western Isles.
The first fortified stronghold was established in the reign of King Alexander II., 1214-1250. In 1263 King Alexander III. gave the Castle to Colin Fitzgerald, son of the Earl of Desmond and Kildare (later to become MacKenzies) as a reward for his services in the Battle of Largs. This famous battle culminated in the defeat of the Norwegian king, Hakon. Following his death shortly after, his successor, Magnus, ceded all the Western Isles to Scotland.
Traditionally, it is believed that in the early part of the fourteenth century Robert the Bruce, out of favour with many clan chiefs as well as being hunted by the English, was given refuge in Eilean Donan Castle by John MacKenzie, Second of Kintail. Later, in 1331, the fortunes of Robert the Bruce had changed; he had defeated his enemies and established his position as King of Scotland. He sent his nephew Randolph, Earl of Moray and Warden of Scotland, to Kintail.
Scant respect for the law was being shown by the region, and it was here that Randolph's "Crownare" - crown officer - beheaded fifty local misdoers and exhibited their heads around the battlements of Eilean Donan Castle as a grim warning to others.
The MacRaes, who formed the bodyguard of the Chief of Kintail and were known as "MacKenzies Coat of Mail", first became Constables of the Castle in 1509. They took control of the area and the Clan was involved in many raids and sieges. One such epic occasion occurred in 1539 when Donald Gorm, a Lord of the Isles, lead 400 warriors in an attack on the Castle. The acting Constable, Duncan MacRae, withstood the assault; he successfully defended the Castle and, with his last arrow, fatally wounded Donald Gorm. (Clan MacDonald of Knock Castle and Duntulm Castle)
In 1719, at the time of an unsuccessful Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, the Spanish, who were assisting the Jacobites, sent an expeditionary force to Scotland and set up their headquarters at Eilean Donan. On 10th May, 1719, three English frigates, Worcester, Enterprise, and Flamborough, under the command of Captain Boyle, sailed into Loch Alsh and attacked Eilean Donan.
The Castle, defended by only forty-eight Spaniards commanded by a Captain and Lieutenant, fell after a short bombardment to the superior artillery fire, and the Spanish soldiers were shipped back to Leith and imprisoned there. The rising ended one month later on 10th June with the defeat of the Jacobites (poorly provsisioned and armed) at the Battle of Glen Shiel.
The stark ruins of the once proud Castle were to remain neglected for 200 years until restoration by a MacRae of the twentieth century. Lt.-Col. John MacRae-Gilstrap, grandfather of the present Constable of Eilean Donan, rebuilt the Castle with the aid of Farquhar MacRae, who had seen a vision of the ruined stronghold restored to its former glory. The dream became reality for, in the twenty years between 1912 and 1932 and at a cost of a quarter of a million pounds, the Castle was rebuilt. Every detail of the restored structure was faithful to the original which was revealed to Farquhar MacRae in his dream, and later confirmed by old plans of Eilean Donan preserved with other records in Edinburgh Castle.
As there are no photographs allowed inside, I cannot provide You with the interesting interieur, especially with the kitchen that is interpreted in the ways it used to be in the 1930s. But I took some new photographs from the outside in good weather...
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