The island fortress of the macDonald clan: A charred seat of power

Castle Tioram, situated on Eilean Tioram, an island off the coast of Loch Moidart, Scotland, was one of Somerled’s castles in the 12th century. It was originally a principal stronghold of Clann Ruaidhrí. According to early modern tradition, preserved by the 17th-century Sleat History, the castle was erected by Ailéan’s granddaughter, Áine Nic Ruaidhrí.

The castle certainly served as the seat of the latter’s Clann Raghnaill descendants for centuries. As such, Castle Tioram is the traditional seat of the Clanranald (Clann Raghnaill) branch of Clan Donald. The castle was seized by Government forces in around 1692 when the clan chief Allan Macdonald of Clanranald joined the exiled court of James VII and II in France, despite having sworn allegiance to William III and II and Mary II. A small garrison was stationed in the castle until the Jacobite rising of 1715. In 1715, Allan recaptured the castle and destroyed it, allegedly to prevent it falling into Hanoverian hands.

It has been uninhabited since that time, although there are some accounts suggesting it was partially inhabited thereafter, including for the storage of firearms from the De Tuillay in the 1745 Jacobite uprising and Lady Grange’s account of her kidnapping.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons