Castle Chanonry of Ross
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Castle Chanonry of Ross was a castle located in the town of Fortrose, to the north-east of Inverness, Highland, Scotland. Nothing now remains of the castle. The castle was also known as Canonry or Chanonrie of Ross, the former county.
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[edit] History
The Castle no longer stands however it is known that it was a rectangular tower house built by the Bishop of Fraser between 1497 and 1507.
The castle was fought over by the Clan Munro and the Clan MacKenzie who were often at feud; Andrew Munro of Milntown defended and held, for three years, the Castle Canonry of Ross, which he had received from the Regent Moray who died in 1569, against the Clan MacKenzie, at the expense of many lives on both sides. The feud was settled when the castle was handed over to the Mackenzies peacefully under the act of pacification (a treaty of peace to cease hostilities), as the MacKenzies had more legal right to own the castle. In Alexander MacKenzie's book The History of the MacKenzies, published in 1890, he claims that an attempted sortie by the Munros for fish at a nearby loch was foiled and as a result the MacKenzies took control of the castle. However there is no evidence for this, his books are unsourced and it is believed likely to be fiction. [1][2]
Later during the Civil War the Clan MacKenzie Chief who was still in possession of the castle was now known as the Earl of Seaforth. However in 1646 James Graham the 1st Marquess of Montrose laid siege to the castle and took it from the MacKenzies after a siege of four days. [3]
In 1649 the Clans Munro, MacKenzie, Fraser and Urquart together took Inverness Castle, after this the MacKenzies then retook the Castle Chanonry of Ross from the current Parliamentary forces. However the Parliamentary forces soon after took the MacKenzie's 'Red Castle' and hanged the garrison. [4]
At this period of time the people of the district became firm adherents of the King's party.
A 17th century poem, written by Brahan Seer, concerning the Castle Chanonry of Ross predicted that: "The day will come when, full of the Mackenzies, it will fall with a fearful crash. This may come to pass in several ways. The Canonry is the principle burying-place of the Clan, and it may fall when full of dead Mackenzies, or when a large concourse of the Clan is present at the funeral of a great chief."[5] Interestingly the castle was reduced to rubble during the Jacobite Uprisings in the 18th century. Although it is not known who was responsible for this.
[edit] The castle today
The castle itself no longer stands. However, the street it was on is now known as Castle Street. Nearby, built into the outside wall of an extremely old ware house is a stone known as a 'Dormer Pediment'. The stone consists of a coat of arms and some initials. The initials read CBS which stand for 'Countess Barbara of Seaforth'. Barbara was the wife of George MacKenzie, second Earl of Seaforth (1633-1651). It is possible that this stone is the only surviving relic of the castle.[6]
