Castle Leod
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Castle Leod is located in the west of Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands. It is currently the seat of the Clan MacKenzie chief, however it originally belonged to the chief of the Clan MacLeod of Lewis until the 17th century.
In the early seventeenth century the main chieftenship line of the Lewis MacLeods became extinct and the chieftenship passed to the MacLeods of Rassay branch. Later the Lewis MacLeod clansmen were forced to accept the ascendancy of their cousins at Dunvegan and the two MacLeod clans became one.
As a result the Barony of Lewis fell into the hands of the chief of the Clan MacKenzie. The last chief of the MacLeods of Lewis had married a daughter of the MacKenzie chief. The MacKenzie chief thereby claimed the barony of Lewis as his own. However the MacLeods of Lewis clansmen prosperd under the chieftenship of the Clan MacLeod of Skye.
The current castle is the result of work carried out in 1606 by the Clan MacKenzie. However the castle is believed to have been built on the site of a very ancient Pictish fort from before the 12th century. In some parts the walls are up to 6-7-8 feet thick.
The compact, L-Plan tower house (the red sandstone walls in many places are 7 - 8 feet thick) was the result of the extending and remodelling of an earlier castle. The work carried out circa 1606 by Sir Roderick Mackenzie, the 17th century family founder of the Earls of Cromarty (later Cromartie). An additional section was later added in the re-entrant angle to the accommodate a larger staircase and extra bedrooms. The castle has remained the seat of the Earls of Cromartie ever since.
Forfeiture of the estate, following the 3rd Earl of Cromartie George Mackenzie's support for the ill-fated 1745 Jacobite Uprising, led to the castle's darkest days, though there had been reports of it being in a run-down state earlier in the same century, when the estate was badly debt-ridden. By 1814 and the time of Castle Leod's complete renovation by the Hay-Mackenzie Lairds, it was described as "Quite a ruin...deserted except by crows", though this may have applied more to the upper upper floors.
