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Castle Chanonry of Ross, also known as Seaforth Castle, was 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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The Castle no longer stands however it is known that it was a rectangular tower house built by the Bishop Fraser between 1497 and 1507.[1]
In 1569 a feud arose between the Clan Mackenzie and Clan Munro, who were among the most powerful clans in Ross-shire.[2] The trouble started when John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, made over to his cousin Leslie, the Laird of Balquhair, the right and title to the castle at Chanonry together with the castle lands. [2] Bishop Leslie had been secretary to the deposed Mary, Queen of Scots and there was strong feeling against episcopacy in Scotland.[2] He therefore felt it best to get the church property under his bishopric passed into his family's hands to preserve some of the important privileges that came with being a bishop.[2] Notwithstanding this grant the Regent Moray (James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray), acting in the name of the infant King James VI of Scotland gave the custody of the castle to Andrew Munro, 5th of Milntown.[2]
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, who was the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland, promised Bishop Leslie that in return for ceding the castle and lands he would give him some of the lands of the barony of Fintry in Buchan.[2] This scheme was interrupted when, in January 1570, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (Regent Moray) was shot dead, preventing Andrew Munro of Milntown from obtaining the title to the castle and lands of Chanonry, but that did not deter Munro from occupying the castle.[2]
The Mackenzies were not pleased to see their powerful neighbours, the Munros, in possession of this castle and recognizing the inherent weakness in Munro's title, or lack of it, they purchased from Leslie the legal title and rights and proceeded to demand possession of their rightful property from Munro. However Munro would not cede.[2]
Munro decided to stay put and made a new approach to the new regent, Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox who seeing the justice of the situation supported Munro.[2] The situation became even more complex when the unfortunate Earl of Lennox was also shot and killed in September 1571.[2] The next regent, John Erskine, 18th Earl of Mar, subsequently also gave his approval to Andrew Munro to retain possession of the castle.[2]
The Mackenzies regarded the Munros as wrongful possessors of their property which they had legally purchased from Leslie.[2] They therefore laid siege to the castle.[2] The Munros defended the castle for three years with the loss of many lives on both sides.[2] Finally in 1573 the Munros peacefully passed the castle to the Mackenzies under an Act of Pacification[3][4], in the terms of which Munro was awarded compensation for his expenses in occupying the castle.[2]
Sir Robert Gordon (1580 - 1656) writes of the feud between the Munros and Mackenzies in his book "Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland":
The Munros defended and keipt the Castle for the space of thrie yeirs, with great slaughter on either syd, vntill it was delyvered to the Clanchenzie, by the Act of Pacification. And this wes the ground beginning of the feud and hartburning, which to this day, remaynes between the Clanchenzie and Munrois [5]
According to Alexander Mackenzie's book The History of the Mackenzies, published in 1899, the Mackenzie's were supported by the Clan Mackintosh who garrisoned Fortrose Cathedral and laid siege to the castle. Mackenzie 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.[6] Although it is recorded by Sir Robert Gordon's earlier account to have been handed over peacfully under King James VI. This affair was probably part of wider political intrigue and the rival claims of the King's and Queen's parties which ended with the 'pacification' of Perth in 1573.
Later during the 17th century, 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 the leader of the royalist army, James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose laid siege to the castle and took it from the Mackenzies after a siege of four days.[7]
In 1649, after the Siege of Inverness (1649), David Leslie, Lord Newark who was the leader of the Scottish Parliament's army left a garrison in the Castle Chanonry of Ross. However soon after the Mackenzies retook the castle from the Parliamentary forces. However the Parliamentary forces soon after took the Mackenzie's 'Red Castle' and hanged the garrison.
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".
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.
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 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. [8]