Urquhart Castle
— — a ruin that still holds the loch.
Not only on a wall.
“A sandstone ruin on a wedge of headland above Loch Ness, looking east across the deep water. The Grant Tower still stands. The rest was blown apart in 1692 so it could not be held against the crown. Visitors walk the grass between low walls and watch the loch for the thing that isn't there. The wind off the water is constant. from the studio
Urquhart Castle, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Urquhart Castle sits on Strone Point, a headland on the western shore of Loch Ness, about two kilometres east of Drumnadrochit and roughly 25 kilometres southwest of Inverness. The site has been fortified since the early medieval period; the surviving stone castle dates from the 13th century and changed hands repeatedly through the Wars of Scottish Independence. Its departing garrison partially demolished the gatehouse in 1692 to keep the castle out of Jacobite hands. Historic Environment Scotland has cared for the site since 1913. The loch beside it reaches roughly 230 metres deep, the second-deepest body of fresh water in Britain.
The masonry is mostly local sandstone, built up across four centuries of expansion and decay. The surviving Grant Tower at the north end rises five storeys and is the most complete remnant; it was raised around 1500 after the Grant family was granted the lordship by James IV. Lower courses of the curtain wall reuse 13th-century stonework, visible where the dressing changes. Two trebuchet balls recovered during excavation now sit in the courtyard, alongside an iron yett from the original gatehouse. Conservation work since the 1990s has stabilised the towers without rebuilding the missing fabric.
The site opens daily, with reduced winter hours; Historic Environment Scotland charges a single admission that covers the visitor centre and a short film on the castle's siege history. A small café and shop sit above the ruin, so the castle itself is reached on foot down a sloped path through the meadow. The boat pier below the curtain wall is served by Loch Ness cruises from Inverness and Fort Augustus. Allow ninety minutes for an unhurried walk through the grounds, longer if the weather is clear and you mean to sit on the headland.