Eilean Donan United Kingdom

Legendary

A picturesque recreation of a 13th century castle destroyed in 1719.

Photo by Brian Toward

Three warships bombarded this castle for three days straight and barely dented it. The walls were up to 14 feet thick in places, and cannonballs simply bounced off.

So the attackers went ashore, found the castle's own gunpowder store, and blew it up. That's what finally destroyed Eilean Donan in 1719.

The castle sits on a small tidal island in the Scottish Highlands, right where three sea lochs meet. Its name means "Island of Donan," after a saint who is said to have lived here around 1,400 years ago.

The first castle went up in the 13th century, probably around 1220. King Alexander II built it to defend the coast from Norse raiders, who controlled much of western Scotland at the time.

Eilean Donan became a stronghold of Clan Mackenzie. Another family, Clan MacRae, guarded it for them and were so loyal in battle that people nicknamed them the Mackenzies' armor.

One MacRae became a local legend. When 400 warriors attacked the castle, Duncan MacRae held them off, and with his very last arrow he struck down their leader.

The castle's final battle came during a Jacobite rising, a series of attempts to put the exiled Stuart family back on the British throne. In 1719, fewer than 50 Spanish soldiers arrived to support the Jacobites and used the castle as a supply base.

The British government sent three navy ships. After the three-day bombardment failed, sailors landed, captured the Spanish troops, and destroyed the castle with its own gunpowder.

Eilean Donan sat in ruins for almost 200 years. Grass grew over the rubble and nobody rebuilt it.

Then in 1911, a MacRae descendant named John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the island. He spent the next 20 years rebuilding the castle, following the outline of the original walls, and finished the job in 1932.

Cross the stone bridge to the island and step into the Banqueting Hall, with its oak ceiling and clan treasures. Climb up to the battlements for views across all three lochs and the surrounding mountains. Look for the war memorial in the courtyard, honoring MacRaes who died in the First World War.