Dunbeath Castle
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Dunbeath Castle is a castle on the east coast of Caithness in the Scottish Highlands.
A castle has stood on the rocky peninsula at Dunbeath since 1428 when the lands belonged to the Earl of Caithness. After passing through the hands of the Innes family, it became the properly of the Sinclairs of Geanies on the marriage of the daughter of Alexander Sutherland to the first Earl of Sinclair. The Sinclairs replaced the existing structure with the four-storey tower house that forms part of the current castle in 1620. In 1650 Dunbeath was attacked and captured (along with Lady Sinclair) by the Marquis of Montrose, and not returned to the Sinclairs until the defeat of Montrose at Carbisdale.
The castle was extensively remodelled in the 17th century by Sir William Sinclair with less ambitious works carried out in 1853 and 1881. In 1945 after 325 years of occupation by the Sinclair Family, the castle was sold to Stuart Avery. On Avery's death in 1995 the castle was purchased by a Scot.
The castle remains a private residence today and is not open to the public.
External links
- The web site of the Dunbeath Estate (http://www.dunbeath.co.uk/pages/site.htm)