The Castles of Clan MacGregor

At first glance, our decision to include Meggernie Castle in Glen Lyon on this list might seem like a mistake. The impressive castle which is found on the site today was in fact built by the MacGregors rivals, the Campbells.

However, the land where the castle stands was once the seat of Clan MacGregor, and the Campbell castle that exists today represents an important episode in the history of the MacGregors – the seizure of much of their lands by King Robert the Bruce and his successors so that they could be redistributed to the friends and close allies of the royal house. In 1380, King Robert II confiscated the land at Glen Lyon, on which the MacGregors had built a keep which commanded the whole district, and redistributed it to his son Sir John Steward of Cardney. At some point in the 16^th century, the land was passed to the Campbells, who built the tower and keep in stone which are the castle that survives today. The property passed to the Menzies of Culdares. James Menzies of Culdares was a Jacobite who took part in the Rising of 1715, and sheltered Jacobite fugitives while entertaining government troops during the 1745 Rising. The property passed to the Stewarts of Cardney, who held it until 1885. It is said that the castle is haunted by a ghost, which takes the form of the upper part of a woman’s body – a young wife killed out of jealousy and cut in two by her older husband during a period when the castle was occupied by the Menzies of Culdares. Spooky!

The official clan seat of the MacGregors for over a hundred years, Lanrick Castle was a country house located near Doune, Perthshire. First constructed in the late 18^th century, it originally belonged to the Haldane family and was later the seat of both the Murray and MacGregor families – after its purchase by John Murray MacGregor, 18^th Chief of Clan Gregor in 1776, it became known as “Clan Gregor Castle”. In 1801, Ramsay of Ochtertyre described Lanrick as “more magnificent than convenient”. 80 years later, he was impressed by “a handsome modern castellated edifice, with very fine grounds.” The castle was enhanced with Gothic additions in around 1815 which expanded the building considerably, and was again remodelled around the year 1900.

John Murray MacGregor’s son, Major-General Sir Evan MacGregor, 19^th Chief, sold the house in 1830. By the late 1970s, the castle was no longer occupied. The building was gutted by fire in April 1994, and lost its roof. The remaining structure was demolished in 2002 – the castle’s owner, Alistair Dickson, was fined £1000 for demolishing a listed structure without the necessary consent. Stirling Council were also criticised for their failure to protect the castle.

Today, the only buildings that remain on the estate are lodges, a stable block, a riverside grotto and the MacGregor Monument, which was erected by Sir Evan John Murray MacGregor in the early 19^th century. The monument takes the form of a stone tree trunk, topped with a rotunda of Roman Doric columns. This once bore a single Roman Doric capped by an urn, but this has now fallen onto the ground below. The monument is a category A listed building, and is included on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland – its current condition is described as “very poor.”

Not quite a castle, but Edinchip House on the 3300 acre Edinchip Estate, located to the south of Lochearnhead in Perthshire close to Loch Earn, became the seat of the Clan in 1830, and would retain that position for over 150 years. The current house was built over the 1830s and 1840s by Sir Evan Murray MacGregor and Sir John Atholl MacGregor of MacGregor. Sir Evan built the house for his wife, a daughter of the fourth Duke of Atholl. Sir Evan played an important part in the 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland proposing a toast to the King as “chief of chiefs” at a royal banquet in Edinburgh. In 1869, Queen Victoria passed through the grounds of Edinchip, and today there are numerous paths on the Edinchip estate which allow both hillwalkers and cyclists to explore the land. The house was the seat until it was sold by Sir Gregor MacGregor, the 23^rd Chief of Clan Gregor, and today the house can be rented by the public on a self-catering basis. So, next time you’re in Perthshire, why not stay at the former seat of Clan MacGregor?

Although not historically closely associated with the Clan, Castle Menzies in Weem, near Aberfeldy in Perthshire makes the list of important castles with links to the MacGregors as today it is the site of the Clan Gregor Society museum. Seat of the Menzies chiefs for over 500 years, it was at the centre of many important moments in the history of the Highlands – Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed there en route to Culloden, as did the Duke of Cumberland four days later.

You may wonder, therefore, why the museum dedicated to Clan Gregor is located in this castle, which has more traditionally been linked to the Menzies. The reason given by the Clan Gregor Society lies in the Rannoch Moor. When the Gregarach – one branch of the Gregor clan - were dispossessed from Glens Strae, Orchy and Lochy some of the wilder elements of the clan settled around Rannoch, a vast wilderness of peat moss and remote ridges of rock and heather. They acquired some land at Stronfernan from the Clan Robertson and at Dunan who were tenants of Menzies. Raiding out of Rannoch, the ‘Children of the Mist’ caused mayhem. In 1523 when the MacGregors of Dunan were causing particular nuisance, Sir Robert Menzies of Weem refused to obey an order of the Privy Council to put and keep them out of his lands of Rannoch on the grounds that it was impossible for him to do so because ‘MacGregor, on force, entered the said Robert’s lands of Rannoch and withholds the same from him masterfully, and is of far greater power than the said Robert, and will not be put out of the said lands’. There is therefore a close association between one branch of the Gregor clan and the area where the museum is now located.