Caisteal Chatbol
An turas seo tha mi airson sgrìobhadh mu dheidhinn an t-seann chaisteil a tha fhathast ri fhaicinn, na thobhta romansach, ri taobh an taigh uachdarain air a bheil “Glenmorangie House Hotel” an-diugh. Bidh mi a’ bruidhinn mun taigh na b’ anmoiche sin, agus teaghlach adhartach MhicLeòid leis an robh e eadar na 1690an agus am 20mh linn, san òraid agam ann an Ionad Iain Rois an 13 den Mhàrt, mar sin sgrìobhaidh mi an seo mu eachdraidh a’ chaisteil na bu tràithe. Agus ‘s e eachdraidh gu math stoirmeil a bh’ ann!
Tha fios againn gun tug an t-Iarla Uilleam Rois fearann aig Catbol is Pitkerry do Mhanachainn Rois is do dh’Easbaigean Mhoreibh ann an 1281, gus am biodh iad na màil a chleachdadh airson teachd-a-steach eaglaiseil. Ro na 1400an bha fearann Chatbol air mhàl le MhacCullaich à Plaids, faisg air Baile Dhubhthaich, teaghlach cudromach san sgìre. Às dèidh sin cheannaich iadsan am fearann bho Easbaig Mhoireibh, rud a thug air ais e do làmhan Rois an Ear. Thathar a’ creidsinn gun do thòisich na MhicCullaich air an chaisteal a thogail tràth sna 1500an.
Bha iomadh pòsadh ann eadar na MicCullaich agus teaghlach Rois à Baile a’ Ghobhainn, is i Lady Agnes Ros, bean Sheòrais MhicCullaich, an Rosach a b’ ainmeile dhiubh. Dh’fhan i beò na b’ fhaide na an duine agus am mac aice, ach b’fheudar dhi faicinn mar a reic a h-ogha òg, Raibeart, Catbol agus Plaids do dh’uncail dha, Alexander Innes, Constabal Arcaibh, ann an 1552 – is coltach gun robh cudrom air a leigeil air Raibeart. Thilg Innes Agnes a-mach às a’ chaisteal, ach rinn i strì an aghaidh seo tro na cùirtean, rud a mhair rè bhliadhnaichean. Dh’fhàs an teaghlach Rosach aice mì-fhoighidneach agus thug iad (‘s dòcha còmhla ris na MicCullaich) ionnsaigh air an daingneach, thilg iadsan Innes a-mach, agus sgrios iad cuid mhòr de na dìonan-caisteil. Air a’ cheann thall b’ fheudar dha na Rosaich dìoladh a phàigheadh do dh’Innes agus an caisteal a chàradh, ach tha coltas ann nach do rinn iad seo uabhasach math – a dh’aon ghnothach! Dh’iarr an Agnes thapaidh air Innes pàirt de dh’oighreachd Plaids (Skardie) a chumail dhi fhèin, agus mhair i beò an sin gu aois adhartach, mar adharc ann an cliathaich Innes.
An uair sin reic mac Innes an oighreachd do na Sincleirich à Mey ann an Gallaibh ann an 1584. Phòs fear dhiubh tè Rosach, rud a chuir crìoch air an nàimhdeas eadar Catbol is Baile a’ Ghobhainn. Ach bha trioblaid ann, turas eile. Dh’fhàg Sincleireach eile, Seòras, a chaochail ann an 1616, an oighreachd mar bheò-shlàinte aig a bhanntrach, Mairead (Margaret) Forbes. Ach, mar Agnes, chan fhaodadh i gabhail tlachd ann gu foiseil. Thug am mac a bu shine aice fhèin, Uilleam, fìor ionnsaigh air a’ chaisteal, thilg e a-mach i, agus ghabh e sealbh air an oighreachd! B’ fheudar dhi dol a dh’fhuireach aig Gàthan (Geanies) aig taigh a mic na b’ òige, gus an deach aice air làmh a thoirt air iuchraichean eile bho mhaor-oighreachd dìleas (Forbes eile); fhuair i air ais a-steach dhan chaisteal, far an do rinn i maoin-chunntas de na mòran challaidhean is damaistean aice. Mairead bhochd, agus caisteal bochd!
Mhair na Sincleirich an sin fad ginealach no dhà eile, ach an ceann ùine bha iad na bu trice shuas ann an Gallaibh. Ro na 1660an bha Alexander Duff a’ fuireach sa chaisteal, a bha na sheumarlan (manaidsear-oighreachd) do bhanntrach Sincleireach, Ealasaid Leslie Lady Mey (mu dheireadh thall, banntrach a dh’fhaodadh tlachd a ghabhail air a beò-shlàinte, no air na màil dhi, co-dhiù!). Ach tha droch chliù aig Duff – is esan am fear a mhill aon taobh de ar Clach Chruithneach Bhaile a’ Chnuic gus clach-uaighe dha fhèin is dha na triùir bhàn aige a dhèanamh – nach deach a chleachdadh idir. Chì thu an snaigheadh aige fhathast air a’ chlach thùsail san Taigh-tasgaidh Nàiseanta ann an Dùn Èideann.
Bha na làithean mar àite-fuirich den chaisteal bhochd, briste brùite mar a bha e, a’ tighinn gu crìoch. Thòisich na Sincleirich mu dheireadh air taigh-uachdarain ùr na bu chofhurtaile a thogail ri taobh a’ chaisteil – agus ‘s dòcha cuideachd an tucaid-chalman a chì sinn an-diugh aig an aon àm. Nuair a reic iad an oighreachd ann an 1694 gus fiachan a phàigheadh, chaidh iomradh a thoirt air “ a mansion house and a tower”, chan ann air “castle” tuilleadh. Agus sin na chì sinn an-diugh fhèin – agus nach iongantach gu bheil na h-uiread dheth air fhàgail dhuinn às dèidh na h-eachdraidh cho stoirmeil aige!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Cadboll Castle
I thought I’d write this time about the history of Cadboll Castle, now the picturesque ruin you see beside the later laird’s house which we know as the Glenmorangie House Hotel. I’ll be talking about that house, and the ambitious Macleod family who owned it from the 1690s till the 20th century, in my talk on 13 March in the John Ross Centre, so this article is the earlier castle’s history – and a very stormy history it was!
We know that in 1281 William Earl of Ross granted land at Cadboll and Pitkerry to both Fearn Abbey and the Bishops of Moray to rent out for church income. By the 1400s the Moray lands at Cadboll were rented out to the MacCullochs of Plaids (near Tain), an important local family, who then bought the land from the Bishop of Moray, bringing it back into Easter Ross hands. It’s thought that the MacCullochs started building the castle in the early 1500s.
The MacCullochs intermarried with the Rosses of Balnagown. The most famous Ross resident was Lady Agnes Ross, wife of George MacCulloch. She outlived both her husband and son, only to see her young grandson, Robert, sell Cadboll and Plaids to an uncle, Alexander Innes, Constable of Orkney, in 1552 – probably under duress. Agnes was ejected from Cadboll but she fought this energetically through the courts, which took years. Her Ross relatives got impatient and attacked the stronghold, forcing Innes out and destroying much of its defences. In the end the Rosses had to pay compensation and repair the castle for Innes, but it seems they deliberately made a poor job of it! Feisty Agnes insisted on hanging on to part of the Plaids estate (Skardie) and lived there to a great age, a thorn in Innes’s side.
Innes’s son then sold the estate to the Sinclairs of Mey (Caithness) in 1584, one of whom also married a Balnagown Ross, Catherine, thus ending the bad blood between Cadboll and Balnagown. But once again, there was trouble. A later Sinclair, George, who died in 1616, left the estate in liferent to his widow, Margaret Forbes, but like Agnes Ross, she didn’t get to enjoy it in peace. Her own eldest son, William, actually attacked the castle, ousted her and seized the property! She had to go and live at Geanies with her younger son until she finally managed to get hold of duplicate keys via a loyal factor (also a Forbes) and got back into the castle, where she made an inventory of her many losses and damages. Poor Margaret, and poor castle!
The Sinclairs continued to live there for another few generations, but were increasingly more often up in Caithness. By the 1660s the castle was lived in by the chamberlain to a Sinclair widow, Elizabeth Leslie Lady Mey, who, for a change, was allowed to enjoy her “liferent” in peace – or at least the rents from it! This chamberlain (or estate manager) was the notorious Alexander Duff, the one who defaced our Hilton of Cadboll Pictish stone to make a (never used) gravestone for himself and his three wives. You can still see his inscription on the original Hilton Stone in the National Museum in Edinburgh.
Poor Cadboll Castle’s days as a dwelling house were nearly over, battered and bruised as it was. The last Sinclairs started to build a more modern and comfortable laird’s house beside it – and possibly the doocot we see today. When they finally sold the estate in 1694, to pay off debts, the contract mentioned “a mansion house and a tower” – no longer “castle”. And that’s what we still see today – it’s quite astonishing that even that much survived its stormy history.
