Redcastle | The Forum of Scotland's Baronage

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THE BARONY OF

Redcastle

Ross and Cromarty | 1608

Redcastle lies on Beauly Firth (northwest of Inverness) in the parish of Killearnan, County Ross. The original castle was built in various stages, dating from the 12th century, when King William the Lion’s brother erected it to subdue local rebels. However, the rebels besieged and captured the castle in 1211.

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History 1

In 1212, it was retaken by Sir John Bisset of The Aird,

who was granted Redcastle (also known as Etherdover), likely for his victory.

Then around 1296, the English army of King Edward I besieged and captured Redcastle once again. Redcastle eventually became a Fraser stronghold, then later came under the control of a branch of the Douglas family. The Douglas dominion over Redcastle ended in 1455 with the fall of the Black Douglases, and Redcastle was forfeited to the Crown. In 1481 the lands and lordship of Ardmeonach (also known as the Black Isle) were granted to James Stewart, second son of King James III. Ardmeonach included the lands of Redcastle.

History 2

Mary, Queen of Scots visited Redcastle in 1562, and granted it, as part of Ardmeonach, to her husband Henry, Lord Darnley.

After Darnley’s death in 1567, Redcastle was granted to Kenneth McKenzie, Baron of Kintail.

His third son Rorie inherited ‘the lands of Redcastle with the lordship of Ardmeonach’. Rorie acquired other lands in the vicinity which were, in 1608, erected into a barony.
The McKenzies of Redcastle were staunch supporters of the House of Stuart and were Royalists during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1638-1651). Roderick McKenzie, 3rd of Redcastle, was among the leaders of the Royalists in the northern Highlands.

History 3

King Charles I was executed 30 January 1649.

In February of that year the Scottish Parliament declared his son, Prince Charles, to be King Charles II

(Crowned at Scone on 1 January 1651), and Roderick and other local Royalists captured the Covenanter burgh of Inverness. They were later repulsed by a Covenanter army led by David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark. The Covenanters later largely destroyed Redcastle, which was rebuilt later that century by Colin McKenzie of Redcastle (heir to his father Roderick). In 1680, King Charles II reconstituted Redcastle as a burgh of barony which extended the legal rights to include being a trading port.

History 4

In 1790, after nine generations in the Mackenzie family,

the barony was reassigned.

A Crown Charter was issued confirming the lands and Barony of Redcastle to James Grant of Sheuglie (County Ross). After three members of the Grant family held Redcastle, the barony was reassigned in 1828 to Sir William Fettes. He died without issue, and his trustees reassigned it to Colonel Hugh Baillie of Tarradale (Lord Lieutenant of Ross-shire from 1843 until his death and 14th to hold the Barony of Redcastle). In 2016 the trustees for the 18th Baron reassigned the Barony of Redcastle to Janet Beale of Sydney, Australia.

History 5

The 19th Baroness descends from the Macraes of Kintail and Inverinate,

who shared a common ancestry with the Mackenzies.

(The Macraes of Kintail were the Mackenzies' ‘shirt of mail’.) Thus the barony has, in a sense, returned to its original roots.

The Baroness of Redcastle and her heir apparent, called the Younger of Redcastle in Scottish tradition.

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