Cawdor Castle in the Scottish Highlands: Connected to Clan Campbell and Macbeth



This evening, I am posting information on Cawdor Castle near Nairn in the Highlands of Scotland, about twenty miles N.E. of Inverness.

This is a popular visitor attraction during summer time, no doubt aided by its close location to Inverness and the famous Culloden Battlefield site. Apart from the castle building (on which more below) there are other facilities for the visitor including:
  • A country estate with waymarked hiking trails.
  • Gardens: walled, flower and wild
  • Golf course and putting green
  • Gift shop, bookshop, wool shop and restaurant.
The name Cawdor has its origins in the Brittonic (Welsh) words caled dobhar which translates as 'hard water'.
Garden with castle in background 

 Archway in Garden



It is believed the present castle dates from the 1400s when it was built, probably by the 3rd Thane of Cawdor ,to replace an earlier castle about one and half miles away. The building was a classic (by standards of the day) four story Tower House albeit incorporating an unusual feature in being built around a holly tree which is extant (in the thorn tree room) but died in the late 14th century. The castle has remained in the same family, connected to Clan Campbell, for about 600 years.
There is also a tenuous link with Shakespeare’s Macbeth. However, this is due to an erroneous interpretation of history as Macbeth, King of Alba, died 130 years before creation of the title Thane of Cawdor and some 300 years before the castle was constructed.

Cawdor Burn (stream)


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