Braal Castle (6 of 6) - a photo on Flickriver

In 1547, the castle was in the possession of George Sinclair, Earl of Caithness and it remained with one branch or another of the Sinclairs thereafter. In the 17th century it passed to the Sincalirs of Ulbster, who, deciding that they needed something more spacious and modern, started construction of a new castle just a few feet away. The new castle's dimensions were clearly more than corbelled Caithness slabs could span, and was to be built over a vaulted basement. Vaults were usually built first in those days and then the walls built around, but for whatever reason, after the vaults were built, construction stopped and the part-built building stood like that until 1856 when a new house was built upon them - the 'mansion' behind which the castle now hides. The mansion was later used as a hotel for those wanting to fish the River Thurso and has recently been converted into flats.

It is fortunate for the old castle that construction of the new stopped after construction of the vaults, because stone from the old would have been used for construction of the new.

www.caithness.org states that during the Second World War Braal House (not the castle, which was a ruin by then) was requisitioned by the army and that Winston Churchill stayed here briefly. During the recent renovations and conversions, names & dates were found scratched into the walls throughout the building, which where possible, have been preserved for the benefit of others to find again in the future.

Taken in: UK / Scotland / Halkirk (show map)

Taken on: August 5, 2015

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Braal Castle

Caithness

Tower-house

Brathwell Castle

Scotland

Sinclair

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