[MR] BBC: Ardvrek Castle Wall Vandalized

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots,

Today the BBC reports on vandalism to a wall at the ruins of Ardvrek (or
Ardvreck) Castle in Scotland.

An unknown person tore down part of an historic wall on the site to use as
stepping stones across a wet spot along the beach. To be clear, the damage
was to a small outer wall, not to the fabric of the castle itself, or
rather what remains of the castle, which is *an* *bonnie haip o' stanes*
("a picturesque pile of rocks" in English).

Ardvreck Castle, a small tower house, is on an isolated spit of land in
Sutherland, part of the western Highlands. The castle was built around 1597
by the MacLeods of Assynt, but was later seized by the MacKenzies of Assynt
(post-SCA period) during the petty inter-clan feuding that so marred life
in the Highlands. The MacLeods never got it back.

The BBC story is at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c30j3ndg9glo .

More about Ardvreck Castle is found in Volume 3 of MacGibbon and
Ross's book THE CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND, pages
631-633. It was already in ruins when the original book was published in
1887: https://archive.org/details/castellateddomes03macg/page/630/mode/2up .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep the original Merry Rose relevant and in
business.