Beaufort Castle is a castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 in northern Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, near Beauly

Beauly

Beauly is a town of the Scottish county of Inverness-shire, on the River Beauly, 10 miles west of Inverness by the Far North railway line. Its population was 855 in 1901...

. It is the traditional seat of the chiefs of the Clan Fraser

Clan Fraser

Clan Fraser is a Scottish clan of French origin. The Clan has been strongly associated with Inverness and the surrounding area since the Clan's founder gained lands there in the 13th century. Since its founding, the Clan has dominated local politics and been active in every major military conflict...

.

History

The original castle was built by the Byset family

Clan Bissett

Clan Bissett is a Scottish clan of Anglo-Norman origin. It does not have a clan chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, therefore the clan has no standing under Scots Law...

. The castle came into the hands of the Fraser's in the late 13th century. English forces besieged the castle in 1303.

The castle sits on the site of several previous castles, including Castle Dounie, which was burned to the ground by Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

's forces during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the late 1640's and then by Government forces under the command of the Prince William, Duke of Cumberland

Duke of Cumberland

Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the county of Cumberland.-History:...

 shortly after Culloden

Battle of Culloden

The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...

, at the end of Jacobite rising of 1745

Jacobite Rising of 1745

The Jacobite rising of 1745, often referred to as "The 'Forty-Five," was the attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart. The rising occurred during the War of the Austrian Succession when most of the British Army was on the European continent...

, as Simon the Fox

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat , was a Scottish Jacobite and Chief of Clan Fraser, who was famous for his violent feuding and his changes of allegiance. In 1715, he had been a supporter of the House of Hanover, but in 1745 he changed sides and supported the Stuart claim on the crown of Scotland...

 had been a Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

 leader.

The castle was sold in 1994 to Stagecoach

Stagecoach Group

Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...

 director Ann Gloag

Ann Gloag

Ann Gloag, OBE , is a Scottish business woman and charity campaigner.-Biography:Educated at Caledonian Road Primary School and Perth High School, she qualified as a nurse and during a 20 year career worked as a burns unit sister.-Stagecoach:Gloag founded bus company "Gloagtrotter" in October 1980...

 by the then-Lord Lovat

Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat

Brigadier Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat and 4th Baron Lovat DSO, MC, TD was the 25th Chief of the Clan Fraser and a prominent British Commando during the Second World War...

, to meet inheritance taxes.

Beaufort Castle is located north of Kiltarlity, off the A833. 12 miles west of Inverness, on the A862.

See also

• Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
• List of castles in Scotland