Hello Walden Kin:
I wrote one of our distant cousins for information about the Castle Donan, the seat of the MacRae clan and the former the stronghold of the MacKenzie Chiefs. (You can trace back through Grandpa Wes Walden’s mother, to her father, to his mother, then to her father’s father, Samuel McCray McCrae, 1720. ) I wrote the caretakers of this castle for several years. If interested in corresponding wit the caretakers, send me an email. (drlynw@gmail.com)The first picture below is another view of this castle.
The reply from our Scottish relative follows:
Yes, the castle is in the Scottish Western Highlands, in Ross-shire. It is found on the cover of travel books and calendars. The beginnings of the castle are lost in the mists of time. In the 12th century the first stronghold was built, at the juncture of three lochs. In the 1700s the castle was destroyed by frigate gunfire, in the Jacobite uprising. In the 1920s under the direction of Farquhar MacRae it was rebuilt with the original stones and records.
My husband and I first visited the castle in 1961 after living in Holland on a Fulbright scholarship. We went back in the 1990s with my daughter when we were living in London, traveling by train to Inverness and then a sightseeing train from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh. The castle ladies gave us a warm welcome because we are McCrays.
With best wishes, Charlotte McCray
I wrote one of our distant cousins for information about the Castle Donan, the seat of the MacRae clan and the former the stronghold of the MacKenzie Chiefs. (You can trace back through Grandpa Wes Walden’s mother, to her father, to his mother, then to her father’s father, Samuel McCray McCrae, 1720. ) I wrote the caretakers of this castle for several years. If interested in corresponding wit the caretakers, send me an email. (drlynw@gmail.com)The first picture below is another view of this castle.
The reply from our Scottish relative follows:
Yes, the castle is in the Scottish Western Highlands, in Ross-shire. It is found on the cover of travel books and calendars. The beginnings of the castle are lost in the mists of time. In the 12th century the first stronghold was built, at the juncture of three lochs. In the 1700s the castle was destroyed by frigate gunfire, in the Jacobite uprising. In the 1920s under the direction of Farquhar MacRae it was rebuilt with the original stones and records.
My husband and I first visited the castle in 1961 after living in Holland on a Fulbright scholarship. We went back in the 1990s with my daughter when we were living in London, traveling by train to Inverness and then a sightseeing train from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh. The castle ladies gave us a warm welcome because we are McCrays.
With best wishes, Charlotte McCray