Ardvreck Castle. In the later years of the 15th Century the MacLeods of Assynt decided to build a castle on a good defensive site at the north-eastern end of Loch Assynt. This first castle was a comparatively simple rectangular block of three or four storeys. About a century later Donald Ban, 9th MacLeod of Assynt added a tower with a stair and two upper rooms with fireplaces and also creating vaulted cellars and a vault over the great hall. In 1650 the MacLeods imprisoned the Marquis of Montrose in the castle. At the time many Scots saw Montrose as a traitor, but within twenty years the political situation changed and it was the MacLeods who were being vilified. This played into the hands of the MacKenzies who achieved their long nurtured ambition to acquire Assynt through a siege of the castle in 1672. Historic Assynt have recently completed the consolidation of the castle ruins
