Cadboll Castle is a ruined strongly built L-plan tower house set in the beautiful grounds of Glenmorangie House that replaced it. Sadly much of the east wing was demolished in 1928 and access is strictly private. Historically linked to the nearby Abbey of Fearn. Part of the old castle is used as a farm store and the magnificent nearby house for weddings.

Curiously the name Cadboll means dwelling of wild cats!

~ History ~

1281 ~ William Earl of Ross grants the lands of Cadboll to the Bishop of Moray to maintain the Friars of Elgin.

1300's ~ Cadboll castle is built.

1572 ~ Alexander Ross of Balnagown is ordered to repair the damage he and his men had inflicted on Cadboll Castle.

1592 ~ William Sinclair, son and heir of George Sinclair of Castle Mey, in Caithness, is in possession Cadboll after it had long been the possession of the MacLeod's of Cadboll. Extensive modifications are made to the castle.

1595 ~ Riot and mutiny breaks out among the scholars and gentlemen's sons attending the High School of Edinburgh, arising from a dispute with the magistrates as to their vacation. They take arms with powder and bullets, and refuse all entrance to masters or magistrates until their claims are conceded. The following day the Council resolve to take strong measures with a posse of officers, headed by Bailie John Macmoran, proceeding to the school. After failing to persuade the scholars to surrender, they attempt to prize open the doors. William Sinclair of Cadboll presents a gun from a window, directly opposite John Macmoran and shoot him through his head.  In the end he and seven other youths implicated are cleared of murder and rioting.

1610 ~ In the Register of the Great Seal, King James the 6th of Scotland confirms a Charter of David, Bishop of Ross to William Sinclair in possession of Cadboll. Further modifications are made to the castle.

1700's ~ The castle is abandoned for the luxury of Glenmorangie House.

1707 ~ Aeneas Macleod of Cadboll, MP for the county of Cromarty, is a signee of the Treaty of Union with England.

1745 ~ Aeneas's don Roderick II of Cadboll declares and fights for the Jacobite cause.

1757 ~ Following Roderick's ten-year exile in France following the unsuccessful Jacobite uprising, he finally returns to Scotland to the new family seat of family seat of Invergordon Castle that fifty years later is burnt to the ground.