Castle Grinigoe Sinclair

The Caithness coastline seems to become more dramatic the further north. Geos, sea-stacks, arches, and cliffs. This is Castle Grinigoe, just north of Wick.

It was built sometime after 1379 when Henry Sinclair acquired to the Earldom of Orkney by marriage and was substantially enlarged and reconstructed during subsequent centuries by his successors. By the end of the 16th-century , the castle was occupied by the 5th Earl of Caithness, George Sinclair, who had a long running dispute with the Early of Sutherland. In 1588, Sutherland laid siege to the castle for 12 days, but eventually backed off. Later an Act of Parliament declared that the castle be known as Castle Sinclair, rather than Castle Grinigoe¹“Castle Girnigoe | Canmore.” Canmore.org.uk, 2021, canmore.org.uk/site/9144/castle-girnigoe. Accessed 15 May 2021.[/mfn¹Wikipedia Contributors. “Castle Sinclair Girnigoe.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Sinclair_Girnigoe. Accessed 15 May 2021..

The 6th Earl built himself a new house at Thurso, and the castle was used as a military barracks for the English Parliamentary Army. On the Earl’s death, the castle passed to Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy, but this was disputed by a distant family member, George Sinclair of Keiss, who trashed the castle of anything removable after which it fell into disrepair and eventually abandoned.

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  “Castle Girnigoe | Canmore.” Canmore.org.uk, 2021, canmore.org.uk/site/9144/castle-girnigoe. Accessed 15 May 2021.[/mfn¹Wikipedia Contributors. “Castle Sinclair Girnigoe.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Sinclair_Girnigoe. Accessed 15 May 2021.