Castle of Mey

The Castle of Mey (also known for a time as Barrogill Castle) is located in Caithness, on the north coast of Scotland, about 6 miles (10 km) west of John o' Groats. In fine weather there are views from the castle north to Orkney.

The lands of Mey belonged to the Bishops of Caithness. The Castle of Mey was built between 1566 and 1572, possibly on the site of an earlier fortification, by the 4th Earl of Caithness. According to a February 2019 report: "The castle was probably built between 1566 and 1572 by George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness [and] includes a dominating tower with a series of tall ranges to the side and rear creating a three-sided courtyard open to the north and the sea."Originally a Z-plan tower house of three storeys, it had a projecting wing at the south-east, and a square tower at the north-west. The castle passed to Lord Caithness's younger son William, founder of the Sinclairs of Mey, although it later became the seat of the earls.

The castle's name was changed to Barrogill, and the structure was extended several times, in the 17th and 18th centuries, and again in 1821 when Tudor Gothic style alterations were made, to designs by William Burn. Barrogill passed out of the Sinclair family in 1889, on the death of the 15th Earl of Caithness, when it passed to F. G. Heathcote (later Sinclair). In 1929 it was bought by Captain Frederic Bouhier Imbert-Terry.

The castle was used as an officers' rest home during the Second World War, and in 1950 the estate farms were sold off. By that time, only the tower was habitable.

Barrogill Castle was in a semi-derelict state when, in 1952, the estate was bought by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the widow of King George VI, who had died earlier that year. The Queen Mother set about restoring the castle for use as a holiday home, removing some of the 19th-century additions, and reinstated the castle's original name. As part of the restoration, the castle was for the first time supplied with electricity and water. Other work done in 1953–1954 included making the castle weathertight and habitable, as well as painting and plastering. The castle interior was also refurbished over the next few years. The west wing restoration was not completed until 1960.

The Queen Mother hung several portraits of the previous owners, the Earls of Caithness, around the castle.

Text adapted from “Castle of Mey” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Castle of Mey ranks #616 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #18 of the 167 mapped in Scotland. Founded 1566, it is older than 37% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 718 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 17,376 times in the last 60 days, more than 96% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. It is one of the 57 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Scottish Highlands. See how Scotland compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗