Doune of Rothiemurchus

The Doune of Rothiemurchus is a large glacial mound to the rear of The Doune House of Rothiemurchus. It lies within grounds that are used as private gardens, and is therefore not routinely accessible by the public, although permission can be sought from the estate. There are no features on the top of the Doune to see, and it is likely that the mound was landscaped in the 18th century, removing any archaeological traces. It is likely that the mound housed a timber castle in the 12th and 13th centuries, however, when the lands around were held by the Bishop of Moray, serving as the residence for his forester and for the Bishop himself when he visited to hunt here. The lands were granted to Shaw Mackintosh in 1236 in lease.

The descendants of Shaw Mackintosh remained tenants of the Bishop into the 14th century, and traditionally they were supporters of Robert Bruce against the locally more powerful Comyns, As such it is possible that the Doune was targeted by Comyn or the English armies during the Bruce period. The Mackintoshes accepted the dominance of Alexander Stewart, the notorious Wolf of Badenoch, late on the 14th century, although technically still tenants of the Bishop, but by 1411 they had abandoned any settlement on the Doune, as the earliest signs of residence at Loch-an-Eilean Castle date to this period.

HES Canmore database entry