Kisimul Castle, Barra

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Kisimul Castle, seat of the chief of the Macneils of Barra, tells us of the nature of Gaelic lordship in the Middle Ages. Caisteal Chiosmuil, the island stronghold’s Gaelic name, means ‘castle of the rock of the small bay’.

The castle built in the 1400s was originally a three-storey tower house, in which the clan chief lived. A curtain wall fringed the small rock on which Kisimul stood, and enclosed the small courtyard with its ancillary buildings, including a feasting hall, chapel, tanist’s (heir’s) house, and a watchman’s house.

Most of the buildings were restored in the 1900s, the tanist’s house serving as the family home of the Macneils.

A well near the postern gate is fed with fresh water from an underground seam. Outside the curtain wall, beside the original landing-place, are the foundations of the crew house, where the sailors manning their chief’s galley had their quarters.

Rae Project | PIC333