Dunscaith Revisited

I had only visited Dunscaith Castle once, way back in 1997 (see chapter 1 of book 2). So when I was on Skye in July I decided that the time had come to see it again. From our hotel in Isleornsay I drove the A851 south. After paying a visit to haunted Loch nan Dùbhrachan (see the Sept 2, 2017 post), I took the minor road west to Ord.

Just before reaching the sea I parked the car and walked over to take some photos of Ord House. My wife and I stayed there in 1992 when it was operated as a hotel (see this link). The house, which dates to 1750, gained some fame when Alexander Smith wrote about staying there in his book A Summer in Skye (1865).

I count myself lucky to have stayed there, because it was not a hotel for much longer. It must have been hard to make a go of it in this out of the way place. I remember sitting in the lounge, reading, when the owner came in and shut off all but one light. 

Another two miles down the road I parked near a sign marking the start of the path to Dunscaith Castle.

It is an easy quarter-mile walk out the headland. After clambering around a few boulders you come to the remnant of an old track that ends at a small gully. The gully separates the castle rock from the mainland, and was once spanned by the infamous bridge of the cliff.

Dunscaith was the Dun Sgathaich of the Red Branch sagas, where Cuchulainn came to learn the art of arms. It was not easy for him to get here, as the castle was surrounded by seven ramparts and a palisade topped with spiked heads. Even if he made it through all that, there was one last obstacle, a bridge that crossed a pit of snakes and beaked toads. This was the Bridge of the Cliff; said to grow narrower, shorter, steeper, and slipperier with every step. After three failed attempts to cross, Cuchulainn performed the salmon-leap, jumping high in the air and sliding down the far side of the bridge.

Crossing what's left of the current bridge is not as death defying. But there is still a gap to cross, as the drawbridge is missing. The two arched walls that supported it remain, and there are narrow ledges on the inside of each wall where the drawbridge rested.

To get across I carefully placed my toes on a ledge and side-stepped across. When I crossed the bridge in 1997 there were several hungry sheep on the rocks below. One fatal miss-step and I’d have fallen into their waiting jaws. But there were no sheep, hungry snakes, or beaked toads around when I was there in July, and it was an easy crossing. Once over the bridge a short stairway leads to the top of the rock. 

It was here that Cuchulainn learned the various feats of combat from Queen Scathach: the spear-feat, the rope-feat, the apple-feat, the thunder-feat, and the cat-feat. Some of these feats involved the throwing of special spears grasped between the toes. It must have been quite a sight seeing warriors jumping in the air and flinging heavy spears with their feet; something that would put the fear of God in any opponent.

Aside from its walls there is not much left of the castle itself, just a space of about 5000 square feet of low foundations overgrown with grass and nettles. 

It may be possible that a fort on a small island called Eilean Ruairidh, 700 feet offshore from Dunscaith, was the actual stronghold of Queen Scathach. If so, the bridge of the cliff was a very long one. You can see the island in the following photos taken from underneath the bridge. (For more on Eilean Ruairidh see this CANMORE Page.)

The castle you see today probably dates to the 13th century, when the Macleods appointed the Mackaskill's of Rubha Dunain as keepers. Two hundred years later Dunscaith was the main seat of the MacDonalds of Skye. They moved north to more spacious quarters at Duntulm Castle in the 17th century, but would return to Sleat (Armadale) in 1800.

A visit to Dunscaith is an easy day out to see an historic site. What with all the health and safety stuff these days it is unusual that there are no 'Keep Out' signs, like those you'll find at the ruins of Duntulm. But do be careful when crossing the bridge, one miss-step and you may end up like Ragnar; a snack for some hungry snakes.