Forse Castle

The scant remains of Forse Castle lie on a narrow promontory surrounded by high cliffs on three sides and protected on its landward side by a ditch and a curtain wall. Located on the southeast coast of Caithness, a quarter-mile (0.4 km) south of Burrigill and 1½ miles (2.5 km) east of Latheron, the castle comprised several ranges of buildings surrounded a small courtyard. Dating from the early 13th century, Forse is thought to have been built by Sir Reginald de Cheyne. It passed to the Keith family following the marriage of Mariota de Cheyne in 1350, and then to Kenneth, the second son of the 5th Earl of Sutherland, by another marriage in the later 14th century. The castle was occupied by the Sutherlands of Forse until they built Forse House nearby, and the castle was abandoned around 1770. Forse was drawn in 1815 by William Daniell (1769 - 1837) with the resulting aquatint published in his Voyage Round Great Britain and held by the Tate Gallery in London.


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