A thousand years of history urquhart castle dominates a rocky promontory jutting into loch ness that promontory has hosted some famous names in its long history st columba visited with peaceful intent around ad 580 not so the english who seized the castle in 1296 nor the macdonalds lords of the isles who stormed through the glen time and again in the later middle ages ruling with a rod of iron from the mighty castle in the twilight of its days as a seat of the chief of clan grant u