Ackergill Tower

Here can be seen the spot where Helen Gunn fell to her death onto the slatestrewn seaside from the high tower. She was one of the many victims of the long dispute between the Keith and Gunn clans. A daring night raid is detailed below as part of the feuding. After the clans came custodians, renovations, hotel guests and currently a private owner.

ABOUT THE CASTLE Visitor Details

Ackergill Tower is a private residence and not open to the public. The tower became a private property in 2019 after a time as a hotel. Some websites are still showing accommodation as available which is incorrect.

Location: Ackergill Tower is two miles north of Wick on the edge of Sinclair’s Bay, Caithness and Sutherland. It can be seen from the small village of Ackergillshore. To get there, turn north from the A99 onto the short road passing the street side houses of Ackergill until you arrive at a small harbour. In good weather and at low tide you can walk along the coast to view the tower from outside.

The Cheyne Clan was an Anglo-Norman family with lands in what is now Aberdeenshire and Caithness. Ackergill Tower has a first written mention in 1538, occupied by John Keith of Inverugie. John was the second son of one of the most powerful men in Scotland, Edward Keith the Marischal. He married Mary, one of the two daughters of Reginald Cheyne, in 1354. This enabled his inheritance of the lands around Ackergill. The tower house was gradually surrounded by a courtyard wall (Barmkin) enclosing domestic buildings such as a brew house (safe water), stables (reliable transport) and dovecots (convenient food supply). A haunting story linked to the tower describes happenings in the early 15th century. Helen Gunn was known locally as the Beauty of Braemore and was about to be married to her cousin, Alexander Gunn, a childhood sweetheart. This detail did not stop Dugald Keith from kidnapping her, hoping she would yield to him while imprisoned in the tower. He led the raid on the pre-wedding feast, slaughtering Alexander and others present. After these horrors took place it is not surprising that the stifling seclusion inside the small tower drove Helen to despair. She convinced her guards that she needed to gaze across the landscape from the tower top. Suddenly she ran, and then jumped, falling fatally onto the shore below. A marked stone is today said to show where she landed. At her home in Braemore, a Rowan tree grows that is known as ‘Fair Ellen’s Tree’. Her ghost, ‘the Green Lady’ has been seen around Ackergill. A terrible tale indeed, this fuelled the hatred of the Gunn Clan for their neighbours the Keiths. After several costly clashes, it was decided around 1478 to hold a meeting of both clans at the Chapel of St Tayre near Girnigoe to make a peace deal with the agreement to only send 12 horses each.

The chieftain of Clan Gunn and 11 of his men were inside the chapel but were attacked by 24 of the Keith’s; they had arrived with 12 horses but two men on each! Many perished that day and the dried blood was still on the chapel walls almost 200 years later. At the urging of their clan members, the Chief of Clan Keith, Sir James Ian Keith, Earl of Kintore, and the Commander of Clan Gunn, Ian Alexander Gunn of Banniskirk, signed a ‘Bond and Covenant of Friendship’ on July 28, 1978, at the site of St Tayres on the 500th anniversary of the battle there.

Meanwhile, a long time ago in 1547, the Sinclairs of Castle Girnigoe, led by George Earl of Caithness, suddenly attacked Ackergill tower, seizing Alexander Keith and his servant, making them both hostages at Girnigoe. After an appeal, the Regent of Scotland, Queen Mary, granted remission and the tower was passed to a caretaker who went by the name Lord Oliphant in 1549. Not one to give up a grudge, the Earl of Caithness, a Sinclair, took over Ackergill after a siege in 1556, depriving William Keith Earl of Marischal of his home. Again remission was given: the Sinclair Earl was forgiven by the crown and the Keith Clan Earl Marischal was back in his tower. His next problem was in that year when his brother Robert Keith took the tower by force, also intending to keep hold of the surrounding estate land. Robert was declared a rebel by the crown and vacated the tower. One dark night in 1598, the clansmen of John Keith used stealth and scaling ladders to climb walls and the tower. This daring raid was without any deaths but the servants were roughed up by the attackers. Night fighting was very uncommon in those times in Scotland. The Earl seems not to have been home because later he complained to the Privy Council that “his place of Ackergill” was taken and John would not give it back. Council power prevailed and the tower was returned to the Earl.

A property sale in 1612 did enable the Sinclairs, Earls of Caithness, to become legal owners of the tower. Having gained possession, the Sinclairs took little interest in maintaining the buildings so they were later reported as being in poor condition. When besieged in 1623 by Sir Robert Gordon, the castle surrendered quickly. He did not keep hold of the property because records show that in 1676 it was transferred to John Campbell, Earl of Breadalbane to repay debts owed by the Sinclairs. Renovating old castles has always been an expensive challenge.

The next owner, Sir William Dunbar, began the new century of 1700 by adding a large lean-to extension onto the tower, forming better accommodation. The tower in 1726 was still in need of repair though. His family continued making changes to it into the mid 19th century, including larger windows, raised bartizans, an extended roof and cap house.

As the estate shrunk from 100,000 acres to less than 4,000, by 1986 the income raised could not keep pace with repairs so again the tower was sold. The new owners John and Arlette Banister organised and financed a 2 year plan of careful restoration saving it from ruin. They sold up in 2009 however the tower was in for a treat because a luxury hotel company spent £2 million on upgrading the property gaining a five star rating.

The five-floor tower has 32 bedrooms and sits in 30 acres of ground with a lease for shooting and fishing in the surrounding 3,000 acres. Valued at £3.9 million, the latest sale in 2018 has returned the tower to its origin as a private home.

The latest owner, Episcopalian minister Dr Betsee Parker from Virginia, has a long interest in Scotland’s history. She has also carried out philanthropic work in Senegal, Kenya, and Sierra Leone. A fine custodian for this tower which has such a varied history.