" [Ardintoul MS.]
Another writer says - "The rooms are to be seen yet. It stood
on a high rock, which extended in the midst of a little bay of
the sea westward, which made a harbour or safe port for great
boats or vessels of no great burden, on either side of the castle.
It was a very convenient place for Alexander Mac Gillespick to
dwell in when he had both the countries of Lochalsh and
Lochcarron, standing on the very march between both."
A considerable portion of the walls is still (1893) standing, but
no trace of the apartments. The sea must have receded many feet
since it was in its glory; for now it barely touches the base of
the rock on which the ruin stands. We have repeatedly examined
it, and with mixed feelings ruminated upon its past history, and
what its ruined walls, could they only speak, might bear witness
to.
In the following year (1603) the chief of Glengarry Donald
Gruamach having died, and the heir being still under age, the
Macdonalds, under Donald's cousin, Allan Dubh MacRanuil of Lundy,
made an incursion into the country of Mackenzie in Brae Ross,
plundered the lands of Cillechriost, and ferociously set fire
to the church during divine service, when full of men, women,
and children, while Glengarry's piper marched round the building
cruelly mocking the heartrending wails of the burning women and
children, playing the well-known pibroch, which has been known
ever since by the name of "Cillechriost," as the family tune of the
Macdonalds of Glengarry.
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