OLD HOUSES
AND FAMILIES
SKIB0 CASTLE
SKIBO CASTLE was included in the grant of lands made by Hugo
Freskyn in 1211 to his kinsman, Gilbert, Archdeacon of Moray, who probably made
it his home after his appointment to the bishopric of
Caithness
in 1223. In the agreement concluded in 1275 between Bishop Archibald and the
Earl of Sutherland regarding certain lands in dispute, the " castle of Schythebolle" was assigned, among other
properties, to the bishop and his successors. Even after the erection of the
Bishop's Palace at Dornoch in the sixteenth century, it continued to be a
residence of the bishops.
In 1455 Bishop Mudy appointed his
brother-german, Gilbert, to the constableship of his castles of Skibo and
Scrabster.
In 1544 the castle was captured by
Mackay of Strathnaver, but it was retaken by Captain James Cullen. It appears in
various grants of the sixteenth century, and in the new grant of the Earldom of
Sutherland in 1601.
A letter incorporated in a charter of
Bishop Robert Stewart shows that in the sixteenth century Skibo Castle
was a thatched dwelling, and that it was in a sad state of disrepair. Sir Robert
Gordon records the fact that Skibo
Castle and
Dornoch Cathedral were the first buildings
that were roofed with the new slate he found in a neighbouring quarry in the
seventeenth century. It was fitting that they should be thus associated, in view
of the close connection that existed between them from the thirteenth century
until the abolition of Episcopacy in 1688.
Skibo Castle appears to have been the favourite
Episcopal residence of the diocese. Bishop Pococke visited it in 1760, and thus
refers to it in his narrative :—
" It was a castle and country seat of
the bishops of Caithness, very pleasantly situated over a hanging ground which
was improved into a very good garden, and remains to this day much in the same
state, except that there are walls built, which produce all sorts of fruit in
great perfection, and I believe not more than six weeks later than about
London."
Pennant included it in his tour of
1769, and makes reference to it as "
the bishop's summer residence."