Fairburn Tower

Fairburn Tower is a recently restored Scottish castle near Inverness and Muir of Ord in the parish of Urray.

The tower house on a hill above the River Orrin is believed to have been built in 1545 for Murdo Mackenzie.

[2] Rory Mackenzie, a nephew of Thomas Fraser, 2nd Lord Lovat,[3] who died in 1533, owned nearby farms or townships at Comrie,[4] Scatnell, and "Acheleis", and the mill at Contin.

[13] After he married Mariobelle or Margaret Urquhart, in 1549 Mary, Queen of Scots gave him more land in the parish.

[21] Hugh Miller, who heard stories of the Mackenzies from a woman called Isobel, known as "Mad Bell", described the ruin as a "ghastly spectre of the past".

Fairburn Tower in 2023, after restoration
The tomb of Murdo Mackenzie's grandfather Kenneth Mackenzie at Beauly Priory
TheTower from the SE, showing the later stair wing and ground floor entrance (MacGibbon and Ross, 1887 [ 16 ] ).
Fairburn Tower, a roofless ruin, in 2017