skip to main content
Menu
  • Blog
    • Art & design
    • Castles
    • Cycling
    • Edinburgh
    • Edinburgh Festival
    • Food & drink
    • General
    • History
    • Music
    • Sport
    • Walking
    • Whisky
    • Wildlife
  • Castles
    • Glossary
    • Mottes
    • Stay in a castle
    • Castle blog posts
    • Alphabetical list of castles
    • Castles divided by county
    • Photos of castles
    • Castles we've visited
  • History
    • Castles
    • Ancient history
      • barrows
      • brochs
      • cairns
      • caves
      • chambered cairns
      • cists
      • crannogs
      • cursus monuments
      • forts
      • henges
      • rock art
      • sacred sites
      • souterrains
      • standing stones
      • stone circles
    • Pictish history
      • Pictish stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Pictish placenames
    • Clans
      • Surnames
      • Trace your ancestors
      • Tartan
    • Trace your ancestors
  • Culture
    • Music
      • Bands & musicians
      • Music links
    • Film
    • Television
    • Placenames
      • Pictish placenames
  • Eat
  • Drink
    • Scottish beer
    • Scottish gin
    • Scottish vodka
  • Stay
  • Travel guide
    • City guides
    • Car hire
    • Airports
  • Walking
    • Munros
    • West Highland Way
  • Photos
  • Offers
  • Home
  • history
  • castles
Castle of Mey

The Castle of Mey is a 16th tower house which was remodelled and extended in the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

Castle of Mey
The castle was built in 1567 by George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness, and was originally Z-plan in style with a main three storey and attic block aligned approximately east to west. Projecting from the south-east corner was a rectangular wing and from the north-east corner a smaller square tower.

Castle of Mey
The castle’s name was later changed to Barrogill Castle and it remained in the Sinclair family until the death of George Sinclair, 15th Earl of Caithness, in 1889. It was inherited by F. G. Heathcote, who as a condition of the will changed his surname to Sinclair.

During the Second World War the castle was used as an officers’ rest home and by 1952 it was in a semi-derelict state when it was bought by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She restored the castle’s original name and commissioned a project of restoration by the architect Hugh Macdonald of Sinclair Macdonald and Son. As part of the restoration several carved stone details from Woolmet House, just outside Edinburgh and demolished in 1953, were incorporated into the Castle of Mey.

Castle of Mey
In 1996 ownership was transferred to The Castle of Mey Trust.

stay in a castle
  • advertisement/

Alternative names for Castle of Mey

Barrogill Castle; Maii; May; Maye

Clans associated with Castle of Mey

Sinclair

Surnames associated with Castle of Mey

Sinclair

Where is Castle of Mey?

Castle of Mey is in the parish of Canisbay and the county of Caithness.

Grid reference: ND 29032 73889

Lat / long: 58.647117, -3.224699

Bing Maps | Google Maps | Historic maps (NLS) | OpenStreetMap | Ordnance Survey | PastMap | Streetmap | Wikimapia

OS Map for Castle of Mey

OS map 451
Thurso & John O’Groats (Dunnet Head)
OS Explorer map 451


  • advertisement

Directions to Castle of Mey

Enter a starting point

  • advertisement

Weather at Castle of Mey

14°C
max 14°C / min 14°C
22km/h SE
1025mb
72%
100%
03:02 21:25

Overcast clouds
Weather observed at Thurso at 15:18

References (books)

The Castles of Scotland
Martin Coventry
Prestongrange, 2015
The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland A.D. 1580-1593
John Maitland Thomson
Edinburgh, 1888
The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland A.D. 1593-1608
John Maitland Thomson
Edinburgh, 1890
The Saint-Clairs of the Isles
Roland William Saint-Clair
Auckland, 1898

References (websites)

Listed Building record
Canmore
Wikipedia
The Castle of Mey

Castles near Castle of Mey

Brabster Castle

5.0km away

Castle Mestag

5.5km away

Brough Castle

6.2km away

Freswick Castle

11.0km away

Bucholly Castle

12.2km away

Keiss Castle

13.9km away

Snelsetter Castle (site of)

15.3km away

Castle of Haimer (site of)

16.2km away

Thurso Castle

17.3km away
more castles....
  • advertisement

Ancient sites near Castle of Mey

Hollandmey (possible) (site of) broch

3.1km away

Gills broch

3.4km away

Scarfskerry broch

3.4km away

Rattarburn (possible) (site of) broch

3.8km away

Ratter (possible) broch

4.0km away

Ham souterrains

5.2km away

Canisbay (site of) broch

5.4km away

Scoolary (possible) (site of) broch

5.5km away

Brabstermire broch

5.5km away
more ancient sites....

Pictish stones near Castle of Mey

Craig of Hattel Class I symbol stone

11.3km away

Birkle Hill Class I symbol stone

16.2km away

Ackergill 1 Class I symbol stone

19.7km away

Ackergill 2 Class I symbol stone

19.8km away

Skinnet Stone Class II cross slab

19.8km away

Flotta Class III cross slab

20.6km away

St Peter’s Church Class I symbol stone

24.7km away

Reay Class III cross slab

26.7km away

Orphir 1 Class I symbol stone

30.8km away
more Pictish stones....
  • Sixt Car Rental

Pictish sites near Castle of Mey

Burghead fort

106.1km away

Gaulcross hoard

112.4km away

Torvean silver chain

144.5km away

Parkhill silver chain

170.1km away

Nigg silver chain

182.7km away

St. Ninian's Isle hoard

183.2km away

Dunnicaer fort

197.6km away

Norrie's Law hoard

266.5km away

Traprain Law silver chain

300.0km away
more Pictish sites....
  • Booking.com
  • Sixt Car Rental

Accommodation near Castle of Mey

Dunnet Head Cottage
self-catering cottage, bed and breakfastBrough
6.6km away
Seaview Hotel
hotelJohn O' Groats
9.1km away
Greenland House
hotelThurso
11.3km away
St Clair Arms Hotel
hotelThurso
11.4km away
The Castletown Hotel
hotelCastletown
11.4km away
Holborn Hotel
hotel, barThurso
18.2km away
Royal Hotel Thurso
hotel, restaurant, barThurso
18.2km away
Sandra's Backpackers Hostel
hostelThurso
18.2km away
The Weigh Inn Hotel
hotelThurso
19.0km away
Ferry Inn
hotelScrabster
19.2km away

Accommodation search

(leave blank to view all)
Accommodation type
bed and breakfasts
campsites
castles
holiday parks
hostels
hotels
self-catering apartments
self-catering cottages
self-catering lodges
spas
more accommodation....

Cafés, restaurants & bars near Castle of Mey

The Storehouse
caféJohn O'Groats
8.9km away
Holborn Hotel
hotel, barThurso
18.2km away
Red Pepper Restaurant
restaurantThurso
18.2km away
Royal Hotel Thurso
hotel, restaurant, barThurso
18.2km away
Ackergill Tower
hotel, restaurant, barWick
20.2km away
Royal Golf Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barDornoch
97.1km away
Dornoch Castle Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barDornoch
97.2km away
The Eagle
hotel, restaurant, barDornoch
97.2km away
Railway Hotel
hotel, barTain
104.5km away
Royal Hotel Tain
hotel, bar, restaurantTain
104.6km away
more food.... / more drink....

Related pages

Dirleton Castle in East Lothian
Dirleton Castle in East Lothian
Garden of Cosmic Speculation plus castles
Garden of Cosmic Speculation plus castles
Inveraray Castle and standing stone
Inveraray Castle and standing stone
A doocot, a castle and a beach in East Lothian
A doocot, a castle and a beach in East Lothian
A pair of castles on the River Tweed
A pair of castles on the River Tweed
Dunbar harbour and castle
Dunbar harbour and castle
Published on the 19th of October 2011 at 10:44 am. Updated on the 31st of December 2024 at 6:25 pm.

Leave a comment

back to the top of the page

Connect with us

Like us on Facebook

Receive our newsletter

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by Stravaig_Aboot

Quick links

Stay in a Scottish castle
Edinburgh Festival accommodation
Hotels in Scotland
Car hire in Scotland
Places to eat and drink in Scotland
Castles in Scotland
Trace your Scottish ancestors
Scottish clans
Standing stones in Scotland
The Picts
Pictish symbol stones
Pictish placenames
Scottish bands and musicians
Scottish films
Scottish TV shows
West Highland Way

About

Andy Sweet above Fast Castle

Stravaiging around Scotland is written, photographed and researched by Andy Sweet.
read more....

Cookies

To make this site work properly we use cookies to store information on your computer. Click here to read more.

Affiliate links

This site includes affiliate links and adverts. If you click on these links we may receive a small commission at no cost to yourselves. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. This modest income goes towards funding the site.
© 2003 - 2025 Andy Sweet / Stravaiging around Scotland. Powered by WordPress. Hosted by Tsohost.