Eilean Donan Castle, probably first built in the 13th century, was a stronghold of the Mackenzies of Kintail who appointed several generations of the Clan MacRae as constables. The last constable, Rev. Farquhar MacRae who was removed in 1651, was an ancestor of John MacRae-Gilstrap. During the failed Jacobite rising of 1719 the castle was occupied by Spanish troops and was demolished by government forces after the Spaniards surrendered. By 1912 the castle, located on an island in Loch Duich on the western coast of Lochalsh, had been reduced to a few fragments of masonry.