  thumb|brodick castle gardens|upright|the walled garden at brodick castle brodick castle is a castle situated outside the port of brodick on the isle of arran, an island in the firth of clyde, scotland. it was previously a seat of the dukes of hamilton, but is now owned by the national trust for scotland. ==history== ===early and high medieval=== a fortress has been on the site since at least the fifth century, when gaelic invaders from antrim expanded their kingdom of dÃ¡l riata. by the tenth century norse influence had grown, and arran formed part of sudreys or sÃºÃ°reyjar, administered either from dublin or the orkney islands (nordreys or norÃ°reyjar) and nominally under the control of the king of norway. this can be deduced by the number of scandinavian place-names on the island including brodick, or breiÃ°vÃ­k (broad bay). the site is thought to have been a centre of relative importance, on account of its strategic position on the firth of clyde. by the mid-thirteenth century arran was part of the kingdom of mann and the isles ruled by two gall gaidheal kings, magnus of mann and dougal of the isles, sub-rulers of hÃ¡kon hÃ¡konarson, king of norway. alexander iii of scotland had inherited his father's desire to control the islands in order to stabilise his kingdom, and made numerous unsuccessful advances to that effect. in 1262 the earl of ross sacked and pillaged skye with the king's blessing. king hÃ¡kon determined to avenge this slight and set out in july 1263, with a large fighting fleet (leiÃ°angr) for scotland. after linking up with the fleets of magnus and dougal, and showing his might throughout the hebrides, hÃ¡kon's force anchored in lamlash bay on arran, where they were approached by envoys from the scots king. the scots envoys were unsuccessful, and battle was engaged at largs, a short distance across the firth. although no rout, the scots were victorious, and hÃ¡kon's forces retreated to arran, and thence to orkney to over-winter, where hÃ
Castles_in_North_Ayrshire Category_A_listed_buildings_in_North_Ayrshire Gardens_in_North_Ayrshire Inventory_of_Gardens_and_Designed_Landscapes Isle_of_Arran James_Gillespie_Graham_buildings Listed_castles_in_Scotland National_Trust_for_Scotland_properties Reportedly_haunted_locations_in_Scotland