Chanonry of Ross Castle Chanonry of Ross , also known as Seaforth Castle , was located in the town of Fortrose , to the north - east of Inverness , Highland , Scotland . Nothing now remains of the castle . The castle was also known as Canonry or Chanonrie of Ross , the former county . Construction . The Castle no longer stands however it is known that it was a rectangular tower house built by the Bishop Fraser between 1497 and 1507 . 16th century siege . In 1569 , during the Marian civil war between the deposed Mary , Queen of Scots and James VI of Scotland a feud arose between the Clan Mackenzie and Clan Munro , who were among the most powerful clans in Ross - shire . The trouble started when John Leslie , Bishop of Ross , made over to his cousin Leslie , the Laird of Balquhair , the right and title to the castle at Chanonry together with the castle lands . Bishop Leslie had been secretary to the deposed Mary , Queen of Scots and there was strong feeling against episcopacy in Scotland . He therefore felt it best to get the church property under his bishopric passed into his family ' s hands to preserve some of the important privileges that came with being a bishop . Notwithstanding this grant the Regent Moray ( James Stewart , 1st Earl of Moray ) , acting in the name of the infant King James VI of Scotland gave the custody of the castle to Andrew Munro , 5th of Milntown . James Stewart , 1st Earl of Moray , who was the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland , promised Bishop Leslie that in return for ceding the castle and lands he would give him some of the lands of the barony of Fintry in Buchan . This scheme was interrupted when , in January 1570 , James Stewart , 1st Earl of Moray ( Regent Moray ) was shot dead , preventing Andrew Munro of Milntown from obtaining the title to the castle and lands of Chanonry , but that did not deter Munro from occupying the castle . The Mackenzies were not pleased to see their powerful neighbours , the Munros , in possession of this castle and recognizing the inherent weakness in Munro ' s title , or lack of it , they purchased from Leslie the legal title and rights and proceeded to demand possession of their rightful property from Munro . However Munro would not cede . Munro decided to stay put and made a new approach to the new regent , Matthew Stewart , 4th Earl of Lennox who seeing the justice of the situation supported Munro . The situation became even more complex when the unfortunate Earl of Lennox was also shot and killed in September 1571 . The next regent , John Erskine , 17th Earl of Mar , subsequently also gave his approval to Andrew Munro to retain possession of the castle , however the Earl of Mar died in October 1572 after a short illness which some sources indicate was due to poisoning . The Mackenzies regarded the Munros as wrongful possessors of their property which they had legally purchased from Leslie . They therefore laid siege to the castle . The Munros defended the castle for three years with the loss of many lives on both sides . Finally in 1573 the Munros peacefully passed the castle to the Mackenzies under an Act of Pacification , in the terms of which Munro was awarded compensation for his expenses in occupying the castle . This affair was probably part of wider political intrigue and the rival claims of the King ' s and Queen ' s parties , known as the Marian civil war which ended with the ' pacification ' of Perth in 1573 . During the minority of James VI of Scotland , which officially ended in 1578 , Munro of Milntown and his then chief , Robert Mor Munro had charge of the Crown lands of Ross and the Black Isle . On 31 October 1578 , James VI gave the " castell , hous and place of the channonrie " to Henry Stewart , 3rd Lord Methven . The Chanonry had been given to Alexander Hepburn ( d . 1578 ) , the replacement for John Lesley , Bishop of Ross , who shared Queen Mary ' s exile . Lord Methven would receive the income from the lands until such time as a new Bishop of Ross was appointed . In July 1589 James VI arrived at the Chanonry in person , where " he slew ane great hairt , and wes weill bancketted and ressavit by the barronis and gentilmen in the way . " Historical accounts . Sir Robert Gordon . Sir Robert Gordon ( 1580 - 1656 ) writes of the feud between the Munros and Mackenzies in his book " Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland " : " Clancheinzie grudgening , they bought the inheitance therof from Buquhayn , and thervpon they besieged the castle of the channonrie , which the Monroes defended and keipt for the space of thrie yeirs , with the great slaughter on either syd , untill it was delyvered to the Clancheinzie , by the act of pacification . And this wes the ground begining of the fead and hartburning , which , to this day remaynes betuein the Clancheinzie and Munrois " . Alexander Mackenzie . According to Alexander Mackenzie ' s books " The History of the Mackenzies " ( 1894 ) and " The History of the Munros of Fowlis " ( 1898 ) , the Mackenzie ' s were supported by the Clan Mackintosh who together garrisoned Fortrose Cathedral and laid siege to the castle . Mackenzie claims that an attempted sortie by the Munros for fish at a nearby loch was foiled and as a result the Mackenzies took control of the castle by force . Although it is recorded by Sir Robert Gordon ' s earlier account to have been handed over by an " Act of Pacification " . 17th and 18th century Civil Wars . Later during the Scottish Civil War of the 17th century the Mackenzies were was still in possession of the Castle Chanonry of Ross . Their chief , George Mackenzie , 2nd Earl of Seaforth supported the Scottish Covenantors and in 1646 the leader of the royalist army , James Graham , 1st Marquess of Montrose laid siege to the castle and took it from the Mackenzies after a siege of four days . In 1649 , after the Siege of Inverness ( 1649 ) , David Leslie , Lord Newark who was the leader of the Scottish Parliament ' s army left a garrison in the Castle Chanonry of Ross . However soon after the Mackenzies retook the castle from the Parliamentary forces . The Parliamentary forces responded by taking the Mackenzie ' s Redcastle and hanged the garrison . A 17th - century poem , written by Brahan Seer , concerning the Castle Chanonry of Ross predicted that : " The day will come when , full of the Mackenzies , it will fall with a fearful crash . This may come to pass in several ways . The Canonry is the principle burying - place of the Clan , and it may fall when full of dead Mackenzies , or when a large concourse of the Clan is present at the funeral of a great chief " . Interestingly the castle was reduced to rubble during the Jacobite Uprisings in the 18th century . Although it is not known who was responsible for this . In modern times . The castle itself no longer stands . However , the street it was on is now known as Castle Street . Nearby , built into the outside wall of an extremely old house is a stone known as a ' Dormer Pediment ' . The stone consists of a coat of arms and some initials . The initials read CBS which stand for ' Countess Barbara of Seaforth ' . Barbara was the wife of George MacKenzie , second Earl of Seaforth ( 1633 – 1651 ) . It is possible that this stone is the only surviving relic of the castle .