#loch duich
On 13th April 1719 a small Spanish force, believing itself to be part of a much larger invasion planned for England to return the Jacobites to power, landed in Loch Duich, east of the site of what is now Kyle of Lochalsh.
The little known 'Little Rising’, saw a force of 300 Spanish soldiers land and combine with less than a thousand Highlanders, under George Keith, the 10th Earl of Marischal, William Mackenzie, the 5th Earl of Seaforth Lord George Murray and John Cameron of Lochiel.
The plan had been hatched by King Philip of Spain and Italian Cardinal Alberoni as a diversion to help in the campaign to restore Spanish power and territories ceded to the British following the Treaty of Utrecht. The Spanish force should have been much larger, but much of it had been destroyed by a storm. Added to this Highlanders did not join the Jacobites in the expected numbers, However, the Jacobites made their base at Eilean Donan Castle and intended to capture Inverness. Unfortunately, Hanoverian ships shelled the castle and the only battle was at Glen Shiel two months later when the Jacobites were defeated by a Government army led by General Joseph Wightman.
This uprising is often overlooked, the only “major” action was on June 10th at the Battle of Battle of Glen Shiel, more of that in a couple of months.
A wee added note to this, it was during this time that Eilean Donan was destroyed by Government ships bombarding it the ruined castle was abandoned until 1912 when it was purchased by Lieutenant-Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap. Rebuilding was undertaken between 1914 and 1932 and it was at this time that a bridge was built to link the island to the shore. The pics shows how the castle looked in the two centuries between these events and the restoration, and the ruin, as it was.
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