Knock Castle, Skye

The story

Knock Castle, in Gaelic Caisteal Chamuis, is a ruin on a promontory by Knock Bay in Sleat, on the Isle of Skye. It is a scheduled monument (SM8480, designated 19 December 2002). Its earliest documentary mention is in 1402, when William, chief of the MacLeods, died at the castle, according to Historic Environment Scotland and the Highland Historic Environment Record. In 1431 royal troops took it during the MacLeod-MacDonald conflict, and a 1513 attempt was made to restore the lordship. In 1581 lands of James, son of Donald Grumach, were forfeited to the Crown. A royal charter confirmed Donald Gorm Mor in Sleat in 1596 with an obligation that the castle serve as a residence for the king, according to Historic Environment Scotland. The Highland record speaks of a 1614 confirmation, so the sources disagree on that date. The last dated deed signed at the castle, per the Highland record, is from 31 August 1632.

The Highland record dates the first works to the fifteenth century (a tower) and a house to the late sixteenth or early seventeenth, over a prehistoric dun. Historic Environment Scotland says stones were probably taken for the nearby House of Knock in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The legend

The reported spirit is a glaistig, a female spirit of farms and castles who protects cattle in the tradition. Campbell’s collected lore of 1900 calls her the “Glaistig of the old Castle of Sleat,” seen at dusk near the gruagach stone where her milk was left; her appearance, he says, was that of “a young woman with long hair.” No witness is named; this is collected oral tradition.

In The Peat-Fire Flame (1937), MacGregor writes of “The Glaistig inhabitant of Castle Camus, in the Sleat of Skye” in the days of the Lords of the Isles, which ties the glaistig explicitly to Caisteal Camus, the Gaelic name of Knock Castle, according to Historic Environment Scotland. He says she “could be seen occasionally at night-fall, standing by the stone, in the cavity in which her allowance of milk was placed.”

MacGregor also says, of glaistigs in general, that one appears with a cry when “joy or calamity, such as a marriage or a death” is about to touch the family. This is not specific to Knock. Wikipedia gives Knock a “Green Lady” who looks happy or weeps depending on the news, plus a gruagach, but cites nothing for either, and we found no early source for them. Campbell mentions a gruagach stone at Sleat, not a separate spirit.

Our oldest trace is Campbell’s Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland (1900), published after his death from material gathered while he was minister of Tiree (1861-1891), in a passage headed “At Sleat, Skye.” It speaks of the old castle of Sleat, once a residence of the Lords of the Isles, and does not say “Knock.” MacGregor in 1937 says Castle Camus, but his sentence follows Campbell’s closely and may simply rework it, so this may be one source and not two. Neither proves that the spirit is the Wikipedia “Green Lady.” The identification of the old castle of Sleat with Knock is probable but not certain, since Sleat has another castle, Dunscaith. We found no first trace of the Green Lady and no hoax. We found no named witness or dated apparition, and our search of US newspapers (1770-1963) returned nothing for “glaistig.” In what we read, this is a folklore legend with no recorded case.

What remains today

A ruin. Wikipedia describes what is left of a fifteenth-century keep as one part around a window, still fairly high, along with remnants of later buildings. It is a scheduled monument, recorded by Historic Environment Scotland and the Highland Historic Environment Record.

Visiting

We read no statement on public access, and the ruin may stand on private land (not verified). We describe no route. Check with Historic Environment Scotland or local sources before planning a visit, and treat the monument with care. The Historic Environment Scotland and Highland record entries let you explore the castle’s history from home.

Sources

1. Wikimedia Commons category : Caisteal Camus — Wikimedia Commons
2. Dunscaith Castle — Wikipedia
3. Knock Castle (MHG45401) — Highland Historic Environment Record
4. Knock Castle (SM8480) — Historic Environment Scotland
5. Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland (Campbell) — Internet Archive, 1900
6. The Peat-Fire Flame (MacGregor) — Internet Archive, 1937
7. Wikipedia article — Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Text written by AI from the sources above and checked by a separate AI fact-check (how we work). Images: credits and licenses under each picture.