Lochslin Castle (5 of 5)
If you look closely, there is actually quite a lot of good quality ashlar blocks in there.  It would be interesting to see the site cleared of vegetation.

Lochslyne Castle was the property of, and was built by, the Vass family, who I had never heard of before, but when I looked them up, their name turned out to be a corruption of Vaux, or de Vaux, a family originally of Norman origin, that I had heard of before.  Vaus, Wass and Vallibus are other variations of the name.  The family arrived here in the 15th century, having spread from Wigtonshire, due to the good influence of Alexander Vaus, Bishop of Galloway (and previously Orkney and Caithness), via Garthland in Dumfries, and Dirleton in East Lothian.  John Vass of Lochslin appears on record from 1456.

Jasper Vass of Lochslin was a burgess and Provost of Inverness in the mid-16th century.  In 1589/90, Jasper's son John Vass mortgaged to his brother, Alexander, half of the lands of Lochslin, reserving the castle and its garden for himself.  John Vass, last of Lochslin, is on record from 1608 to 1610, and seems to have retreated into the relative anonymity of a burgess of Inverness.  Lochslin and his other lands were sold to George Munro of Meikle Tarrel.  The farming life isn't for everyone!

There then followed some quick changes of ownership.  George Munro sold Lochslin and other property in 1622, to James Cuthbert of Drakies, who two years later sold them to John, 2nd son of Kenneth Mackenzie, 1st Lord Mackenzie of Kintail.  It is as a Mackenzie property that Lochslin is chiefly remembered - if it is remembered at all!  From John, the property passed to his half-brother, Simon Mackenzie of 'Lochslyne' (died 1666), from whom the property passed to George, his eldest son.

Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh (and Lochslin), was Lord Advocate in the reigns of Charles II and James VII.  He was dubbed “Bluidy Mackenzie” for his prosecution of the Covenantors.
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