Caisteal Camus, also known as Knock, or Cnoc Castle, lies on the east coast of the Sleat peninsula on Skye, looking across the Sound of Sleat to the mainland. In common with the majority of Skye's duns and castles, the castle is situated on a promontory, indeed it is probably built on top of an Iron Age fort, Dun Thoravaig. A ditch to the north, now mostly filled in with debris and vegetation, hints at the fortifications which must have occupied the site. A steep cliff to the south supported the structures above.
Horatio McCulloch's 1854 study of the ruins from the east, adds to the limited amount of architectural clues remaining on the ground, the result of stone-robbing and the effects of exposure to the elements. It can be ascertained that a tower with 1.5m thick walls and with at least 3 floors stood at the eastern end of the site. A later dwelling house dating from the late 16th or early 17th century sat at right angles to the tower, although the tower may have already been ruinous by then. Another range of buildings on the west side, of an earlier period, may have enclosed a courtyard.
Like Dun Sgathaich, also in Sleat, Caisteal Camus was caught up in the clan rivalry between the MacLeods and MacDonalds. The MacLeods were in possession until the early 15th c, when the MacDonalds of Sleat got the upper hand in the area. After being over-run by Royal troops in 1431, nothing is recorded of the ownership of the castle for nearly a century. It resurfaces still under MacDonald control until forfeit to the Crown in the early 1580s. It was returned in 1596 on condition that it could be used as a Royal residence if required, and the dwelling house may date from this time. It was never used for Royal visitors and the last documentary evidence of the castle's occupation dates from 1632. By 1689 the site was abandoned and rapidly falling into disrepair.
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Skye and Lochalsh Archives
