For centuries the inhabitants of Scotland have been building fortifications and strongholds of one kind or another, so that at one time there were over 3,000 castles, larger or smaller. Many of them are in ruins or have disappeared completely, but hundreds still remained, to remind the tumultuous history of these lands. One of the most picturesque of them is the castle located on the Eilean Donan (Island of Donnán), a small tidal island where three lochs meet, Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh, in Wester Ross. It is possible that an early Christian monastic cell was founded on the island in the 6th or 7th century, dedicated to Donnán of Eigg, an Irish saint who was martyred on Eigg in April 617. Anyway, the name of the island comes from this saint.
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