About
Muness Castle on Unst is the northernmost castle in Britain, a tower house begun in 1598 for Laurence Bruce of Cultmalindie, half-brother of Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney. Bruce was investigated by the Privy Council for oppressing the people of Shetland, though some local legends remember him as a hero. In 1608 Earl Patrick Stewart pursued an enemy to Muness with 36 men but had to withdraw, and in 1627 privateers from Dunkirk burned the castle. The Bruces sold it in 1718 and it was a ruin by the end of that century. It is a Z-plan tower entered through the south front beneath a rhyming inscription naming Laurence the Bruce as that worthy man, with corner turrets on chequered corbels carved with dummy gunloops and rosettes, gun holes and an integral kitchen. Reviewers say it is often empty and the ground floor is pitch dark, so take a torch. Getting there takes two council ferries via Yell.
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- Muness CastleOpen all year; an unstaffed open site, no hours published
Opening times may change at short notice.
Historic Scotland: 'Muness Castle is free to visit and open year round.' No hours, closures or notices on 20 October 2026.
A roofless tower house entered by a heavy door; the ground floor rooms are pitch dark, so bring a torch or use a phone light (reviewers found the torches left in a box at the door flat), and stairs climb to the upper floors with information signs in the rooms. No toilets on site.
Photo: Muness Castle's roofless tower house with its round corner tower and corbelled turret behind a drystone wall, under a cloudy sky. PaulT (Gunther Tschuch), CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Muness_Castle_01.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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