Interesting Sites Nearby
User Reviews
Moniack Castle is a tower house built in 1580 by members of the Clan Fraser. Today the castle grounds comprise a winery, which is still owned and operated by Frasers. The L-plan castle has been altered many times since its construction. The crenellated parapet was added in 1804 and the castle was extended in the 1830s. The interiors include a Roman Catholic chapel. In the grounds of the castle is the Balblair Stone, a Pictish symbol stone, carved with the figure of a man, which was moved here from Kilmorack in 1903.
Moniack Castle is the only castle that still belongs to a branch of the Lovat Frasers. This branch is known as the Moniack Frasers and is the largest offshoot of the clan. It consists of over 250 descendants from the Hon. Alastair Fraser and Lady Sybil (née Grimstone). Alastair was given the castle by his elder brother, Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat, in 1926. The castle is occupied by the chief of the Moniack Frasers, Rory Fraser, known as 'Moniack', and his family.
References:Towering 52 meters above the sea, Bengtskär lighthouse is the tallest one in Scandinavia. The building started in in 1905 after the shipwreck of S/S Helsingfors and was completed in 1906. The lighthouse was designed by architect Florentin Granholm. On December a special petrol lantern, designed and built in Paris, was brought to Bengtskär and installed atop the tower.
German fleet bombarded Bengstkär in the First World War in 1914. Since the Gulf of Finland was heavily mined, it was not until 1919 that the surrounding seas were declared safe for shipping, that the light was lit again.
After the war the military value of Bengtskär increased as part of the defence system of independent Finland. In Second World War (1941) Soviet Union made a suprise attack to island. After a bloody battle, the small Finnish garrison emerged victorious. Intermittent repairs to the facility continued during the post-war period.