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On the north shore

Urquhart Castle

The ruin sits on a promontory, which is why so many photographs, and so many searches, mention the water below it.

The ruined walls of Urquhart Castle on a green promontory, with the open water of Loch Ness and hills beyond, under a blue sky.
Urquhart Castle on the shore of Loch Ness, photographed on 1 August 2014.Photo: Peter Glyn · CC0 1.0 · Commons

The Gazetteer for Scotland records that the maximum depth, just to the south-west of Urquhart Castle, is at least 230 m (754 feet).⁠1

Their 1991 survey found a maximum depth in the North Basin of 745 feet (226.96 m), a little less than the Murray and Pullar maximum of 754 feet (230 m), and about a kilometre south of Urquhart Castle.⁠2

BBC On This Day, reporting the end of the 1987 search, called Deepscan “a flotilla of 24 boats” that picked up three sonar “contacts,” shown as crescent-shaped marks, in the waters below Urquhart Castle — possibly a seal or a group of salmon.⁠3

The grant tower of Urquhart Castle standing above the water, with the loch and hills behind it.
Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness, photographed by Giuseppe Milo on 1 April 2015.Photo: Giuseppe Milo · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Urquhart Castle’s ruined tower and walls in the foreground, with the long water of Loch Ness stretching away between the hills.
Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle, photographed by Eusebius.Photo: Eusebius · CC BY 3.0 · Commons

Historic Environment Scotland cares for the castle. This site is not affiliated with it. The pictures here are of the ruin and the loch, credited on the credits page.

Sources on this page

  1. Gazetteer for Scotland, Loch Ness
  2. Young and Shine, Loch Ness bathymetric and seismic survey, 1991
  3. BBC On This Day, 11 October 1987, “Search ends for Loch Ness monster”