Loch an Eilein

Loch an Eilein is a small loch on the Rothiemurchus estate about 5 km south of Aviemore. The name Loch an Eilein comes from the gaelic 'loch of the island'.

In the late 18th century and early 19th century, the loch was used mainly for two things. On the banks of the loch there is a limestone kiln where the lime stone was collected from a rockface looking over the loch. Also loggers used the connecting river to float logs down to the wood treating factories down stream. Rob Roy and other cattle rustlers used the loch and one side of the loch is called 'Robbers Way'. There are only three remaining houses on the loch side and they are used by forestry officers now.

In the middle of the Loch are ruins of the castle. The castle was once a stronghold of the Wolf of Badenoch who died around the turn of the 15th century. The Jacobites, retreating from Cromdale in 1690, besieged the castle, led by Dame Grizel Mor Grant, widow of the fifth laird Grant. At this time the castle was connected to the shore by a causeway. The causeway was lost when the water level in the loch was raised in the 18th century.