Dingwall

Dingwall stands at the head of the Cromarty Firth, where routes from the Highlands meet the sea. Made a royal burgh by Alexander II in 1226, it grew beside a castle that became the seat of the Earls of Ross. The castle passed to the Crown when the earldom was forfeited in 1476. James IV visited it in 1493 and 1503, and Mary, Queen of Scots, also came here during her reign.