Of two islands in Loch Kinord the eastern one is a Dark Age Crannog and the larger and probably natural western one once had a castle upon it. There was a residence of some sort here in 1335 when Sir Robert Mensies fled there after the nearby battle of Culblean. Eventually he surrendered to Regent Moray and pledged fidelity to the cause of David II. The castle was visited by James IV in 1505, and in 1646 was repaired and garrisoned by the Marquis of Huntly. A Covenant garrison installed after General Leslie besieged and captured the castle in 1647 made itself so unpopular that in 1648 the Marquis of Argyll got an Act of Parliament passed for the destruction of the castle.
The site of this castle on an island in Loch Kinord can still be traced in a dry season by the withered grass and vegetation. Some large dressed stones line the edge of the island, which it is suggested may be partly or wholly artificial, similar to, and contemporary with, the crannog on the loch. As late as the mid-18th century parts of the timber causeway connecting the island to the N shore were in site, and large numbers of oak piles have been removed.