A MAGNIFICENT Highland castle where a key event in Scottish history was played out, is on the market for the first time.

The grounds of five-storey Dalcross Castle, near Inverness, were used by the Duke of Cumberland to muster his Redcoat army in the early morning of the day of the fateful last battle on British soil, 250 years ago.

From the policies of Dalcross Castle, the duke, son of King George II, marched his 8000 government troops to victory later that day over his cousin Bonnie Prince Charlie's 4000-strong army of Highland clansmen on the bloody battlefield of Culloden, three miles away, in April 1746.

Dalcross Castle, a Grade One historic building, has been put up for sale by a descendant of the family that has owned it continously since the early eighteenth century.

A price of #842,500 has been placed on the castle and its surrounding 748-acre estate, which includes 220 acres of commercial coniferous forest and around 500 acres of farmland. The sale is being handled by estate agents Langley-Taylor, of Great Stuart Street, Edinburgh.

Included in the deal is the gate lodge, the garden house, two let cottages, the three farms which are leased and a small home farm, as well as the formal gardens within sheltered policy woodlands.

The castle itself has a great hall, master bedroom suite, 10 other bedrooms, a dining room, library and other offices and rooms.

The stone pile, with fine views over the Moray Firth, has angled turrets and crow-stepped gables and it was built in 1621 by the then Fraser of Lovat, clan chief of the Lovat Frasers.

A century later it passed to the powerful neighbouring family of MacIntosh of MacIntosh, hereditary chiefs of the Clan Chattan.

It is being sold by Mr Angus Warre, of Hampshire, a third cousin of John MacKintosh of MacKintosh, 37, the present chief, who inherited the title on the death of his father Lachlan, the former Lord Lieutenant of Inverness-shire, several months ago.

Mr Warre, 53, was left the castle through the female MacKintosh line. He lives with his wife, Sophie, an interior designer, at Petersfield, Hampshire. He has told selling agent Christopher Hall, of Langley-Taylor, that he has put the castle on the market because he and his wife are only able to use it for holidays because of other commitments.

This is the second major building with close links to the Battle of Culloden which is likely to change hands during the 250th anniversary year of the battle.

The four-star Culloden House Hotel, which has played host to a string of VIPs over the years, was sold less than two weeks ago by a local family to an American company headed by businessman Mr Ed Cunningham, of San Francisco, for a reputed #3m.

The elegant eighteenth century mansion was a private house belonging to staunch royalist Duncan Forbes, a senior Scottish judge, in 1746.

But that did not stop the rebels temporarily taking it over and it was used by Bonnie Prince Charlie as his headquarters the night before he was forced to flee from the battlefield.

On the night of his victory and after it had been regained by his Redcoat forces, the Duke of Cumberland deliberately slept in the same bedroom as his cousin and adversary had done less than 24 hours earlier.