buildings on this castle
site was a chapel founded by Colum Cille himself. The truth,
however, seems to be that the High King of the Picts moved
his capital between a number of locations, including another at
Loch Insh near Kingussie. It can be argued with certainty that
Merchaid based himself very much on the "main
road" as it were from north to south and that his mission
must have had a huge influence on the Pictish nation. Perhaps
this is why Colum Cille found it relatively easy to convert the
High King Brude Macmelcheon when the two met at Craig Phadrig a
century later. The fact that Merchaid was a Pict himself
and understood the language must have been a huge advantage and
would have added greatly to his powers of conversion.

Some chronicles say that Merchaid visited
Rome and wasthere made a bishop. We must beware of this facet of
Merchaids history however since it was a very common
practice of the Roman fabulists to say that a Celtic saint
visited Rome. They did this, of course, to try to show that the
early church in Alba owed allegiance to Rome which it most
certainly did not. Even in Colum Cilles time the church in
Alba determinedly preserved its independence from Rome, just as
in later times it declared its independence from the authority of
the Archbishop of York. The story continues to tell us that on
his way home Merchaid remained for a time in Pictavia, now
Poitou in France, and preached the gospel to its inhabitants,
some of whom had lapsed into paganism. Here again we encounter a
fascinating parallel with the supposed history of St Machar