Archaeology Notes

Event ID 654217

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/654217

ND14NW 5 1262 4864.

(ND 1262 4864) Dirlot Castle (NR) (remains of)

OS 6" map, (1963)

The remains of Dirlot Castle occupy the N end of a steep-sided, isolated rock beside the Thurso River some two miles S of Westerdale. The keep has been very small, measuring some 18ft by 10ft within walls 6 1/2ft thick and now some 3 to 4ft in height. It occupies the full extent of the N end of the rock, while the S portion of the summit, measuring some 40ft by 24ft, has formed a courtyard, around which the remains of a parapet are visible. Some 30ft out from the base of the rock on the side away from the river are the remains of a stony rampart or wall about 6ft in height.

In the 15th century, Dirlot belonged to a family of Sutherlands, but in 1499 passed by Royal charter to one Odo alias Y Makky.

C Cordiner 1780; R Gordon 1813; J T Calder 1887; RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910; Reg Magni Sig Reg Scot 1984.

The remains of Dirlot Castle are as described by the RCAHMS (1911). The outer rampart is 25.5m long by 6.0m broad and 2.3m high.

Visited by OS (W D J) 11 April 1961.

No change to the previous field report.

Visited by OS (W D J) 11 April 1961.