Archaeology Notes

Event ID 662237

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/662237

NH65SE 1 6963 5358.

(NH 6963 5358) Ormond Castle (NR)

OS 6" map, (1959

For bronze axe hoard from 'Ladyhill' traditionally linked with this locality, see NJ26SW 121.

Ormond Castle, or the Castle of Avoch, was the seat of the Ormonds, and is said to have been one of the royal castles built c.1179. There are early references to the "Mote of Ormond'. It is said to have been destroyed on the approach of Cromwell's army c.1650. The castle appears to have been of coarse red sandstone and lime. Only the foundations remain. The site was partially cleared by Beaton, who believed that some of the tower foundations, which appear to be circular, would prove to be rectangular, as did tower 'A' on the plan. The outer defences on the NE follow the contour of the hill. According to NSA (1845) these are composed of three breastworks with median ditches, but Beaton (1885) mentions only one ditch.

NSA 1845; A J Beaton 1885.

The remains of Ormond Castle are generally as described and planned by Beaton: the walls are mostly reduced to vague turf-covered footings 0.3m in height.

The castle consists of three courts aligned NE and SW and occupying the summit of Ormond Hill. The central court contains the foundations of two oblong buildings, and incorporates the footings of four towers or turrets in its SW and SE walls. The entrance, of which no trace remains, was probably in the SW side.

The NW and SE walls are extended to the NE to form, at a lower level, a semicircular court containing an oblong building foundation; and incorporating a fifth tower in its SE arc. There is no trace of the wall shown by Beaton (1885) within this court.

At the opposite end of the central court the NW wall extends to the W and S to delimit the third court, the NW arc of which incorporates a tower additional to that shown by Beaton.

To the NE, where the slopes of Ormond Hill are slightest, there are also the remains of two banks and ditches.

There is a stone-lined well, within the W tower of the inner court and on a shelf to the SE of that court, is a rock cut basin shown by Beaton (1885) as a well.

The approach through the outworks runs NE and upwards on to this shelf.

Resurveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (N K B) 17 March 1966.

The earthworks around the NE shoulder of the hill comprise two ditches with outer banks, the inner of which contrives around the NW and SE sides of the hill in the form of a terrace reminiscent of an IA fort, for which the hill is eminently suited. However the clear-cut nature of the ditches in the NE suggests a later date.

Visited by OS (N K B) 3 December 1970.

For possible hoard of flat bronze axes, said to be from this area but more probably from the Ladyhill district of Elgin, see NJ26SW 121. It appears probable that Beaton included these in his account of Ormond Castle on account of their having been presented to Elgin Museum by James Fletcher of Rosehaugh, a nearby property.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 20 April 1990.

Castle / motte (supposed); hillfort? - outside survey area.

CFA/MORA Coastal Assessment Survey 1998.