Archaeology Notes

Event ID 718394

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/718394

NT58NW 2 5143 8674.

(NT 5143 8674) Castle (NR) (site of)

OS 6" map (1971)

'Castle Tarbet', Fidra. A rocky arm projects towards the SE of the island, from which it is separated at high tide. It terminates in a flat-topped columnar rock, rising some 40ft above high water mark. A rough track leads round the face of this rock and winds up to the summit on the E. Along the one side of this track, as it mounts to the summit, are remains of a mortar-built wall, which has probably formed a parapet. On the summit there are no visible remains of buildings, though there are suggestions of foundations.

A castle was known here in 1220 and 1621 as the 'old castle' of Eldbottle.

RCAHMS 1924, visited 1913

The site of this castle is as described. The summit, 40.0m long by 8.0m wide in the centre, and 16.0m at the E end, has no trace of foundations, except for the mortared stretch 6.0m long.

Visited by OS (JLD) 14 May 1965.

A Castle was known here in 1220 and referred to as the 'old castle' of Eldbotle in 1621. There are reports of fragmentary mortared foundations on the summit of this rock

Site recorded by GUARD during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, 'The Firth of Forth from Dunbar to the Coast of Fife' 19th February 1996.