Eday, 'the Castle', West Side
Castle (Medieval)
Site Name Eday, 'the Castle', West Side
Classification Castle (Medieval)
Canmore ID 3219
Site Number HY53SW 4
NGR HY 53 32
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3219
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Eday
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY53SW 4 53 32.
A 'castle' - a former proprietor's residence - is said to have existed in the neighbourhood of Sealskerry Bay (HY 533 318). The most likely site is on the rising ground behind Castlehill farm (HY 5358 3226).
A crudely carved human head, used as a finial on a gable at the farm of Greentoft (HY 5545 2923), is said to have been brought from an old house at Westside (district centred HY 5332), which was built out of the ruins of the 'castle'.
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1928.
No trace and no local knowledge of a castle at Castlehill.
Visited by OS(RL) 23 July 1970.
In discussing the almost certainly medieval site of Sealskerry Bay (HY53SW 3), RCAHMS rejected its identification with a locally-reported 'castle' in favou r of a theory that the supposed castle had lain on rising ground behind Castlehill (HY5358 3226).
There is no sign, and no real likelihood, of a castle on these steep, uncultivated slopes, and it is more likely that the tradition did after all refer to HY53SW 3.
Visited October 1981.
RCAHMS 1984.
