Monument record MHG4362 - Castle of Petty (Dalligill, Dalziel or Halhill)

NH75SE 1 7534 5027.

(NH 7534 5026) Castle (NR) (Site of)
OS 6" map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1906)

"...When standing it was occupied by the Ogilvies and was destroyed by the clan McIntosh about 130 (sic) years ago. There is no vestige of it now above ground,..... its name cannot be ascertained".
Name Book 1870.

"On it (this site) once stood the fortified house or castle of Halhill", and ibid "The house of Petty, called Halhill".
(George and Peter Anderson, Solicitors of Inverness, give no evidence for their re-naming of this site, they quote the same passages for the same charters as other authorities some of whom are cited here).
G Anderson and P Anderson 1863.

The Moy Hall MS mention the "Castle of Petty" in in 1551 AD, but this date and earlier dates must refer either to an older castle on the same site as Castle Stuart or to the "House of Hall Hill".
T Wallace 1921.

" ... Halhill Castle which is by some supposed to have stood on the site of the present Castle Stuart (see NH74NW 21) but by others is placed, with more probability, on the rising ground near the centre of the parish, at the school,……".
F R Groome 1901.

The site of this Castle occupies the summit of a large and prominent hillock. It has been ploughed over and no vestige of any structure exists. No naming evidence was found.
Visited by OS (J L D) 24 April 1962.

Pont's map of Scotland of ca. 1583-1614 shows a castle here named 'Dalligill', which would equate to the modern placenames of Easter and Wester Dalziel. There is no castle shown where Castle Stuart now stands, which was built in ca. 1625 and since Pont's map pre-dates that Daligill, or Dalziel (presumably subsequently corrupted into 'Halhill') was demolished soon after Pont's map was created. <1>