Monument record MHG8250 - Castle & Enclosure, Coulmore

NH64NW 23 6130 4843 NH64NW 23 6130 4843

NH 613 484. A defended site consisting of a morainic promontory cut off by a ditch on its western side and enclosed by a polygonal drystone wall. There is evidence for a sizeable internal structure. A substantial outer enclosure, 88m by 72m, with a probably defended entrance, had been attached to the original site. The site is subject to heavy erosion from burrowing animals and natural weathering.
D Sloan 1985

The cropmarks of an enclosure have been revealed by oblique aerial photography (RCAHMSAP 1981 and 1995), 450m SSW of Coulmore farmsteading. It is roughly oval in shape, visible as an arc of ditch, measuring about 35m across with an entrance on the NE side. It is situated immediately NE of possible site of a castle or defensive building, enclosing NE corner (see NMRS MS/402). The relationship between the possible castle and the enclosure is not clear and can not be confirmed by aerial photography alone. An area of rig-and-furrow cultivation is visible as cropmarks approximately 30m to NE, covering at least 200m NW-SE by 60m transversely and there are indeterminate cropmarks in the surrounding area. The site of the castle is depicted as a plantation bank on 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Ross and Cromarty, 1876-78, sheet c). This site was first classified as an enclosure, then as a castle.
Information from RCAHMS (KJ) 22 October 1999.