Monument record MHG9114 - Redcastle

Summary

No summary available.

Location

Grid reference Centred NH 5838 4950 (300m by 300m) (Buffered by site type)
Map sheet NH54NE
Geographical Area ROSS AND CROMARTY
Old County ROSS-SHIRE
Civil Parish KILLEARNAN

Map

Type and Period (2)

Full Description

NH54NE 5.00 5838 4951

NH54NE 5.01 5831 4953 lodge
NH54NE 5.02 5861 4968 stables (Redcastle Mains)
NH54NE 5.03 5859 4969 slaughter house
NH54NE 5.04 5895 5012 Factor's House

(NH 5838 4951) Red Castle (NAT) OS 6" map, (1957)

A mansion in which several portions of an older edifice have been incorporated. The building seems to have been originally a structure of an elongated L plan, with a staircase in re-entering angle. The hall would in that case occupy the large central apartment, with private room at E end. Two angel turrets on W wing are of some age. Probably not earlier than 16th. C., castle, at end of a steep sided promontory, occupies site of a much older structure. It was here that William the Lion, in 12th.c., erected the fortress of Ederdour. Redcastle belonged in 1230 to Sir John Bysset, in 1278 to Sir Andrew de Besco and in 1455 the Black Isle was annexed to Crown. It came into possession of MacKenzies in 1570 who held it until 1790. It was burned to ground in 1659 when Rory MacKenzie joined Montrose.
D MacGibbon and T Ross 1889; ISSFC 1888 <1><2>

Now a roofless shell, but generally as described. A stone in NE wall bears the initials R.M. and date 1641.
Visited by OS (A A) 11 January 1971.

OWNER: Baroness Burton
ARCHITECT: William Burn 1840-additions and alterations (not carried out as designed)

The ancient name of this castle was Eddyrdor, built by Will the Lion, about the end of the 12th Century. Talk by Alexander Ross on Redcastle, published in the Transactions of the Inverness Field Club. Redcastle was built at the time of the Canmore Dynasty, when Anglo-Norman influence was strong in Scotland. Within a century of its creation, an influential Norman family in the area called DeBoscho (sometimes Debosco) came to possess it. They paid tithes to the church for the land. Another Norman family called Bisset then took control of the area. <2>

Full article from ISSFC is available from the Am Baile website (see links below). <3>

A book was published on Redcastle by Dr Graham Clark, in 2009. Includes extensive documentary, cartographic and place name research on the tower house and on a number of other sites in the vicinity. <4>

This site was photographed from the air by Jim Bone in 2008. <5>

Sources/Archives (13)

  • --- Text/Publication/Article: Yeoman, P A. 1988. 'Mottes in Northeast Scotland', Scot Archaeol Rev Vol. 5 1988, p.125-33. Scot Archaeol Rev. 125-33. 131, no. 104.
  • --- Image/Photograph(s): Red Castle, by Tore, Black Isle.. Colour Slide; Digital Image. .
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: Anderson, A O. 1922. Early sources of Scottish history, A.D. 500 to 1286. Vol. 2, 301-2.
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: Beaton, A J. 1885. Illustrated guide to Fortrose and vicinity with an appendix on the antiquities of the Black Isle. 400-5.
  • --- Text/Report: RCAHMS. 1979. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of the Black Isle, Ross and Cromarty District, Highland Region. . 21, No. 133.
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: Barrow, G W S and Scott, W W (eds.). 1971. Regesta Regum Scottorum, volume 2: the acts of William I, King of Scots, 1165- 1214. 292, 454.
  • --- Text/Publication/Article: Stell, G. 1986. Architecture and society in Easter Ross before 1707. SHG1943. 99-132. 102-3; Fig 8.16.
  • --- Text/Publication/Article: Simpson and Webster, G G and B. 1972. 'Charter evidence and the distribution of mottes in Scotland', Chateau Gaillard Vol. 5 1972, p.175-92. Chateau Gaillard. 175-92. 175-92.
  • <1> Text/Publication/Volume: MacGibbon, D and Ross, T. 1887-92. The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries. Hardback. Vol. 3, 623; 624.
  • <2> Text/Publication/Article: ISSFC. 1888. 'Hut circles in the Black Isle - Castle of Kilcoy. {including the history of Redcastle}', Trans Inverness Sci Soc Fld Club Vol. 2 1880-3, p.236-43. Trans Inverness Sci Soc Fld Club. 236-43. 241-2.
  • <3> Interactive Resource/Online Database: Highland Council. 2010. Am Baile website. Z_QZP40_IFC_VOL2_P250.
  • <4> Text/Publication: Clark, G. 2009. Redcastle: A Place in Scotland's History. Paper (Original).
  • <5> Image/Photograph(s)/Aerial Photograph/Oblique: Bone, J. 2008-9. Aerial photographs of various HER sites submitted by Jim Bone. Colour. Yes. Digital.

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

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Record last edited

Jun 27 2011 2:17PM

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