Scheduled Monument
Moy CastleSM5139
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 21/10/1991
- Type
- Secular: castle; tower
- Local Authority
- Argyll And Bute
- Parish
- Torosay
- NGR
- NM 61687 24728
- Coordinates
- 161687, 724728
Description
The monument is a castle consisting of a towerhouse 10.7m square and 17.5m high with the remains of an irregular barmkin on the SE and rock-cut ditch on the NW; it stands on a low rock platform at the head of Loch Buie. The surviving fabric is early 15th century though additions and alterations were made particularly to the upper works prior to abandonment in 1752.
The tower has 3 main stories and a garret, with two entresol floors built over the haunches of the barrel-vaults covering the ground and first floors, and remains of two 16th century cap-houses. Numerous architectural details survive including original battlements and crenellations, and corbelled latrine-chutes.
Statement of National Importance
The tower is of national importance as a prime example of an early 15th-century fortified domestic building, with later additions, surviving in a state of near completeness. Together with its associated barmkin it is also of national importance because of its potential, through excavation, for increasing our understanding of the social and economic history and material culture of western Scotland from the 15th to the 18th centuries. The historical importance of the site is enhanced by the part that it played in the wars of religion of the 17th century, and by the visit made to it by Dr Samuel Johnson and James Boswell in October 1773.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
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