Castle Hill Beauly

Castle Hill Beauly is a long rectangular hill overlooking a ford of the River Beauly from the north-west. The summit measures about 30 metres wide at the southern end, about 50 at the northern end, and is perhaps 180 metres in length. A roughly triangular summit occupies the centre of the hill, with two terraces to the north-west descending to the floodplain, whilst to the south-east the ground slopes slowly upwards towards the steep scarp at the end.

LIDAR reveals the historical channels of the river which flowed to the north of the hill for a considerable amount of time – and it seems likely that the current course of the river resulted from spates which eroded away the southern end of the hill, possibly cutting through a narrow spit extending from the land to the south. Towards the south-eastern end of the hill, a ditch and counterscarp bank to the south cross the width, isolating the eroded area which was higher. A second, smaller counterscarp lies to the north of the ditch.

This earthwork remains undated. LIDAR also suggests traces of a building on the central summit area, although this is unexcavated – and the whole hill is wooded over. Tradition suggests that the earthwork is an 18th century artillery placement, but this makes no sense. Instead it is more likely that the hill was fortified on two separate occasions. The earlier work has been destroyed by the cutting through of the river, and was probably replaced by a hall and enclosure of some description on the central point of what remains today. It would appear likely this site was a predecessor for “Dounie Castle” and its replacements – the latest of which is Beaufort Castle, and can be seen from the hill. Indeed, it may be that this site was the original “Dounie Castle” of the early 12th century.

HES Canmore database entry