Isle of Moy

The Isle of Moy is a small island in Loch Moy, which drains into the River Findhorn. The island is privately owned, and access is not permitted, although it can be viewed from the south-west shore. Upon the island are the ruins of a rectangular house mislabelled as a castle by the Ordnance Survey since the 19th century.

The lands of Moy have been held by the Mackintoshes since at least the 13th century, and were regranted them in 1336. The island was occupied from an early date, and a building is depicted on Ponts map of 1590 – which is clearly not a tower of any kind. This building was destroyed by the Earl of Huntly, and a new building was erected on the island by Lachlan Mackintosh in 1665, only to be destroyed after the Jacobite Rising of 1689. It was at this point that the island was largely abandoned, and a new building – Moy Hall – was erected on the north shore of the loch. The first Moy Hall burned down in the late 18th century, and its replacement burned down in 1800, to be replaced by a large baronial mansion of which photographs are readily available to see online. The last Moy Hall was demolished in the 1950s, and was replaced by a modern house nearby.

HES Canmore database entry