Dunphail Castle is a ruined 14th-century

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strate ...

, about south of

Forres Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There ...

, Moray,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, west of nearby Dunphail House, and east of the River Divie.Coventry, Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.160

History

The castle was in existence before 1314. The Comyns owned Dunphail Castle, and the

Regent Moray James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531 – 23 January 1570) was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland. A supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotland for his ...

besieged them there in 1330, after their flight from

Darnaway Castle Darnaway Castle, also known as Tarnaway Castle, is located in Darnaway Forest, southwest of Forres in Moray, Scotland. This was Comyn land, given to Thomas Randolph along with the Earldom of Moray by King Robert I. The castle has remained t ...

. Moray beheaded five of the garrison, whom he had captured when they had been foraging. He had the heads flung over the walls, supposedly saying, “Here’s beef for your

bannocks The Bannock tribe were originally Northern Paiute but are more culturally affiliated with the Northern Shoshone. They are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People. Their traditional lands include northern Nevada, southeastern Ore ...

”. (Five skull-less bodies were discovered buried near the castle, in the 18th century.) The remnant of the garrison were killed by the Regent's troops when attempting to escape. The Dunbars, came into ownership of Dunphail and may have occupied this castle afterwards. Dunphail House was, however, built for the Cummings.

Structure

The castle was built on Castle Hill, towards the south. Only a vaulted

basement A basement or cellar is one or more Storey, floors of a building that are completely or partly below the storey, ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, ...

remains.

Tradition

The castle is reputed to be haunted by five headless ghosts, while groans, and noises of fighting, have also supposedly been heard. *

Castles in Great Britain and Ireland Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 105 ...

List of castles in Scotland This is a list of castles in Scotland. A castle is a type of fortified structure built primarily during the Middle Ages. Scholars debate the scope of the word "castle", but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or ...

References

{{Authority control Castles in Moray