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Dirlot Castle is a Z-plan tower house located in Caithness in the far north of Scotland. The castle was constructed in the late sixteenth century, likely in the 1580s, and represents a development of Scottish defensive architecture characteristic of that period. The building employs the distinctive Z-plan configuration, with round towers at diagonally opposite corners providing enhanced defensive capabilities and fields of fire. Though now ruinous, the castle survives as a significant example of late medieval Scottish baronial architecture and remains an important testimony to the construction practices and territorial ambitions of the northern Scottish nobility during the early modern period.
Dirlot Castle is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5897. View the official record →
Dirlot Castle is a Z-plan tower house located in Caithness in the far north of Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5897.
Dirlot Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM5897.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Dirlot, stone rows 550m SW of (0.3 km), Tulach Mor,broch,E bank of River Thurso (2.4 km), Cairn Merk,broch 800m SSE of Bridge of Westerdale (2.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Dirlot Castle's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Dirlot Castle stands on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.