Dingwall Castle (4 of 4)
So, finally back to this curious edifice - the leaning tower of Dingwall!  It is one of a couple of things.  Some sources state that it is a folly - a building built for fun, to look like something that it isn't!  I would go along with that theory!  

Others say it must be original, as the cruciform arrow-slits look the part and appear worn with age, however, with arrow slits at ground-level in so many of the sides of the tower, as well as comparatively large windows on the floor above, the tower would have been practically indefensible.   Perhaps the stones were recovered from the original castle and reassembled here.

But wait, there's more!  We are also told that 'In 1507 Andrew Stewart, Bishop of Caithness carried out improvements after the castle had been assaulted by the MacDonalds and Mackenzies' and another source (Canmore 1923) states that 'One of the corner towers of the Castle was transformed into a dovecot by Andrew, Bishop of Caithness, a keeper of the castle between 1507-16 and it still exists as one of the ruined fragments.'  This tower does contain pigeon boxes, so perhaps this is an original tower, built to protect a corner of a courtyard or barmkin wall, and later significantly modified.

The 1904 survey contained on the Canmore site would only go so far as to state that 'The dovecot is probably later than the other remains.'  A 'contributor' to the website remarked that it is 'a small octagonal doocot of c.1825 masquerading as a tower, with big cruciform arrow-slits'!!

I still think it's a folly - and probably built in 1825, using older masonry!
av6a2695 folly scotland 2022 dingwallcastle ruin highlandregion rossandcromarty medieval thecastlehouse doocot dovecot castlestreet