Clunie Castle (4)
There's just a little bit of castle masonry showing through the trees in this photo!

There has been a fair bit of debate between 'the anoraks' as to whether this island is artificial or not.  Canmore reports that: 'A low retaining wall around most of the island appears to be sitting on a mound of boulders very similar to the foundation levels seen on many other Scottish artificial islands.  It is quite possible that the later castle sits on the remains of a much earlier site that may date back to prehistoric times.'  If, may and maybe!  Elsewhere they state 'A survey of the submerged portion of the island indicates that it is probably artificial, and has been enhanced and extended on more than one occasion.'

While I would agree that the edge of the island shown here certainly looks artificial, I tend to lean towards the other theory that a crannog would be unlikely to support the enormous weight of a tower-house.  My guess would be that there was an original islet here, probably containing some bed-rock, on which the castle was built and the edges of the island have since been extended out artificially.
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