Ormond Castle (1)
The coastline north and east of Inverness is confused!  It consists of a series of sea-lochs or firths, sometimes connected to one another and sometimes not, some of which surround and therefore form, the Eilean Dubh, or more anciently 'Ardmeanach', or more recently, the Black Isle.  Isles are usually islands in Britain, but not always.  The Black Isle is contained to the north and north-west by the Cromarty Firth; to the south-east by the outer and inner sections of the Moray Firth and to the south by the Beauly Firth.  Only to the west is it connected, by a neck of low lying land less than 5 miles across, to the rest of mainland Scotland.

On the south-east side of the Black Isle, a mile south of the village of Avoch, looking out across the inner Moray Forth (and the eternal plume of steam from the West Fraser timber mill), stands the small brown hill visible here, on which once stood a fairly considerable castle. Now generally referred to as Ormond, it has also been known as the Castle of Avoch, Ormondy, Ormond Hill Castle and Douglas Castle over its 800 year history.
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