Gow's Castle

An upper intertidal stack which is also a fairly low arch, 8.6 m inside width. The VR is from the beach to the crown of the arch.

"This name applies to a portion of detached perpendicular rock about 70 feet high It now stands a little above high water mark but has Evidently been for ages surrounded by the tide as there is an archway worn quite through the Centre of it It now only stands on a small portion at Each End and seems ready to topple over at any time It is the property of Sir William Gordon Cumming Bart [Baronet] of Altyre by Forres." ref 2.

Links and Resources:

1. 1st Ed OS 25 in.
2. OS Namebook for the parish of Drainie, Morayshire, p12
A page from the 25 December 1908 edition of the Northern Scot which has a picture of Gow's Castle at bottom right. Note that the beginning of the paragraph about Gow's Castle suggests that it is "200 yards or so" west from the cave described at top right. The entrance of that cave is at NJ 18659 70958 - which is over 600 yards east of Gow's Castle ...
Photo 1 has Gow's Castle on the right, viewed from the sea.
Photo 2 shows it from the cliff above and a bit W of it.
Photo 3 taken from closer to, looking N. It looks very precarious from here, but the left (W) leg is longer when you look from the W - see photo 2.
Photo 4 shows the top of the stack, showing beach pebbles on top. Taken 26 October 21 from the talus pile under the cliffs.
Photo 5 is a photo taken by George Washington Wilson in the 19th C. It is clearly Gow's Castle, but labelled 'Groff Hough'. Change the first 'r' to 'e' and add 's rock' and you have the alternative name given above. Note that there is another GWW photo in the Aberdeen University collection which is labelled 'Gow's Castle' - but is actually of Tailor's Castle (see separate entry) which was 1.4 km further west along the coast.

This entry was last updated: 2022-04-16 20:44:10

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NGR:	NJ 18112 70823
WGS84:	57.71969, -3.37632
Length:	4 m
Vert. Range:	5.3 m
Altitude:	3.5 m
Geology:	Hopeman Sandstone Formation
Tags:	Arch
Registry:	main

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