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Tailor's Castle
W of Covesea Quarry, Lossiemouth, parish of Drainie, Moray, (Elginshire).
| NGR: | NJ 16752 70480 |
| WGS84: | 57.71636, -3.39903 |
| Length: | Not recorded |
| Vert. Range: | 22 m |
| Altitude: | Not recorded |
| Geology: | Hopeman Sandstone Formation |
| Tags: | Lost, Other |
| Registry: | main |
A stack which was located at the above NGR and which stood on the wave-cut platform which goes out a long way from the cliff at that point.
It stood at least until 1939. At some time during WW2 it succumbed to "the experiments of the sappers" - members of the Home Guard.
There is now only a pile of slabs to be seen. One of these has a rather nice fossil track similar to those found in the nearby Clashach Quarry - see photo 5.
There is some possible confusion between this stack, and the one at NJ 18112 70823 because they are/were BOTH referred to as 'Gow's Castle' on photographs.
Alternative Names: Gow's Castle
Notes: Access: by sea at high tide
by land at a tide level less than 1.4 m either from Covesea Quarry or from the beach below Clashach Quarry.
Links and Resources:
- 1st Ed 25in OS does show this if you know exactly where to look. It is not named or in any way picked out.
- Zoomed Scan shows where it is, ringed in yellow.
- Northern Scot p14 of the Christmas Edition of 1908. Reprinted in 2004. The above NGR is consistent with the description beside the photo - although the description is ambiguous to the extent that it is not immediately clear which bay or sub-bay is being referred to.
- Photo 1 by George Washington Wilson and labelled 'Gow's Castle'.
- Photo 2 a rather grainy scan of a postcard. Labelled "Gow's Castle Rock, Hopeman". From Dave Longstaff Aug 22. The VR of 22m is based on the assumption that the human figure on the beach was 1.8 m in height.
- Photo 3 shows the stack's W side, from the beach. It shows just how close it was to the main cliff. There also appears to be a large, and comparatively thin slab, lying at about 45 degrees, on the right. From Dave Longstaff Aug 22.
- Photo 4 shows the pile of rocks remaining - looking roughly in the direction of photo 3 (ESE). Shoemaker's/McGill's Cave may be seen obliquely on the right. Taken 7 August 22.
- Photo 5 is a late Permian fossil track, similar to others found in Clashach Quarry and nearby. Possibly made by a small dicynodont. See www.researchgate.net/publication/44140700_The_Elgin_Marvels for a paper describing how the impression of a dicynodont skull was found, scanned using MRI, and then 3D printed in plastic. Photo by Dave Longstaff of the face of a slab under another slab in the pile left from Tailor's Castle.
- Constance F Gordon Cumming's 'Memories' mentions both Gull's Castle and Tailor's Castle in the middle paragraph of p65. '... the first cave of which I spoke...' is in this registry as 'The Corner Cave'. 'Overlooking the Tailor's Castle, and well raised above the sea is a small cave ... ' which is probably Shoemaker's/McGill's Cave.
- Photo 2 is a marked up version of a RCAHMS oblique aerial view, showing the other Gow's Castle, Sculptor's Cave and Tailor's Castle site and their relationships to each other. See canmore.org.uk/site/16281/covesea for this image (not marked up) among several others of this stretch of coast.
This entry was last updated: 2022-12-14 12:41:32
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