Monument record 704 - SOUTH UIST, ORMICLATE, ORMACLETT HOUSE

NF73SW 1 7399 3180.

(NF 7399 3180) Ormaclett Castle (NAT)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

Ormaclett Castle, South Uist - a T-shaped two storeyed building with attic, built in 1701, burnt in 1715. Once a residence of the chief of Clanranald, the remains are now situated within a farm steading.
RCAHMS 1928.

RCAHMS confirmed. Local spelling of name is now Ormiclate (Information from estate factor).
Visited by OS (N K B) 10 May 1965.

The monument known as Ormiclate Castle comprises Ormiclate (or Ormaclett, Ormacleit) Castle. The area to be scheduled is &-shaped, measuring overall about 24m WSW-ENE by 17m tgransversely, and includes the remains of the house as described together with a zone extending about 2m from its outer wall-face, but excluding the building that abuts its west corner andother abutting structures. The monument ... as outlined in red on the Plan annexed and executed as relative hereto ...
HS scheduling document, 31.10.2000

NF 7399 3180 A desk-based survey and non-invasive site assessment was made of the house, its two wings and adjacent structures, in association with Simpson and Brown Architects.
Sponsor: Southern Isles Amenity Trust
Addyman, T 2000, 99

NF 7399 3180 In 1999, investigations were undertaken at Ormiclate Castle near Stoneybridge. The castle, now ruined, is situated on the edge of the machair plain. Historical records and oral history suggest that it was constructed in the early 1700s and was inhabited from 1707 until it was destroyed by fire during rthe second Jacobite uprising, in 1715. Because the period of occupation at Ormiclate was so brief, and ended catastrophically, the site is a potentially important source of high-status, closely dated material culture. The aim of the work, was to investigate the area immediately around the castle, and attempt to retrieve artefacts which could be compared to the material culture being recovered from the nearby blackhouse settlement at Airigh Mhuilinn (the focus of the ongoing Flora MacDonald Project).
Geophyscial survey was carried out in several areas outside the castle and the foundations of an adjacent (ruined) building were located. A test pit was excavated through deposits in the S wing of the building in an attempt to locate original floor deposits. The results showed that the original floor surface had been completely removed, and soild bedrock was reached at a minimum depth of 20cm below the ground surface, suggesting that the wall foundations are very shallow. The castle structure itself is fairly unstable and the interior ground surfaces have been damaged by a sewer pipe and animal trampling. Fragments of green gneiss flags were found which were the remains of roofing material. The distinctive nature of the stone is relected in oral tradition, which has it that the roof was covered with marble.
A test pit and a series of 30 shovel pits were excavated in an attempt to locate midden deposits outside the castle. Some ceramic, glass, bone and shell fragments were recovered, although midden deposits were not located. A cursory assessment shows that the majority of the ceramics and glass are of 19th and 20th-century date.
Sponsors: Boston Univeristy, Earthwatch

RCAHMS field visit (3rd August 1924)
Category: Recording
Event reference: 1103746
Description: Ormaclett Castle.
The remains of this house, a residence of the chief of Clanranald, which was built in 1701 and burnt in 1715*,are situated within a farm steading 3 ½ miles south of Howmore and 8 ½ miles north-north-west of Lochboisdale. It is two storeys and an attic in height, and is built on a T-shaped plan, with the main block, which measures 69 feet by 25 feet over all, running north-east and south-west, and the wing, 21 by 22 feet, projecting southwards. The main block is divided by a stone partition into two unequal parts, and the larger has probably been subdivided by timber partitions and provided with a wooden stair.(Fig. 155.)
The masonry is of harled rubble with dressings of freestone, evidently imported. The gables are steeply pitched. The upper windows, which are less destroyed than those in the ground floor, have a splay wrought on jambs and lintels, the latter having slightly curved soffits. The attic was lit by dormers, now destroyed. The entrance is represented by a wide slapping in the north wall. Above is an armorial panel representing a helm, mantling and shield, the latter being parted per pale and charged in the upper dexter corner with a lion rampant above a hand couped, grasping across. The charge in the upper sinister corner is obliterated, but it may be either a burning mountain or more probably a castle, and below is a lymphad. These charges are inverted on the stone at Howmore (NF73NE 1.6).
The contiguous building on the west, comprising a single storey and a loft, contains a large kitchen fireplace with segmental arch 7 ½ feet wide.
RCAHMS 1928, visited 3 August 1924.

Following a recent field visit it was noted that the main façade had projecting wings that ran towards the north west, and likely formed a courtyard. This is supported by Balds of 1805. The northeastern section of this wing survives only as a single wall with window openings. The southwestern wing survives as a dwelling and is a mix of the original building (single storey) and later modifications and additions; however as noted by RCAHMS in 1924, the end of the wing projecting from the main castle contains an impressive large fireplace, comprising of a segmental arch approximately 3m wide in the southeastern gable. Additionally the thickness of the wall dividing the two storey part of the house and the room with the fireplace, strongly indicates the survival of the original structure under modern materials and is likely to date from the 1600's. The main castle building overall appears stable;however the main areas of risk are the door and window openings and failure in these areas could precipitate wider collapse. This stucture would benefit from a historic and structural building survey to assess its current condition.
K.Murphy (Archaeology Service) 12/08/2026

RCAHMS, 1928, The RCAHMCS 9th Report & Inventory: Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles, 107, No. 370 plan fig. 157, illust. 155 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5587.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2000, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41184.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2000, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41184.