Re: Sinclair Castle's at Noss

["Dave Sherratt" <girnigoe@lineone.net>]

Dear John,

I am pleased that you enjoyed your visit to the castles. As you will no
doubt know, the lighthouse next to the castles is the Sinclair Study Centre.
This contains a library of books and documents, publications and other
artefacts. There has not been any great publicity for the Study Centre as we
are still preparing the rooms. If you contact myself or Ian Sinclair at the
Study Centre, prior to a future visit, we would be pleased to open the gates
and let you see inside the castle Girnigoe. In the meantime, as you forgot
your camera, there is a Castles Trust web site at http://ginigoe.cjb.net
This contains a brief history of the castles (in several languages) and many
photographs of inside and outside the castles, including the hidden
"priest's hole". There are recent ariel photos of the castles and will soon
be an imagemap showing a history of the Caithness Coastline. I have a
collection of photos that are waiting to go on the site, please keep
checking back for updates. If you have any further suggestions for the web
site, I would be pleased to receive them. Otherwise I hope to see you at the
Castles in the summer meet.

Best wishes,

David Sinclair-Sherratt

----- Original Message -----
From: John Duguid <john.duguid@snl.co.uk>
To: sinclair <"sinclair@mids.org"@"sinclair@mids.org">
Sent: 09 November 1999 13:59
Subject: Sinclair Castle's at Noss


> Just a note to let the group know that I was lucky enough to visit the
castle's
> at Noss head at the weekend. I stayed in Sutherland and drove the 60 or so
> miles to Noss Head on a gloriously sunny Saturday morning. I stopped going
over
> the Ord to enjoy spectacular views out over the North Sea with a bracing
North
> wester reminding me that I was now in Caithness. I arrived at Noss around
> lunchtime and parked up about a mile or so from the castles Giringoe and
> Sinclair. A fifteen minute hike over boggy ground took me to the ruined
castles
> which are situated in a dramatic setting with the foam topped waves of
Sinclair
> Bay  providing a superb backdrop. The castles are indeed in a state of
advanced
> decay and all power to those attempting to preserve what is remaining.
>
> I spent an hour or so looking around the site wondering what it must have
been
> like to inhabit such an exposed location in medieval times.I have since
spent 3
> days regretting the fact that I had not taken a camera with me. I was a
little
> disappointed to find no relevant historical information available at the
castle
> site, perhaps this is something that could be addressed in the future.
>
> Having no access to the web from this PC and wonder if anyone could
perhaps
> post a history of the castles or point me to a book or other on the
castles.
>
> All in all a wonderful day and a trip that I recommend to you all.
>
> Best Regards
>
> John
>
> [ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
> [ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html
>

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