Tulloch Castle

01 / Finding the older castle

A tower within centuries of change

Tulloch is often introduced as a twelfth-century castle. Earlier origins are possible, but the surviving building needs a more careful reading. Highland Council’s archaeological record preserves older accounts of a thirteenth-century foundation alongside the findings of an Ordnance Survey visit in 1965, which identified remnants of an early sixteenth-century tower at the southwest corner.

The surveyor considered the basement the clearest surviving part of that tower. Although the walls had been harled, small openings and gunloops could still be recognised. This gives us something more tangible than a founding legend: features belonging to an older building, retained within a much later house.

The Clan Davidson Society identifies the sixteenth-century Baynes as Tulloch’s earliest firmly documented owners. Their name appears in several forms, including Bain and Bane. The castle’s deeper past remains intriguing, but its history does not depend on choosing the oldest possible date. What survives is a place repeatedly repaired, enlarged and made useful again.

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02 / The Davidsons and those who followed

A family seat with wider connections

The Davidson chapter began when Kenneth Bayne sold Tulloch to Henry Davidson in January 1762. The clan society records a family connection between seller and buyer, and the castle became closely associated with the Davidsons for the generations that followed. Their relationship with Tulloch remains central to its identity.

When Henry died in 1781, his brother Duncan inherited the estate. Sir John Soane’s Museum places Duncan within the world of London’s West India merchants, recording interests in sugar plantations in Grenada and Jamaica. Tulloch’s later architectural ambitions belonged to a family whose commercial connections reached far beyond the Highlands.

The twentieth century brought different occupants and purposes. The clan society describes the castle as a Vickers family home, a hospital for casualties from Dunkirk in 1940 and, after purchase by the education authority in 1957, accommodation for Dingwall Academy students. Hotel conversion followed in 1996. Those changing uses bring soldiers, pupils and working staff into a story often told mainly through the names of owners.

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03 / Looking closely at the rooms

Old stone, later craftsmanship

Historic Environment Scotland describes a sixteenth-century square tower extended northwards and eastwards over the following centuries. The entrance façade’s gables, carved surrounds and varied roofline belong to this accumulated building. They repay a slower look than a single glance at the hotel sign.

Among the documented changes are works by A. Maitland and Sons in 1891 and further alterations by Sir Robert Lorimer in 1920–22. Inside, HES records a vaulted basement, an altered first-floor hall retaining its great fireplace, nineteenth-century pine panelling and a broad balustraded staircase. The ornamental plaster ceiling belongs to the Lorimer period.

These dates help place the atmosphere of the rooms. A fireplace may preserve an older household’s arrangements while the ceiling above it reflects a much later taste. Tulloch’s appeal lies partly in that mixture: stonework with a long history, decorative craftsmanship and spaces continually adapted for the people using them.

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Historic Environment Scotland — Tulloch Castle and Arched Tunnel Entrance, LB24518 (opens in a new tab)

04 / The other castle on the hill

Caisteal Gorach and the art of a ruin

Above Tulloch stands Caisteal Gorach, a separate folly created to evoke a ruined castle. It is easy to imagine a weathered tower as the survivor of a siege. Here, however, the appearance of antiquity was part of the design.

Sir John Soane’s Museum holds Robert Adam’s drawings for Duncan Davidson, dating from 1789–90. They explore different arrangements of a large circular tower and flanking walls. The museum notes that the version actually built differs from the surviving proposals. Highland Council records the structure as a two-storey circular ruin and identifies its separate Category A listing.

Closer to the hotel, the listed arched tunnel entrance carried a path linking parts of the garden. That documented feature should be distinguished from the much longer underground connection to Dingwall Castle described in local tradition. Neither story provides an invitation to enter a passage. The folly and garden architecture instead reveal an estate shaped for movement, views and carefully composed impressions of the past.

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05 / The woman in green

A fall on the stairs, and an uncertain name

The Green Lady is Tulloch’s most recognisable haunting tradition. In Martin Coventry’s account, a child unexpectedly finds her father with another woman. Upset, she runs from the room and falls down a staircase, dying from the fall. It is a stark domestic story, attached to the very stairs that later guests would climb.

The name Elizabeth Davidson appears in other retellings. Photographer David Maclennan’s 2006 Geograph caption presents her as a possible identity and links the suggestion to a portrait in the Great Hall. That is an attribution within the tradition, rather than a demonstrated identification. Coventry’s short version leaves the child unnamed.

The hotel’s Green Lady Bar carries the story into everyday hospitality, giving visitors a familiar name to ask about. A portrait, a staircase and a named ghost make a memorable narrative, but their association does not by itself establish how a particular person died. The uncertainty is part of Tulloch’s story, alongside the lasting hold the figure has on its reputation.

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06 / A visitor describes her encounter

A woman looking towards the courtyard

Rachel Fowler-Keene offers a more personal account of Tulloch, describing a July 2004 stay with her fiancé. Writing as a clairvoyant medium, she says she had heard of the Green Lady before arriving and hoped to understand more about the reported presence. That expectation is part of the context she supplies.

On the stairs, she reports feeling a brief push against her lower back. She then describes becoming aware of a sorrowful woman in a dark silk dress, looking from a corridor window towards the courtyard. Fowler-Keene asked for a name but received none; in her account, the response was a repeated question about why something had happened.

These are her reported perceptions, interpreted through her mediumship. Her account does not establish that the woman was Elizabeth Davidson, or that other people independently perceived the same figure. It remains a named visitor’s testimony about an experience she found meaningful. Keeping those details intact allows the account to be considered without adding an identity or a shared sighting that she did not demonstrate.

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Rachel Fowler-Keene — The Ghosts of Tulloch Castle, account of a July 2004 stay (opens in a new tab)

07 / Staying, dining and hearing the stories

Arrange your visit with the hotel

Checked on 16 September 2026, Tulloch operates as a Bespoke hotel on Tulloch Castle Drive, Dingwall, IV15 9ND. Its current website offers overnight stays, the Turrets Restaurant and the Green Lady Bar. A meal or a stay provides a straightforward way to enjoy the setting, subject to the hotel’s availability and arrangements.

Ghost tours appear in the operator’s 2023–24 exclusive-use brochure, but that does not establish a current daily timetable. Ask the hotel directly whether a history or ghost tour will run during your visit, whether non-residents can join, and whether advance booking or an additional charge applies. The published local telephone number is 01349 861 325.

If steps, room location or access to a particular part of the castle matter to your plans, discuss them before booking. Tours and private functions may cover different spaces. Respect occupied bedrooms and staff-only areas, and obtain permission before any investigation or recording. Tulloch is a working hotel with a haunting tradition, where other guests have come for their own reasons too.