Morangie

Also known as:
Tarlogie Farm
Nearest town:
Tain (3km ESE)
OS reference:
NH7616383894
OS sheet:
21
Latitude:
57° 49' 39.73 N
Longitude:
4° 5' 7.62 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Morangie (Stone Fort / Dun) by drewbhoy

There appears to be an extra line of defence on the east.

Image credit: drew/ED
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Apr 3, 2025
Image of Morangie (Stone Fort / Dun) by drewbhoy

Looking south east, the North Sea, further south the very important Glen Morangie distillery.

Image credit: drew/ED
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Apr 2, 2025
Image of Morangie (Stone Fort / Dun) by drewbhoy

Closer, after jumping the fence and a small stream.

Image credit: drew/ED
drewbhoy
drewbhoy Apr 2, 2025

Articles

Morangie

drewbhoy
drewbhoy Jun 10, 2025

It’s not everyday you drive through Cullen, stop at the town’s Square and meet a new TMA’er with a pole and a copy of the The Modern Antiquarian stuck to the top of it. With Stolinskie safely on board we headed towards Inverness, north over the Kessock Bridge to stop slightly north of Tain.

We parked in a lay-by just to north of the famous Morangie Distillery, walked, west, past a huge stone with engravings (see Folklore) to the junction of two fields, next to the A9. Over the gate, follow the fence and dyke, jump over another fence then over a wee burn, the dun is straight ahead to the south. The dun can be seen from the A9 which in turn has superb views north over the Dornoch Firth and Edderton Sands.

The walls of the dun still stand at over 2m wide and in some places the turf covered walls reach 1.5m. As usual field clearance has dumped on the site, however this doesn’t hide the site’s 15m internal width. Sadly, a lot of stonework has been removed to build ‘dry stane dykes’, there are plenty marking nearby fields.

A nice and easy way to start the day. That would slightly change later on. :-)

Visited 31/03/2025.

Folklore

Morangie
Stone Fort / Dun
stolinskie
stolinskie Apr 4, 2025

The logical spot to park to go see the dun is at the layby on the A9 at
NH 76570 83716, opposite Morangie distillery.

Beside the layby is an ENORMOUS erratic, which has sunk down into a hollow so far I don’t think you can see it when driving north, although you can when driving south. It is inscribed with a dedication to Walter Scott and is known as the Big Stone of Morangie.

The Tain museum website gives three folk tales about the stone –

1 Two giants, one on Struy and the other on Tarbat Ness, were throwing a large stone to each other when one of them got tired and the stone fell half way and landed at Morangie.

2 “When Glenmorangie Distillery was being built in 1843, one of the masons engaged on the work was wont to repair to this stone at the dinner hour to eat his ‘piece’, and at the same time occupy himself in commemorating one to whose memory, no doubt, he was deeply attached”

3 “As far as I can remember, he said the lady was passing through Tain when she heard of the death of Sir Walter Scott & being a great admirer of the novelist asked & obtained permission from Major Rose’s father, who owned Tarlogie at that time, to have the inscription cut on the stone.” Other, relatively reliable sources, identify the lady as a Miss Lindsay who “had published a book on ‘Boulders’ or some such subject” and state that it was carved by a mason working on a bridge nearby.

Source – tainmuseum.org.uk/article.php?id=199

Sites within 20km of Morangie