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Remains of a castle, Black Jack Castle, traditionally the first castle of Dunninald, was situated on a small precipitous rocky promontory isolated by a ditch crossed by a causeway. Prior to excavations by J. and E. M. Wilson in 1957-61, the only physical evidence of occupation was the faint trace of a wall or rampart enclosing a rectangular area and extending on the west side towards the seaward end of the promontory. Documentary evidence comes from a mention in the records of the Scottish Parliament in the 16th century, in connection with an attack on Red Castle by Andrew Gray in 1581, where the castle is described and sounds like a well fortified tower-house, and in antiquarian accounts. The excavations, carried out at intervals in small squares which could be completed and backfilled every weekend, revealed no structural remains. The area of the wall was found to be heaps of small rubble with large quantities of mortar, most of the 'rampart' was littered with mortar, stones, roofing slates and nails and burnt material. Soil rock lay at a depth of 18 inches. Traces of mortar and an area of red clay suggested a room, perhaps the lowest floor of a tower. In the northwest corner of the site a possible fireplace was discovered, probably the base of a fireplace. The only trace of walling was at the precipitous southeast corner where three courses were visible. The section revealed two faces of a wall 7 ft wide, of roughly rectangular stone, the centre filled with rubble. The inner face had been robbed. A section across the ditch showed it was roughly U-shaped, it contained one piece of dressed stone, some bones and a large amount of small rubble. On the summit some sherds of pottery were scattered widely, some of these being imported wares, all dating to the 15-17th centuries apart from two sherds of 16-18th century Delft. Several iron objects were also found, well preserved. Also discovered were two possible sherds of window glass and the bones of sheep, ox, dog, fish and goose. The excavations suggest that the castle was built by Andrew Gray who occupied it from at least 1579 until his death before 1608. It also suggested that the castle has been completely demolished and the dressed stone removed possibly for the building of the second castle to the northwest (NO75SW0003) about the end of the 17th century. The only trace of walling was at the southeast corner of the area. Finds from the site are in NMAS and Montrose Museum. Several finds from the midden below Black Jack Castle were found in 1982 and donated to Montrose Museum. In 2000, a further collection of animal bones, pottery and shells were found at the foundations of the castle (daybook ref DBM 2986). Site visit during coastal zone assessment survey carried out by SCAPE between February and March 2009 noted that the causeway to the demolished castle, and the ditch, are quite clear. A wall can be seen on the eastern side but few other features survive.
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Angus
HER -
NO75SW0001 - BLACK JACK CASTLE