There was a castle in Scotland known as Ormond Castle which had existed since at least the beginning of the 13th century. It sat upon Ormond hill in the Black Isle.
Why was it called Ormond Castle? What was the etymology of "Ormond" in reference to this castle?
There appears to be a place in Ireland called Ormond but that came from the Gaelic Urhmumhain meaning "East Munster" I believe.
Ormond Castle was named after the hill it stood on, Ormond Hill. It is now impossible to trace how the name came about, but the Scottish antiquarian John Pinkerton says it was apparently an ancient moot-hill. Incidentally these were known in Scottish Gaelic as tom a' mhòid, which may provide a clue as to Ormond's etymology.
[I]t appears that Ormond was a hill, (probably an ancient moot-hill or court of justice,) in Ardmanach on the east of Ross-shire.
Pinkerton, John. The History Of Scotland From The Accession Of The House Of Stuart To That Of Mary: With Appendixes Of Original Papers. In Two Volumes. Dilly, 1797.
The castle itself was actually known by several other names, such as "Castle of Avoch" after the nearby village, or "Douglas Castle" after its owners. Hence it was the name of the hill, not the castle, which provided the source of the Scottish peerage titles of Ormond.
In 1481, as we have seen, King James III. granted the lands of Avauch, with the moot-hill of Ormond, to the Marquis of Ormond, who about 1503 resigned the lands, but retained the moot-hill in order to preserve his title.
Stell, Geoffrey. "Architecture and Society in Easter Ross before 1707." JR Baldwin, Firthlands of Ross and Sutherland (1986): 98-132.
Apparently it later became known as "Ladyhill" because of a chapel to the Virgin Mary.
From Illustrated guide to Fortrose and vicinity By Angus John Beaton (1885)
Apparently it was also called 'Lady Hill". Another source discusses this:
This castle of which only the foundations can be traced stood on Ormond Hill now called Lady Hill probably from its chapel having been dedicated to the Virgin Mary The place is described by a writer of the seventeenth century as Castle town with the ruins of a castle called the Castle of Ormond which hath given styles to sundry Earls and last to the Princes of Scotland It was in a commanding position both as regards
Above from Mackenzie's guide to Inverness By Alexander Mackenzie
One more source seems to also associate the term Ormond with 'Ladyhill':
The above from The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, W. Blackwood and Sons, 1845
