1419 – Dallas Castle (Tor Castle)
Sir Thomas Cumyn obtained a warrent from the Crown to build a Castle of Dallas. This Castle of Dallas was added from time to time and was the residence of the Cumming family for over 200 years. However, in the middle of the 17th Century the castle was beginning to decay and the first house of Altyre was built.
When the Cumyn family left, the castle was occupied for a time by a number of families but it eventully fell into total disrepair. It is belived that, when the origanal houses in Dallas Village were built abou 1814, much of the stone came fromthe ruins of the castle. This would also seem logical since the village stands on the bed of the old loch with little or no stone close at hand and the most convenient stone would have been from the castle. In addition, the mound at the castle ruins does not seem to be large enough to contain all of the stone from the castle walls.
As the following photograph shows, little remains of the castle save for one corner which clearly shows the thickness of the castle walls.
Ruins of Dallas Castle 2004
(Note- Some maps show the name of this castle as being Tor Castle. This does not seem very likely. The word ‘Tor’ means hill or mound and it can hardly be claimed that Dallas Castle is on a very pronounced mound. It seems more likely that in very much older times there was some sort of stronghold on the mound below Torchastle Farm and that this is the original Tor Castle.)
1460 – Transfer of Dallas to the Barron Altyre
Hay of Lochloy and Park transferred his interest in Dallas to Cumming, Barron of Altyer.
