| Lambaborg Castle, Caithness Map Ref: ND 3814 6665 Parish of Canisbay
Lambaborg This was the Broch of Ness near Freswick which is mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga under the Viking name of Lambaborg. The name also appears as Lambeborg, Lambiburg and, in the Latin of Torfaeus, as Lambaburgum. It has been suggested the name means 'castle of the lamb' but this seems unlikely. It is more probably derived from the Viking personal name Lambi and several notable Vikings with Caithness connections appear in the sagas bearing this name including Lambi Sigfusson and Lambi Sigurdsson, both grandsons of Sigvat the Red. Lambi Sigfusson was great-great-great-grandfather to Svein Asleifarson and was most probably the one who gave his name to this stronghold. This fortress occupies the landward neck of the promontory known as 'the Ness of Freswick'. It has a well sunk in the interior court and other constructions of a later date have been added externally. There have been buildings to the landward and seaward side of the promontory. It achieved notoriety in the twelfth century when it became one of the lairs of the famous Viking pirate Svein Asleifarson (d.1171). Svein's main stronghold and longhall were on the island of Gairsay in Orkney but he also had possessions at Duncansby and Freswick in Caithness and in Sutherland. Lambaborg is first mentioned in the sagas in the year 1152/3 when it was besieged by Earl Rognvald at the behest of a man called Svein Hroaldsson from Wick. This man's father, Hroald, was an important nobleman in Wick who had been slain in an argument over rents by Svein Asleifarson's henchman, Margad Grimsson. Hroald's son complained to Earl Rognvald who came with a strong force to arrest Svein in his longhall at Freswick. But Svein refused to hand over Margad to the earl's justice and went with provisions and sixty of his men and fortified the nearby broch which they called Lambaborg.
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