Kilchurn Castle
Interesting facts
- A piece of turret toppled by the lightning strike of 1760 still lies upside down in the middle of the courtyard.
- The site belonged to Clan Gregor before Colin Campbell took it around 1440.
- Sir Duncan Campbell, who added the castle's single-storey dining hall, was among the Scottish nobles killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
- In the later 16th century the tower gained its round corner turrets carried on corbels.
- Sir Duncan Campbell, known as Black Duncan, rebuilt the south range in 1614 and added a range with a chapel.
- The Highland chief Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel was born at the castle in 1629.
- After Queen Anne's death in 1714, the Earl of Breadalbane held a meeting of Jacobites here and went on to join the 1715 rising.
- After the family moved to Taymouth Castle in 1740 they tried, and failed, to sell Kilchurn to the government.
- The painter J. M. W. Turner depicted the castle on one of his tours of Scotland in the early 19th century.
- When Loch Awe runs unusually high, the castle's peninsula floods and Kilchurn briefly becomes an island again.
Why it is worth it
On a low spit of land at the head of Loch Awe, the broken tower and walls of Kilchurn stand almost at water level, so that on a still day the whole ruin is doubled in the loch. It is one of the most photographed castles in Scotland, and the reason is obvious from the first glimpse: grey stone, dark water, and mountains closing in on every side.
The castle was begun around 1450 by Sir Colin Campbell, first laird of Glenorchy, founder of what became the most powerful branch of Clan Campbell in the central Highlands. His five-storey tower house is still the core of the site, and for about a century and a half Kilchurn was the family's headquarters. After the Jacobite rising of 1689 the Earl of Breadalbane turned it into a garrison: in the 1690s a three-storey L-shaped block was added along the north side to house around two hundred soldiers, and these are now counted as the oldest surviving barracks on the British mainland. A lightning strike in 1760 did serious damage, and the castle was abandoned for good.
When Kilchurn was built it stood on a small island reached by a causeway. In 1817 the level of Loch Awe was lowered, and the island became the long, often waterlogged peninsula visitors cross today. The ruin is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland. Inside the walls you can still trace the tower house, the lower hall, the courtyard and the barracks ranges, and the approach along the lochside path gives the classic view of the ruin across the water.
Getting there
Kilchurn stands about 3 km west of Dalmally, off the A85, at the northern end of Loch Awe; the nearest larger town is Fort William, about 46 km away. Glasgow Airport (GLA) is about 70 km in a straight line, considerably more by road. An unsigned parking area lies off the A85 near the bridge over the River Orchy, and from there an easy path of 15–20 minutes passes under the railway and along the loch shore to the castle; the ground can flood, so wear sturdy footwear. Dalmally has a railway station.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Kilchurn Castle is a ruined structure on a rocky peninsula at the northeastern end of Loch Awe, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It was first constructed in the mid-15th century as the base of the Campbells of Glenorchy, who extended both the castle and their territory in the area over the next 150 years. After the Campbells became Earls of Breadalbane and moved to Taymouth Castle, Kilchurn fell out of use and was in ruins by 1770. It is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland and is open to the public in summer.
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