Carrick Castle

Carrick Castle
Carrick Castle, 1980
General information
Type Tower House
Location Cowal Peninsula, Argyll and Bute.
Town or city Carrick Castle (village)
Country Scotland, United Kingdom
Coordinates 56°06′31″N 4°54′20″W / 56.108742°N 4.9054980°W / 56.108742; -4.9054980, National grid reference NS 19422 94469
Construction started 14th Century
Height 64ft
Technical details
Material Stone
Floor count 2

Carrick Castle is a 14th-century tower house on the west shore of Loch Goil on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located between Cuilmuich and Carrick, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Lochgoilhead.

The castle stands on a rocky peninsula, and was formerly defended to landward by a ditch and drawbridge. The building is around 66 by 38 feet (20 by 12 m), and up to 64 feet (20 m) high with walls seven feet thick.[1] It consists of two floors above the central great hall and stands 64 feet high. There is a curiosity – a small chimney is built into a window recess. There is an appendage of a smaller 17th Century structure to the original rectangular tower house. The structure has been designated a scheduled monument and a Category A listed building by Historic Environment Scotland.[2][3]

Modern-day houses in the surrounding area take the name Carrick Castle.

History

The castle was probably built by the Campbells in the last decades of the fourteenth century,[4] at a point of time when the family was dominant in the area.[5]

Mary, Queen of Scots, visited here in 1563.

In 1685, during the rebellion of Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, against King James VII, HMS Kingfisher bombarded the castle, badly damaging the keep, which lost its roof.

The castle was intermittently occupied until it was sold to the Murrays, the Earls of Dunmore.

The keep was a ruin for many years but is now in private ownership and undergoing restoration

References

  1. ↑ Groome, F.H. (1882–1885). "Carrick". Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. Thomas C. Jack. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  2. ↑ "Carrick CastleSM2495". Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "CARRICK CASTLELB11815". Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  4. ↑ Argyll: An Inventory of the Monuments (1992) pp. 21, 226 § 116.
  5. ↑ Argyll: An Inventory of the Monuments (1992) p. 229 § 116.

Sources

  • Carrick Castle, Listed Building Report
  • G. Ewart and F. Baker. (1996) "Carrick Castle: symbol and source of Campbell power in south Argyll from the 14th to the 17th century", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol.128, pp. 937–1016
  • Argyll: An Inventory of the Monuments. Vol. 7, Mid Argyll & Cowal. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. 1992. ISBN 0 11 494094 0 – via ScotlandsPlaces.
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