Inveraray


The castle was built in the 1750s in a Gothic style.  To improve this the village of Inveraray was moved in the 1770s to give the house a more secluded setting.  This move also involved the demolition of the original castle, a fifteenth century towerhouse. 

The site of the towerhouse was discovered when a long trench 6' wide was cut 200' north from the front door of the present castle.  This showed that the site of the old castle had been demolished down to its foundations.  Despite this, what remained bore all the signs of hasty construction, bearing out a report of 1743 which stated that the old castle was cracked from parapet to foundation in several places and was not worth repairing.

The old castle is shown in an engraving as a towerhouse, while the first reference to a 'manor house' here was in the mid fifteenth century.  Within the current castle are more than 1,300 pikes, muskets, swords and other weapons, while the edifice is surrounded by a 16 acre garden.

Why not join me at Inveraray and other Great Scottish Castles this Spring?  Information on tours at Scholarly Sojourns.

 

Copyright©2019 Paul Martin Remfry