argyll-1971/01-203

Transcription

CASTLES,TOWER-HOUSES AND FORTIFICATIONS

LEFT HAND PAGE TEXT

of the castle survived, 1 and that the remainder of the
area was occupied by the farmsteading of High Rhuna-
haorine. This farmsteading, apparently a structure of
late 18th- or early 19th- century date, has since become
completely ruinous and its fragmentary remains now
incorporate no recognisable portions of an early castle.
The MacDonalds of Largie, descendants of the
MacDonald Lords of the Isles, have been in possession
of estates in Kintyre since about the middle of the 15th
century. 2 The site now under discussion was presumably
an early seat of the family in this locality, but since at
least as early as the end of the 18th century the principal
family residence has been situated at Tayinloan.3 Old
Largie Castle is said to have been "merely a fortified
house, strong but plain in character, and of small size".4

708483 ccxxxv August 1965

313. Saddell Castle. The castle (Pls.54,55B) stands on
the western shore of Kilbrannan Sound about 13km N.
of Campbeltown and rather less than 800m SE. of the
ruins of the Cistercian abbey of the same name (No 296).
The remains comprise a well-preserved tower-house of
early 16-century date standing within an extensive
complex of later out-buildings which incorporate por-
tions of an original barmkin-wall. A number of repairs
were made to the tower during the course of the 17th
and 18th centuries, and a further scheme of restoration
was undertaken during the last decade of the 19th cent-
ury, when the building was consolidated and re-roofed
and the interior remodelled. The tower was again re-
roofed shortly before the Second World War.5 The
existing out-buildings are mainly of late 18th- and 19th-
century date, their erection having in all probability
coincided with the removal of the greater part of the
original barmkin and of any early buildings that it may


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have contained. Both tower-houses and out-buildings are
now derelict and are rapidly becoming ruinous.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
The tower is oblong on plan and measures about
14.5m from N. to S. by 8.5m transversely over walls
having a thickness of 1.65m at ground-floor level. It
incorporates four main storeys and a garret, the walls
rising to a height of 14.3m at parapet level. The masonry
is of a harled random rubble, the original sandstone dress-
ings being for the most part either pink or yellowish
brown in colour. The mid-17th century alterations were
carried out largely with the use of a dark red sandstone
similar in character to that seen in some portions of the
out-buildings, and probab;ly emanating from the Isle of
Arran or from Ayrshire.6 Nearly all the original openings,
both inside and out, have plain chamfered arrises. A
number of windows were inserted and others enlarged
during the 17th-century alterations, and these modifica-
tions are shown in detail on the plans (Figs.164, 165).
Some of the windows show traces of glazing-grooves,
and many of the larger ones have been barred.
Externally the most interesting feature of the tower is
the parapet (Pl.55c). This projects upon a single course of
individual stone corbels, beneath which a second and
similar corbel-course is set chequer-wise. The lower
group of corbels is not load-bearing and may have been
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1 Name Book, No13,p.8.
2 Burke's Landed Gentry (1952 ed.), 1616
3 Cf. G. Langlands' draft map of about 1793 (B.M., Add.
MS 33632A.)
4 Bede, Glencreggan, ii, 229.
5 Kintyre Collections, MS 370, "The Story of Saddell,
Kintyre", by the Rev. J. Webb, p.12.
6 Information from Mr. G. H. Collins, Institute of Geo-
logical Sciences

Transcribe other information

Below the left and right hand texts is a diagram

Fig. 164 Saddell Castle (No 313); general plan

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