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CASTLES, TOWER-HOUSES AND FORTIFICATIONS

No.314

Marquis of Argyll, in furtherance of his policy of
encouraging Lowland Covenanting lairds to settle in
Kintyre, leased Saddell to William Ralston of that Ilk
(cf.p.149). The castle was evidently in a decayed
condition at this time, for Ralston undertook to carry out
certain repairs, including the provision of a new roof
and floors and the reparation of breaches in the masonry.
Most of the existing 17th-century features in the building
described above are likely to date from this period.1
The property passed to another branch of the Campbell
family towards the end of the 17th century and it was
one of the Campbell lairds of Glensaddell who laid out
the existing court of offices round the tower-house in
about 1770, making use of building materials from the
nearby ruins of the abbey for this purpose - an action
greatly resented by the local inhabitants.2 At about the
same time the adjacent mansion-house of Saddell
(no.333) was erected as a principal residence, the castle
itself thereafter being utilised to house estate workers and
servants.3 The late 19th-century restoration of the castle
was carried out by the then proprietor, Colonel Macleod
Campbell.4

789315 ccxlv11 May 1964

314. Skipness Castle. The castle (Pls,56,57) stands
upon gently sloping ground some 210m inland from
the shore of Skipness Bay and at an altitude of 12m
above sea-level. Although the site itself has no natural
defensive advantages, the position is one of considerable
strategic importance with regard to sea-borne traffic,
standing as it does at the confluence of Kilbrannan
Sound, Loch Fyne and the Sound of Bute. Observation
upon the landward side is comparatively restricted, but
seawards the castle commands an extensive prospect of
the Kintyre and Arran coasts, and of that portion of the sea
lying between the islands of Bute and Arran.
The existing buildings of the castle bear witness to a
long and complex history of architectural development,
and before commencing a detailed analysis of the re-
mains it will be convenient to summarize the main con-
clusions reached during the course of the present survey.
On the evidence now available the architectural history
of the site began sometime during the first half of the
13th century with the erection of a hall-house and an
adjacent chapel. Both buildings were constructed upon
an approximately E.-W. axis, the hall-house occupying
what is now the NW. corner of the castle courtyard, and
the chapel standing some 18m to the S. Other buildings
of stone or timber may have been erected about the
same period, and the site as a whole may have been
enclosed by a rampart of earth and timber.
About the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries the
castle was enlarged and strengthened by the erection of a
high curtain-wall of stone and lime, within which the
earlier hall-house and chapel were partially incorporated.
In the case of the chapel the building was remodelled and
secularised, its place being taken by a new church
(No.277) erected just under 400m SE. of the castle.
The late 13th or early 14th-century wall of enceinte

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enclosed an oblong courtyard having a small projecting
rectangular tower at the NE. angle, a larger one at the
SE. angle, and another of intermediate size in the N.
section of the W. wall; entrance was gained by means of
a portcullis-gateway in the W. section of the S. wall.
Within the courtyard, ranges of buildings stood against
the S. wall and against the N. section of the E. wall,
while the W. side of the courtyard was probably occupied
by a timber gallery serving a series of loopholed em-
brasures at first-floor level. The arrangement of the
upper levels is uncertain, but there is evidence to suggest
that some sections of the curtain wall were provided with
an embattled parapet-walk and that others incorporated
embrasured openings.
At some time during the later Middle Ages, perhaps
towards the beginning of the 16th century, the northern-
most portion of the E. range of courtyard buildings was
raised in height by the addition of three upper storeys,
while the upper portion of the adjacent section of the E.
curtain-wall was rebuilt and provided with an em-
battled parapet-walk. These alterations must have given
the northernmost portion of the E. range something of
the character of a tower-house, and the transformation
was completed later on in the 16th century by the
reconstruction of the upper portion of the tower to form
the existing parapet-walk and open rounds, and the
removal of the remaining portion of the E. courtyard-
range to leave the tower free-standing on its S. side
(Pl.64).
The castle was abandoned as a private dwelling-
house about the end of the 17th century.5 Late in the
following century it was converted into a farmsteading
by the removal of the early courtyard-buildings, with
the execption of the tower-hoiuse, and the erection of
lean-to sheds and offices against both sides of the
curtain wall.6 These farm buildings were removed by
R.C. Graham of Skipness in 1898 and steps were taken
to preserve all that remained of the castle.7
Measured drawings of the castle8 were made by
Professor Middleton in 1887, and these were utilised by
MacGibbon and Ross in the preparation of their pub-
lished account.9 In 1922 a fresh survey was carried out
by A. Graham and R.G. Collingwood, who put forward
a number of important new suggestions,10 the main
substance of which has been confirmed during the
preparation of the following report.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
THE HALL-HOUSE. This building occupies the NW.
corner of the present courtyard (Figs.166,167). It is
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1 McKerral, Kintyre,81.
2 Dobie, "Perambulations",p.109;NSA,vii(Argyll),446.
3 Dobie, "Perambulations",p.119.
4 Cast. and Dom.Arch., iii.197.
5 PSAS, lvii(1922-3),285.
6 Stat.Acct.,xii(1794),485.
7 PSAS,lvii(1922-3),266
8 Now preserv ed in the Library of the Society of Anti-
quaries of London.
9 Cast. and Dom.Arch.,iii,63ff.
10 PSAS, lvii (1922-3),266ff.