Tag Archives: Castle

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Carnasserie Castle

Carnasserie Castle, Kilmartin

Date

23 August 2018

Location

Carnasserie, Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute
NM 83901 00834; 56.15105°N, 5.48078°W

Information

Carnasserie Castle was in its day one of Argyll’s finest Renaissance mansions. The five-storey tower with adjoining three-storey hall was built in the 1560s by John Carswell (c 1522 – 1572), first Protestant Bishop of the Isles (1565 – 1572). The property was entrusted to Carswell by his patron Archibald Campbell (1537 – 1573), 5th Earl of Argyll. Carswell’s main legacy was his publication in Edinburgh in 1567 of the first book ever printed in Gaelic (Irish or Scottish) – this was a translation of John Knox’s Book of Common Order.

The castle was badly damaged in 1685 by Royalist forces in an uprising by Archibald Campbell (c 1629 – 1685), 9th Earl of Aryll, against James VII, in which Campbell was captured and executed. The castle thereafter lay disused and was purchased in the 19th century by the Malcolms of Poltalloch. Today it is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

Further Reading

Carnasserie Castle (Historic Environment Scotland)

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Inveraray Castle

The entrance porch was designed in 1871 by English architect Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt (1820-1877)

Date

20 August 2018

Location

Inveraray, Argyll and Bute
NN 09555 09313; 56.23806°N, 5.07455°W

Information

The Category A listed Inveraray Castle is set in 6.5 hectares of gardens with the overall estate covering an area of 24,000 hectares. The mansion replaced an earlier 15th-century castle and was designed in 1746 by English architect Roger Morris (1695-1749). The property is located on the shore of Scotland’s longest sea loch, Loch Fyne, and in the 1770s the village of Inveraray was moved in order to secure a more secluded position for the castle.

Inveraray Castle is the ancestral home of the Dukes of Argyll, the chiefs of Clan Campbell. The dukedom was created in 1701 in the Peerage of Scotland and in 1892 the 8th Duke was also created Duke of Argyll in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

Parts of the castle are open to the public with private apartments being occupied by Torquhil Ian Campbell (b 1968), the 13th and 6th Duke of Argyll, and his family. Campbell is also captain of Scotland’s national elephant polo team.

The castle featured as the fictional Duneagle Castle in the 2012 Christmas special episode of the television series Downton Abbey.

Further Reading

Inveraray Castle

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Harrison’s Garden – Penrhyn Castle

Harrison’s Garden, Penrhyn Castle

Date

4 August 2018

Location

Penrhyn Castle, Llandegai, Bangor
SH 60219 71962; 53.22624°N, 4.09534°W

Information

Harrison’s Garden by Bristol-based installation artist Luke Jerram (b 1974) is an “imagined landscape and garden of clocks”. The ensemble of over 2,000 clocks, many of which were donated by the public, is currently (16 June – 4 November 2018) on display on the derelict third floor of Penrhyn Castle‘s keep as part of its tour of National Trust properties.

The inspiration for the installation was the clockmaker John Harrison (1693 – 1776) who spent much of his life developing a series of marine chronometers in the pursuit of the Longitude Prize. Although the prize was ultimately never awarded, Harrison’s contributions led to major improvements in safety at sea. His timepieces provided a reliable means of keeping a reference time to which the local time, as determined by astronomical observations, could be compared in order to establish a vessel’s position east or west of the Greenwich meridian.

Further Reading

Penrhyn Castle;
More posts in the Penrhyn Castle Series

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