Kilchurn Castle

Sir Colin Campbell’s descendants enlarged their residence over several generations. Sir Duncan Campbell added the low hall before his death in 1513. Later, another Colin, the sixth laird, reshaped the tower's upper parts and introduced projecting corner turrets. These additions made a visible statement about household status as well as security. The courtyard also needed kitchens, stores and circulation routes; the tall tower was only one part of the working estate.

During the later sixteenth century, the family increasingly concentrated on its Perthshire possessions around Loch Tay, including Balloch, the predecessor of Taymouth Castle. This shift had occurred before the sixth laird's death in 1583; that year should not be presented as a documented moving date. Nor did the move immediately end Kilchurn's use. Repairs and alterations continued, including work to the domestic ranges recorded in 1614.

Kilchurn's military history was not simply a continuous campaign against Jacobites. During the civil conflicts of the seventeenth century it served different political circumstances. HES records a short, unsuccessful siege by the royalist commander Middleton in 1654, ended by the approach of Monck's forces. The episode belongs to the Cromwellian period, decades before the Jacobite risings. Keeping those settings separate prevents a dramatic ruin from acquiring an invented, uninterrupted history of clan warfare.

The great change visible today came in the 1690s under John Campbell, first Earl of Breadalbane. A substantial barracks complex rose along the northern side during a rebuilding campaign that HES dates broadly to 1690–98. An armorial stone dated 1693 belongs to this phase. The rising of 1689 supplied political context, but it was not the year in which the whole surviving barracks can confidently be said to have been completed.

Purpose-built rooms, corridors, fireplaces and latrines distinguish the new accommodation from the older lordly household. The barracks are recognised as an exceptionally early surviving example in Britain. Capacity is often summarised as about 200 soldiers; HES also records government occupation in 1715 and a garrison of 200 militiamen, with officers, during the rising of 1745. These figures describe a particular military use, not a permanent population throughout the castle's existence.

By around 1770 the castle was roofless. Accounts associate its decline with lightning damage before that date, but do not justify assigning every broken wall to one precisely dated storm. State guardianship began in 1953, and Kilchurn is protected as scheduled monument SM90179. Archaeological work beneath the barracks has helped identify the earlier defensive perimeter, showing how later construction extended beyond it.

From permitted viewpoints, compare the tower with the long barracks ranges and imagine the missing floors between their rows of openings. Loch Awe remains essential to understanding the setting, but the architecture rewards attention beyond the familiar photograph. Check the official visitor information before travelling, particularly for conservation restrictions and conditions on the approach.