Dunaverty Castle

[linda_j]

Does anyone have a picture of Dunaverty Castle the way it used to look. I have loads of it now but cant find one anywhere of how it used to look.

Regards Linda @ http://www.ourscotland.co.uk/

[petewick]

Think that what we see now is what was pretty much what was there by the time photography came along Linda.
After the much documented siege, I think it was set on fire. Between that and exposure to high winds etc, it would decay pretty quickly.

Petewick

[Mary G]

Petewick is right. There are some old photos on the Am Baile site dating from the late 1890s and early 1900's showing it just as it is today. The received wisdom is that the castle was razed to the ground by the Covenanters in 1647, at the time of the Battle of Dunaverty itself.

Here is one of the pictures:

http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/item/item_photograph.jsp?item_id=11499

A good site, and you can search simply for lots of interesting stuff, both photos and old documents, with quite a bit on Kintyre

http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/index.jsp

[jdcarra]

Does anyone have a picture of Dunaverty Castle the way it used to look. I have loads of it now but cant find one anywhere of how it used to look.

Regards Linda @ http://www.ourscotland.co.uk/

Just as Mary G's linda, taken last month.

[GarySutherland]

Is that a lifeboat station to the right of the picture, JD?

Regards
Gary

[petewick]

Is that a lifeboat station to the right of the picture, JD?

Regards
Gary

Long since defunct Gary, don't know what it's used for now.
Can always remember the slipway was always dangerous to walk on.
The building immediately to the left was the original station with accomodation upstairs.

Petewick

[Mary G]

Both the building on the old slipway (built only within the last couple of years), and the house (recently refurbished, and inhabited now after lying derelict for years) are private property, belonging to the same individual. There is still access to the rock and the shore along this stretch of the coastline, naturally.

[linda_j]

Thanks everyone for your kind replies I didn't think there would be a picture but thought I would ask anyway. I have a lot of great pictures of the area and thought if I could get a picture of how the castle used to look I would have added to my website.

Regards Linda

[jdcarra]

Both the building on the old slipway (built only within the last couple of years), and the house (recently refurbished, and inhabited now after lying derelict for years) are private property, belonging to the same individual. There is still access to the rock and the shore along this stretch of the coastline, naturally.

Pretty impressive site now, all colourfull and new. As petewick said defunct and dangerous, was the last time i saw it Gary.

[Bruce]

Hi, as you can probably tell from my signature, I work on Linda's web site! Well really, its OUR web site, but for some reason she seems to think she's in charge! Anyway...

Its a shame there doesn't even appear to be a sketch of what the castle looked like (unless there is one in the archives in Campbeltown)... I did find this site that gives a bit of detail on the layout!

Linda, next time we are there we should see what we can dig up!

[linda_j]

Yes Bruce im sure the guys on here will be a great help in finding out more about Campbeltown and the surrounding area .

[Bobbie En Tejas]

What a beautiful place to live. I was reading that the castle was on the top of that rock. It is kind of hard to imagine how it would have sat on the rock, but will be very interesting to hear what you guys dig up.

[Bobbie En Tejas]

History buffs may be really interested in this site I found while looking up information about Dunaverty Castle.

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/gazetteer/

[Trapper]

If you go down to dunaverty and climb up to the top of the rock (wear sensible shoes and be careful!) You can see the remnants of the fundations of part of the castle, It's not much but it gives you a bit better idea of how it was. Also a good book to read for info on the castle and the siege is "Kintyre in the 17th century" by Andrew McKerral. It was first published in 1948 but was recently reprinted by the kintyre antiquarian society. My favourite sory in this book is that of an old man in southend who kept a skull , with sabre marks and all, which he claimed he found at the foot of the rock and was the remnants of one of the massacred MacDonalds!

[4th gen Suthen']

My favourite sory in this book is that of an old man in southend who kept a skull , with sabre marks and all, which he claimed he found at the foot of the rock and was the remnants of one of the massacred MacDonalds!

That was 1st gen Suthen' !!

Likely you all know about the walled enclosure in Machribeg field where all the bodies were buried......quite a bit after the massacre if I mind right......somebody will put me right I am sure.

And also about how the Campbell sentry let Flora McCambridge go as she tried to sneak away from the besieged castle, along Dunaverty beach, with her baby dressed in Campbell tartan " he might be wearing Campbell tartan but he's got McDonald eyes" but he showed mercy and let them live. They escaped to Ireland.

I have an original of that Andrew McKerral book upstairs, must look it out.