Archaeology Notes

Event ID 676426

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/676426

NN00NE 7 0968 0930

See also NN00NE 15.00.

NN 095 093. Inveraray Castle - site of.

A long trench 6' wide was cut N from a point 200' in front of the present castle front door, and midway in its length another trench was cut eastwards at right angles to it. These revealed the site of the old castle, but the building itself had been entirely cleared away down to its foundation by landscape gardeners in the 18th century, after the present castle was completed. It bore all the signs of hasty construction. This bears out a statement from a report of 1743 in the Argyll archives which pointed out that the old castle was cracked from parapet to foundation in several places and was not worth repairing. No artifacts were found, save for a scatter of 18th century pottery in the topsoil, now in the possession of the Duke of Argyll.

The old castle is shown in an engraving (Campbell 1885) as a tower house. The first reference to a 'manor house' here is mid-15th century.

Lord A Campbell 1885; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964; H B Millar and J Kirkhope 1966.

NN 0968 0930: The excavation trenches are still visible, and the site is marked by three concrete pillars.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (DWR), 7 March 1973.