Ballagan Castle

NS57NE 8 5724 7960.

(NS 5724 7960) Castle (NR) (Site of)

OS 6" map, (1958)

Ballagan Castle (site): No remains of this building now survive apart from two small stone drums, perhaps sections of a doorway moulding, which lie in the rockery just N of the kitchen-garden at Ballagan House. The low mound between the kitchen-garden and the garage no doubt marks the actual site of the castle, which appears to have been a residence either of the Earls of Lennox (Fraser nd.) who possessed the property in early medieval times, or perhaps more probably of the Stirlings of Ballagan, who held it from 1522 to 1756 (Smith 1886).

RCAHMS 1963; W Fraser nd.; J G Smith 1886.

Erected about 1190, the castle was called Camsi Castle. About 1390 the name was changed to Strathblayn, and in 1425 it became Ballagan Castle. It was removed about 1790, when the stones were used to build the garden wall.

New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845; J Cameron 1892.

There are no traces of this castle, and the proper name was not confirmed. The low mound mentioned by the RCAHMS is merely the natural rise of the ground accentuated by a rockery. In the west wall of Ballagan House, at NS 5727 7957, is a stone bearing the date '1648'. It has been inserted, but no further information was obtained regarding it or the date of the present house.

Visited by OS (W D J) 2 May 1966.