The ancestral home of one of the most powerful clans in Scottish history.

Inveraray Castle has appeared on Downton Abbey and if you visit, you might even meet the owners working in the gift shop. This Category A listed building can be found on the coast of Loch Fyne, Scotland’s longest salt-water sea loch. The family’s lands stretch pretty much across the west-coast of Scotland but they keep coming back to this Castle situated in a man-made landscape.

Before Inveraray

If we were standing around in Argyll around 1220, we would have seen the Campbells arrive as part of a royal expedition. They settled on the shore of Loch Awe and were put in charge of the King’s lands across parts of northern Argyll.

The Chief of Clan Campbell at the time was a guy called Colin Mor Campbell. Known as MacCailein Mor, he was basically the first Clan chief and so the name is still used for the chief of the Campbell Clan to this very day. Unfortunately Colin was killed in 1296, but he was succeeded by his son, Sir Niall Campbell, who was actually the companion of Robert the Bruce, the 14th century Scottish King. The family was rewarded for fighting alongside Bruce in the Battle of Bannockburn, with Niall being wed to Bruce’s sister, Mary, making him the King’s brother-in-law.

The great castle was built on an island near the eastern shore of Loch Awe, at Innis Chonnell. It’s now a ruin, with the island heavily overgrown, but the remains of the castle can still be seen from the shore of the loch.

The Campbells remained on the island until around 1450, when Sir Duncan Campbell, great grandson of the great Colin and therefore, at the time, head of the Clan, decided to move the Campbell family seat from Loch Awe to Inveraray, on Loch Fyne and built a new castle.

They didn’t really move all that far, as the crow flies, the new castle is only about 12 km’s from the old fortress. The new castle at Loch Fyne was a four-storey tower house and it even had turrets. It sat right next to the River Aray, about 80 m north east from the Castle that you see today.

Hence the name of the current Castle, Inveraray. ‘Inver’ is the gaelic for ‘the mouth of’, and the river is called Aray.

One of the main reasons for moving to Inveraray was that Duncan wanted the Campbells to play a larger part in Scottish affairs. Having the power base on Loch Awe made the clan a particularly important power throughout Argyll and moving a little to the east gave them access to more land such as the Firth of Clyde and greater access to the sea, because as we all know, Scotland was a major naval power in the 15th century.

Duncan was made Lord Campbell with a whole string of titles awarded to the family. It was his grandson, also named Colin, who became the 1st Earl of Argyll in 1457.

The small castle that was established at Inveraray meant that a planned town was founded around the Castle throughout the 1470s. The Castle rapidly became the focal point of the small settlement and it became a burgh of barony in 1472, later becoming a royal burgh in 1648.

With a good natural harbour and being a key focal point in the limited road network across Argyll, Inveraray had effectively become the legal and administrative centre for the County of Argyll by the early 1700s. The medieval Castle stayed pretty much the same for over two centuries until the 2nd Duke decided that something nicer, bigger and better was needed in the early 18th century.

Inveraray

So the 2nd Duke called on Sir John Vanbrugh to design a new Castle befitting his elevated status of Field Marshal. Vanbrugh’s sketch was a concoction of Gothic, Baroque and Palladin styles and is basically what can be seen today in the current Inveraray Castle.

Unfortunately, both the 2nd Duke and Vanbrugh died before anything could happen, so it was up to the 3rd Duke to get stuff moving. He became responsible for getting the construction started and for developing the garden and the policies in and around Inveraray. This included building the bridges, canalising the river to enhance its beauty through the grounds and building the watch tower that overlooks the castle today. This was the first time that Scottish castles were being designed, not as fearsome fortresses, but as showcases of their owners’ extravagant wealth and hospitality.

The foundation stone was laid in 1746 and architects Roger Morris and William Adam were brought on to build the Castle after Vanbrugh’s death. But both died before the Castle was finished, so it was Adam’s sons, James and Robert, who took on finishing the castle for who was now the 5th Duke. It took 43 years and three Dukes since the first stone was laid until the Castle was complete.

The Castle itself was built on a rectangular plan with a rectangular crenellated tower at the centre, which for those not in the know is what you probably image when you think of a medieval tower. The top of the tower is made up of crenels and merlons, the crenels are spaces where archers could perch themselves to shoot down at the enemy, and the merlons are little walls, providing protection to the archers from attacks from below. As well as this central tower, each of the corners had a circular tower. When looking at an image of the Castle it’s easy to see this layout, which has managed to survive throughout the years. As well as the crenels, this new Castle comes with a couple of other mock-military features. These include turrets, a moat (which is not in use today and is pretty cool to walk around on), and slit windows. So much money was put into the Castle that a Dr Johnson was reported to say in reference to the Castle:

“What I admire here, is the total defiance of expense”.

Now, the Duke was, I suppose you could call him a bit pretentious and stuck up. He felt that the town of Inveraray was blocking his views from the Castle, which could only mean one thing. Yes you guessed it correctly, the entire town of Inveraray needed to be moved. And so the town was destroyed and rebuilt half a mile down the road. This was in 1744, when the town was barely more than a huddle of cottages, so I suppose it’s not that bad. The only thing was that while the 5th Duke had had plans made for a new town on the shore of the loch, nothing really happened for 30 years. And it wasn’t until 1770 that things actually started to get moving. Luckily over two centuries later, the bond between the Castle and the town is still strong.

The town itself, the new one, was built mainly between 1750 and 1800. It basically embodies all the cool things about the Scottish Enlightenment and is one of the country’s earliest examples of town planning. Now, you have no need to worry, the people of the old Inveraray town were not cast out onto their bums while the new town was being built. They got to stay in the old town until the new one was ready for them, with the last houses of the old village being demolished in 1776.

A fire in 1877 meant a significant rebuild and provided a brilliant opportunity to add a third floor as well as conical roofs to each of the conical towers.

A second bad fire occurred much more recently in 1975, on the 5th of November to be precise. Because of the closeness of the rural community, the people of the village got to the castle before the fire brigade, and they set to work helping to remove the priceless pieces of furniture and works of art. This conga line of removals proved to be incredibly effective and not one single piece was lost. So it turns out the castle was severely under insured and funds from the estate alone would not cover the cost of restoring the Castle to its former glory. So, the Duke and Duchess reached out to their extended family members and asked Clan Campbell members worldwide to chip in. It took five full years, but all was restored, the roof was returned to its rightful spot on top of the Castle and everything was right once more.

In its hey-day, the Castle was quite the employer, with over 60 full-time servants. These days you’re more likely to see 4 full-time employees and 21 part-time.

Downton, again

So, as well as Highclere Castle, Inveraray Castle has been featured in its own episode of the period drama, Downton Abbey.

The Castle played a main character in the 2012 Christmas Special, where in it, the Grantham family travel north to visit their cousins, Marquess and Marchioness of Flintshire, who reside in their Scottish home, ‘Duneagle Castle’.

Scotland is well represented throughout the episode as well, with the West Highlands specatular views, such as the hills, lochs and glens, taking a starring role.

The Castle - The Inside

So, now, let’s take a wander throughout the castle. The armoury hall is probably the most impressive room in all of Scotland, if not the world. Developed with Vanbrugh’s original 1720 sketch in mind, the ceilings are the highest in Scotland, coming in at an astonishing 21 metres in height. The ceiling itself has a pretty cool display of family crests from a range of branches of the Campbell Clan (I mean they kind of had to, you know, because they all paid for the damn thing to be repaired). As well as the ceiling, there are some pretty elaborate patterns of arms on the walls. Not real arms of course, the kind of arm that is a weapon. There are over 1800 weapons in all that date right back through to the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as an 18th century broadsword, that supposedly dates back to when good old Queen Vic went for a stay in 1847. So if there’s ever a zombie apocalypse and you find yourself in Western Scotland, you know where to go. As you walk around you may also see some cases with some pretty cool stuff in them. These are treasures associated with the Castle that help to tell the story of the history of the Campbell Clan and the major role they played in creating the history of Britain.

An interesting little tidbit about the entrance hall was that is was originally intended that one would enter the building from the south, but the damn 5th Duke changed his mind after the Castle was built. Meaning that the entrance had to be moved to the north side of the Castle in 1789. This also meant that what was originally intended as a long gallery running the entire length of the building would now be subdivided into several other rooms, making the Tapestry Drawing Room and the State Dining Room.

As one wanders throughout the Tapestry Drawing Room, you may be forgiven for missing the entrance to the China Turret. The double doors are cleverly disguised behind tapestry panels and integrated into the design of the wall. Once inside the turret, you may notice the odd texture of the ceiling. The papier-mâché was designed by Robert Mylne in 1773 and was originally intended as a library, but its modern day use is to display the Clan’s collection of Oriental and European porcelain.

The State Dining Room houses so many gorgeous things, too many to mention here. But a couple of things to note are: the three gold and silver sailing ship ornaments that immediately catch your eye. These intricate pieces of metalwork are known as ‘nefs’, and are named after an early type of three masted ocean-going sailing ship.

The Saloon has hosted its fair share of history. Chosen by the 5th Duke as an area to relax and perhaps ingest some breakfast, the room also hosts a grand piano, which I have heard is the exact same that songwriters Lerner and Loewe composed some songs for their smash hit musical My Fair Lady, whilst staying at the Castle. The Saloon is also the perfect room to get an understanding of the Campbell’s past. The main display of the Campbell family portraits have been in this very room since the 1780s, making it possible to follow the family through history starting with the 1st Duke and taking a trip through time to a photograph of the current Duke and his eldest son, the Marquess of Lorne.

The North West Hall contains a collection of costumes worn by the family throughout history. This includes the coronation robes of HRH Princess Louise, the robes of the Knight of the Thistle, the current Duke’s uniform of the Royal Company of Archers, the Baton of the Hereditary Master of the Royal Household in Scotland, and the Current Duke’s coronation robes and coronet from the coronation of our very own Queen Liz are all on display.

The Clan Room is where it’s at if you want to learn about the family history of the Campbell Clan. On the south wall of the room is a remarkably detailed family tree, tracing the Campbell lineage and its various family tree branches all the way back to Colin the Great in 1477. There’s also a map showing just how much of Scotland the Campbells controlled at the height of the Clans power, this included most of Argyll, the Campbell strongholds as far east as Taymount in Perthshire, north to Cawdor Castle in Invernessshire and south to Loudoun Castle in Ayrshire which is now in ruins.

The Victorian Room was created as a tribute to the marriage between HRH Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Vic, and the Marquess of Lorne, who would later become the 9th Duke. The main feature of the room is a maplewood writing desk, which was given by the queen to her daughter on her marriage in 1871. As well as a portrait of the Princess, which hangs above the fireplace, there is also a porcelain figure of the old queen at her spinning wheel that was sculpted by Louise, who, incidentally, was quite a talented artist and sculptor.

The MacArthur Room is where we get to the good stuff, the ghost stories. The bed in question is an elaborately carved bed that belonged to the MacArthurs of Loch Awe. The legend says that a young Irish harpist was murdered by the Duke of Montrose’s men in 1644. The story goes that the 9th Earl was in the castle when the Marquess if Montrose started attacking and ransacking Inveraray village, I guess they had some beef or something, but when the Earl fled the castle he left behind one of this musicians, a young harpist. The boy was Irish, and Montrose’s Irish mercenaries where so incensed that an Irish lad could work for the House of Campbell that they hung, drew and quartered him in the bed where he was found sleeping, the MacArthur bed. Da da duuuunnn!! The boys ghostly spirit was so attached to the bed that he travelled with it when the bed was moved from the old castle to the new one that we see today. It’s said that when a member of the family is about the die, harp music can be heard coming from the room, welcoming them into the afterlife I suppose. On the topic of ghosts, there is another pretty cool ghostly legend about the Clan: the Loch Fyne Ghost Ship. It’s said that a ship resembling that seen on the Campbell coat of arms can sometimes be seen in the horizon, this sighting is supposedly an omen that the Clan Chief is expected to die soon.

The Basement of the Castle has the antiquated methods of cooking that were used in the Old Kitchen on display. It was last used as a proper working kitchen by the Duke’s grandmother, Duchess Louise in the 1950s. Today, however, it is used as a Tearoom and the Castle Gift Shop. The old kitchen was unique in the fact that it housed seven fireplaces for different methods of cooking: two stoves were for stewing, two ovens for baking, a hot plate, a boiling stove and a roasting pit with a spit. Crazy rich white people.

When Princess Louise married into the family, Sir Matthew Digby-Wyatt was commissioned to create a special canopy entrance for the castle, so that when Queen Vic came to visit her daughter she could get from her carriage into the castle without getting wet from the drizzly Scottish weather. The entrance has since been given the nickname ‘Paddington Station’ due to its similarities with its London namesake.

The old estate stables have been turned into the Argyll Archive. It houses the earliest depictions of the Scottish landscape and is one of the biggest archives of family history in existence. Some of the documents even date back to the 11th century.

The Castle – The Outside

So when you take a wander outside you’ll find that the Gardens themselves are sixteen acres and have been split into three main areas. These are the lawns immediately to the south west of the Castle, the formal gardens beyond the lawns and a place where the flora are free to grow wild in the form of park and woodland further to the south.

The two acres of formal lawns and flowerbeds benefit from the Argyll climate. With its yearly average rainfall of 230 cm, it is ideal for Rhododendrons and Azaleas, which flower from April through to June. Conifers also enjoy the poor acidic soil of the high rainfall area.

The park and woodland are home to ancient and veteran species, such as oak, beech, chestnut, pine, fir and cedar. And the formal gardens are stock full of large and colourful plants that give the site its high horticultural value.

The Inveraray grounds form one of the most important design landscapes in Scotland. The borders either side of the central path beyond the lawns are known as the ‘Flag-borders’ because they form the shape of the St. Andrew’s Cross, Scotland’s National flag.

There are also some medieval carved stone crosses that can be seen throughout the grounds and the town. The Inveraray Mercat Cross is sitting at the centre of Front Street and the Kirkapoll Cross is in the garden to the south of the castle.

Physical evidence of work on the grounds date back to the 1600s, and in Scotland, this evidence is called a ‘policy’. Amongst the policies are three important avenues on the Castle grounds: the Lime Avenue, the Town Avenue, and the Glen Shira Avenue. Another highlight of the grounds is the ‘Watch Tower’ at the top of the hill North of the Castle, as well as The Doocot, or that’s Dovecote for those of you who speak English without a Scottish accent. It’s been found that in the 1700s, sections of the River Aray were canalised and cascades created to enhance the sound of flowing water and providing the grounds with various watery points of interest. As a way of marking their stay, throughout the latter part of the 19th century, several distinguished visitors were asked to plant trees, these included Queen Victoria, herself, David Livingston, the great explorer and William Gladstone, an old UK PM.

The Argyll estates take up roughly 50 000 acres of Scotland, with supposedly some deliciously terrific stalking. So much so, that in 1562, Mary, Queen of Scots visited as a guest of the 5th Earl and even shot herself some dinner in the form of a deer.

The Family

Now that we’ve heard just a little about the Castle, its ground, some famous visitors and occupiers, let’s see what we can find out that’s particularly interesting about the heads of the family, Campbell.

So way back when, the 2nd Earl was granted the appointment of Master of the Royal Household in Scotland, which is still a title held by the Duke today, which judging by the title basically means that he is in charge of the Royal family and organising everything when they find themselves North of the English border.

The 5th Earl was, impressively, in command of Mary, Queen of Scots army, (most likely part of the reason she came to visit), but it was also impressively, whilst in charge of this army that he fell in defeat the one and only time.

And it was the 8th Earl who bumped his title up to a Marquess, becoming the 1st Marquess of Argyll for leading the charge against the executed Charles I.

The 10th Earl became the 1st Duke when he was granted the Dukedom in 1701, along with a string of other titles. He was also created his own regiment known as the Earl of Argyle’s Regiment of Foot. The unit was tasked with the notoriously gruesome Massacre of Glencoe. We won’t go into this now, it could really be it’s own episode if we’re being honest.

So as to not be outdone, the 2nd Duke commanded the Government Army at the Battle of Sheriffmuir which helped to put an end to the Jacobite Rebellion in 1715. He was even one of the first officers in the British Army to be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. And if we recall  the relevant part at the start of this episode, we will remember that he was the one to build the new Castle at Inveraray.

We pass over a couple of Duke’s and come to the 9th Duke, who has previously been mentioned for marrying Queen Vic’s daughter, Princess Louise. Also a notable fact about the 9th Duke, before he took on his father’s title, he served as Governor General of Canada and was a pretty major part of writing their constitution.

The 11th Duke, the current Duke’s Grandfather, was actually taken prisoner in France, along with a majority of the Highland Division, during the Second World War in 1940.

And finally we arrive at Torquhil Ian, who inherited the Dukedom on the death of his father in 2001, to become the 13th Duke of Argyll. So Torquhil, he’s a pretty savvy man. He combines his duties as Duke, Clan Chief and Landowner, with his, I suppose you could call it a hobby, as a consultant for Pernod Ricard, helping to promote Scotch Whiskies. He also captained Scotland to victory in 2004 and 2005 in the World Elephant Polo Championships, which I do not kid you, is a very real thing. Just Google it. The 13th Duke is married to Eleanor Cadbury, of the chocolate Cadbury’s and they have three children. All five of them live in the castle today, occupying just two floors, whilst allowing the rest of the Castle to be open to visitors.

The Clan

So the Campbells themselves are one of the biggest Clans in the world with members far and wide, just look at their branches on the wall of the Clan room and you’ll see what I mean. The 13th Duke and Duchess want all Campbells, or people of a related name (traditionally called septs), who were not brought up in Scotland, to not feel that they are out of touch with the incredible riches of their clan heritage. If you are a Campbell, and your ‘heart is in the Highlands’, there are a number of Clan Campbell Societies around the world to welcome and bring your Scottish heritage nearer home. And the list of official Clan Campbell septs is available on the Inveraray Castle website. So get clicking.

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