Ardtornish Castle

Ardtornish Castle is the ruin of an old stone hall-house most likely erected by the Macdonald family in the mid 13th century. The building sits on top of a rocky knoll overlooking the Sound of Mull on the southern coast of the Morvern peninsular, and excavation revealed the remains of a number of irregular-shaped buildings of a residential nature. The hall is not surrounded by any additional stone fortifications (timber palisades may have existed), but relied instead on the strength of the Lords of the Isles for its defence.

The building was one of the principal seats of the Macdonalds until their eventual fall in the 15th century, at which point it declined in importanceDuring this time the Macdonalds held a dubious semi-autonomous hold on the region, culminating in the Treaty of Ardtornish-Westminster in 1462, when John Macdonald formed an alliance against King James III with King Edward IV of England, swearing allegiance to the English king. This resulted in the forfeiture of John’s earldom of Ross, and his loss of prestige led to his own overthrow, and the forfeiture of the Isles in 1493. The castle was held by the Crown whilst much of Morvern was granted to the Maclean laird of Duart, but eventually the castle was also ceded to Maclean. In the 17th century Morvern along with the rest of the Maclean estates were “acquired” by the Campbells of Argyll, and probably abandoned at this time.

The castle fell into ruin and was repaired and partially rebuilt in 1873, before being consolidated more extensively early in the 20th century, including the refacing of a large part of the ruin, creation of a window, and recreation of an entrance doorway. The hall was stone with two storeys, but the shell gives little away other than a garderobe projected from the north-west corner. It is not even known whether there were separate entrances for each floor.

HES Canmore database entry