Achadun Castle

Heritage listing

Date Added 16/04/1964 Last Date Amended 26/09/2002 Type Secular: castle Local Authority Argyll And Bute Parish Lismore And Appin NGR NM 80431 39271 Coordinates 180431, 739271 — The monument comprises the remains of Achadun Castle, the 13th century castle of the bishops of Argyll. The castle was originally scheduled in 1964, but the scheduling did not cover all of the archaeological remains; the present rescheduling rectifies this. In 1240 two pennylands at 'Achacendune' were among lands in Lismore granted by Ewen, son of Duncan of Argyll, to Bishop William; while in 1304, his grandson granted to Bishop Andrew other property near the bishop's 'castle or manor of Achychendone'. Almost all of the remains may be ascribed to some time between these two dates. The castle remained in use until the early 16th century, when the construction by Bishop David Hamilton of his castle at Saddell, about 1508-12, effectively terminated the occupation of Achadun as an episcopal residence. The castle occupies the summit of a prominent limestone ridge near the western shore of Lismore, close to a good anchorage in Achadun Bay. The structure is ruinous, the SW and SE walls having collapsed outwards. The NE wall and a substantial portion of the NW wall, however, survive almost to wall-head level. A curtain wall varying in thickness from 1.4m to 2.4m encloses an area measuring about 22m square, which contained at least two ranges of buildings flanking a small courtyard. The SE range measured 7.6m wide internally and comprised a ground floor and an upper floor. The NW wall of this range is 1.6m in thickness at ground level. Although largely buried under rubble, it still stands to a maximum height of 2m. Excavations in 1970-71 revealed two doorways leading into this range from the courtyard. Th

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.