Inchmurrin Castle

Heritage listing

Date Added 23/12/1996 Supplementary Information Updated 11/06/2015 Type Secular: barn; castle; kiln Local Authority West Dunbartonshire Parish Kilmaronock NGR NS 37304 86310 Coordinates 237304, 686310 — The monument consists of the remains of a castle, documented from 1393, together with the remains of a kiln-barn which stands to the N of the castle ruins. The castle stands on a rock outcrop with steep natural slopes to the NW and SE. The main block of the castle, with walls built of mortared rubble, measures 36m NE-SW by 10m NW-SE, within ditches a short distance to the NE and the SW. There are traces of other structures, and possibly of the enclosure wall of a small courtyard, between the main block and the SW ditch. The main block of the castle is divided into 3 rooms. Fragments of the NW and SE walls remain upstanding to a significant height, but the window in the NW wall and the masonry immediately surrounding it appear to have been reconstructed in relatively modern times, although the slit opening at its base appears authentic. The remaining masonry of the SE wall contains a blocked window apparently of medieval date, together with indications of a projecting stair-turret, 2.8m in diameter. The castle was described as 'newly erected' in the late 14th century, and was probably constructed for Duncan, 8th Earl of Lennox, whose principal seat was at Balloch Castle at the S end of Loch Lomond. The castle is likely to have served as a hunting lodge for the deer park established on the island by King Robert I in the early part of the century, and it is therefore possible that there was some residence on this site before the construction of the present remains. The castle was in use at least into the 16th century, but was described as being ruinous in 1724. To the N of

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.