COMMUNITY
FROM THE ARCHIVES:
the castle that had to go
12 | OCTOBER 2018
Archivist Alison Diamond
uncovers intriguing local
stories from Inveraray
Castle’s Argyll Papers.
Tucked away inside the Letters
& Instructions for building
Inveraray Castle For His Grace
the Duke of Argyll in Argyllshire
by R Morris is a report written
in 1744 by William Douglas,
mason, on the condition of the
old castle of Inveraray.
The old castle had been the
seat of the Earls of Argyll since
the family moved their base
from Lochawe to Inveraray in
the middle of the 15th century.
Since then, the castle and the
town, which clustered close
around its walls, had been
attacked a number of times,
particularly during the religious
confl ict of the 17th century –
which perhaps explains the
conditions recorded in the report.
The mason relates that he had
“view’d the same [the castle]
Inside and Outside and [I] fi nd
there are few parts of it suffi -
cient. There are Large Rents in
both side walls And Garetts…
In most Places it is Greatly
shattered”.
The cracks in the walls are so
deep that “the Air Passes sensibly
throu”. He also records
“bulgings” in the south east