Castle Coeffin is a ruin on the island of Lismore, an island in

Loch Linnhe Loch Linnhe () is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. The part upstream of Corran is known in Gaelic as (the black pool, originally known as Loch Abar), and downstream as (the salty pool). The name ''Linnhe'' is derived from the Gaelic w ...

, in

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

, on the west coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It stands on a promontory on the north-west coast of the island, across Loch Linnhe from

Glensanda Glensanda (Old Norse, the glen of the sandy river) was a Viking settlement at the mouth of Glen Sanda on the Morvern peninsula within south west Lochaber, overlooking the island of Lismore and Loch Linnhe in the western Highlands of Scotland. ...

, at .

History

Coeffin Castle was built on the site of a

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

fortress. The name ''Coeffin'' is thought to come from ''Caifen'' who was a Danish prince, and whose sister supposedly haunted the castle until her remains were taken back to be buried beside her lover in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Coeffin Castle was built in the 13th century, probably by the

MacDougall Clan MacDougall is a Highland Scottish clan, historically based in and around Argyll. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in Scotland, issuing new grants of coats of arms, and serving as ...

s of Lorn. Lismore was an important site within their lordship, being the location of St. Moluag's Cathedral, seat of the

Bishop of Argyll The Bishop of Argyll or Bishop of Lismore was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Argyll, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. It was created in 1200, when the western half of the territory of the Bishopric of Dunkeld was formed into t ...

. The first written evidence of the castle occurs in 1469–70, when it was granted to Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy by

Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll (c. 1433 – 10 May 1493) was a medieval Scottish nobleman, peer, and politician. He was the son of Archibald Campbell, Master of Campbell and Elizabeth Somerville, daughter of John Somerville, 3rd Lord ...

. It is unlikely to have been occupied in post-mediaeval times.

The ruins

The ruins comprise an oblong

hall-house The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples we ...

and an irregularly shaped bailey. The

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...

is an irregular rectangle, measuring The walls are from thick. The bailey was mostly built at a later date than the hall. An external stair probably linked the entrance, in the north-east wall, to the bailey. A second door gave access to the sea to the south-west.

Other features

A tidal

fish trap A fish trap is a trap used for fishing. Fish traps include fishing weirs, lobster traps, and some fishing nets such as fyke nets. Traps are culturally almost universal and seem to have been independently invented many times. There are two main ...

, of unknown age, is located in the small bay to the south-east of the castle. To the north-east of the castle are the remains of a stone-walled fort. The ''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland'', published in 1892, lists a Castle Rachal in the same general location as Castle Coeffin. It is described as "a very ancient Scandinavian fortalice in Lismore and Appin parish, Argyllshire, on the NW side of Lismore island, from the north-eastern extremity, now a dilapidated ivy-clad ruin."

References

Lismore, Scotland Reportedly haunted locations in Scotland Ruined castles in Argyll and Bute Scheduled monuments in Scotland {{Argyll-geo-stub