Minard Castle is a 19th-century castellated mansion on the north-western shore of

Loch Fyne Loch Fyne ( gd, Loch Fìne, ; meaning "Loch of the Vine/Wine"), is a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde and forms part of the coast of the Cowal peninsula. Located on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It extends inland from the Sound o ...

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...

, 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 ...

, in the parish of Kilmichael Glassary. The castle is located slightly south of the village of

Minard Minard may refer to: Places: * Minard, Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom ** Minard Castle a castle in Argyll * Minard Castle (County Kerry) a castle in County Kerry, Ireland People with the surname: *Charles Joseph Minard (1781–1870), Fr ...

. The current structure is the enlargement of an older house carried out around 1848 by the architect

John Thomas Rochead John Thomas Rochead (28 March 1814 – 7 April 1878) was a Scottish people, Scottish architect. He is most noteworthy on a national scale for having been the designer of the Wallace Monument. Life He was born in Edinburgh, the son of John Ro ...

History

Minard Castle and estate was built to the south of Minard Bay, which itself is south of the village of

, on the headland of Minard Point. Minard Castle dates from the 18th century, when it was built by the Campbell family as Knockbuie House and renamed Minard Castle in the mid-nineteenth century, when a new

castellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

front was added. The house was reconstructed as a

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

style of mansion in 1842 by

. In 1850, William Hamilton extended the house, adding a facade consisting of a number of large rooms to the front of the old mansion. Later, the house was sold to the Scottish

submarine communications cable A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables laid beginning in the 1850s carried tel ...

pioneer,

John Pender Sir John Pender KCMG GCMG FSA FRSE (10 September 1816 – 7 July 1896) was a Scottish submarine communications cable pioneer and politician. Early life He was born in the Vale of Leven, Scotland, the son of James Pender and his wife, Marion Ma ...

. In the 20th century. It was later sold to the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

in the late 1940s and then to the Holiday Fellowship, who used it as a hotel for many years.

History

References

See also