House in the trees at Lochawe - geograph

St Conan's Tower is a 19th-century

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

-built

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

, near

Lochawe Loch Awe (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Obha''; also sometimes anglicised as Lochawe, Lochaw, or Lochow) is a large body of freshwater in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. It has also given its name to a village on its banks, variously known as Lo ...

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Designed and built by architect, author and antiquarian Walter Douglas Campbell, a young brother of Archibald Campbell, 1st

Baron Blythswood Baron Blythswood, of Blythswood House, Blythswood in the Renfrewshire, County of Renfrew, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 24 August 1892 for Archibald Campbell, 1st Baron Blythswood, Sir Archibald Campbell, 1s ...

, St Conan's Tower was intended as a winter home for the family. The granite for the house was quarried from

Ben Cruachan Ben Cruachan () is a mountain that rises to , the highest in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It gives its name to the Cruachan Dam, a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station located in a cavern inside the mountain. It is the high point of a ring ...

, overlooking Loch Awe. The Tower has been used variously since its sale by the Douglas Campbell family in 1924 as a family home, a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

, a bed and breakfast establishment, and then back to a family home plus holiday apartment business. Walter Douglas Campbell also designed

St Conan's Kirk St Conan's Kirk is located in the village of Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. In a 2016 Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland public poll it was voted one of the Top 10 buildings in Scotland of the last 100 years. It was established ...

and Innis Chonain House. He remained unmarried. His sister, Helen used St Conan's Tower for various house-parties.

References

Country houses in Argyll and Bute {{Scotland-struct-stub