Skipness Castle stands on the east side of the

Kintyre Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north ...

peninsula in

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 ...

, near the village of

Skipness Skipness ( gd, Sgibinis, ) is a village on the east coast of Kintyre in Scotland, located just over south of Tarbert and facing the Isle of Arran. There is Skipness Castle (a ruined castle The Ruined Castle is a rock formation in th ...

. Together with the nearby Kilbrannan Chapel it is a

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

History

The main structure of the castle was built in the early 13th century by the Clan MacSween, with later fortifications and other additions made to the castle through the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries. Skipness castle 4

The castle was garrisoned with royal troops in 1494, during King James IV of Scotland's suppression of the Isles. James IV appointed Duncan Forestar as keeper of the castle.

Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll Gillespie Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll ( – 9 September 1513) was a Scottish nobleman and politician who was killed at the Battle of Flodden. Biography Archibald was the eldest son of Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll and Isabel Ste ...

, granted Skipness to his younger son, Archibald Campbell, in 1511. During the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of related conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities united in a pers ...

in 1646, the castle was besieged by forces under the command of Alasdair Mac Colla. During the siege, Alasdair's brother, Gilleasbuig Mac Colla, was killed in August 1646. The castle was abandoned in the 17th century.

Castle ghost

The Green Lady of Skipness Castle is said to haunt the location.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Scotland Castles in Argyll and Bute Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Argyll and Bute Reportedly haunted locations in Scotland Historic Scotland properties in Argyll and Bute