Kilchurn Castle

Kilchurn Castle stands on a low promontory at the head of Loch Awe, framed by mountains, and is one of the most photographed castles in Scotland. Sir Colin Campbell, 1st Lord of Glenorchy, built it in the mid-1400s as a five-storey tower house within a courtyard, and for about 150 years it was the base of the Campbells of Glenorchy, the most powerful junior branch of the clan. Duncan, the 2nd Lord, added a hall before he fell at Flodden in 1513, and later lords added the corner turrets before the family moved to Taymouth. In 1689 Sir John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane, turned it into a garrison stronghold, and his barracks for 200 men is the oldest surviving barracks on the British mainland; government troops used it in 1715 and 1745 before it was abandoned. The castle is closed inside for conservation work, but you can walk up to and around it, past Highland cattle, for wide views over the loch.