Castle Stalker and Loch Laich |
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Castle Stalker is a four story tower house or keep picturesquely
set on a small islet on Loch Laich, an inlet off Loch Linnhe.
Castle Stalker is located about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) north east of Port Appin,
Argyll, Scotland and visible from the A828 main road about mid-way
between Oban and Glen Coe. The name 'Stalker' comes from the
Gaelic Stalcaire, meaning 'hunter' or 'falconer'. The site is
similar to the prehistoric crannogs, but the official web-site history
page gives the origin of Castle Stalker as being a small fort
built around 1320 by Clan MacDougall who were then Lords of Lorn.
Around 1388 the Stewarts took over the Lordship of Lorn, and
it is believed that they built Castle Stalker in its present form
around the 1440s. The web-site tells a dramatic story of arguments,
murders, hunting visits by the Stewart's relative King James
IV of Scotland and a drunken bet around 1620 resulting in the
castle passing to Clan Campbell. After changing hands between
these clans a couple of times the Campbells finally abandoned
the Castle Stalker around 1840, when it lost its roof. Then in 1908 a
Stewart bought Castle Stalker and carried out basic conservation
work. Iin 1965 Lt. Col. D. R. Stewart Allward acquired Castle Stalker and over about ten years fully restored it. |
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