Mingary Castle - 2

Mingary Castle lies to the east of Kilchoan. For some 300 years it was the seat of the chief of Clan MacIain, a sept of the MacDonalds, the Lords of the Isles. The castle site controls the northern entry to the Sound of Mull.

This plan of Mingary Castle, adapted from the drawings in the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland book, Vol 3, shows the main curtain walls, dating from the 13th century, and the three sets of buildings in the courtyard. The Southeast building, 1, housed two small rooms each were entered directly from the courtyard. It was probably single-storey. The West building, 2, consisted of a larger room which was probably the castle kitchen, while the smaller had a storage cellar beneath it. There was a room above them which is now ruined. The North building, 3, is the most substantial and best preserved, consisting of three storeys and an attic. It had an internal staircase with a room on each side. The top of this structure can be seen in the photo below, taken from the Cal Mac pier to the southwest of the castle. Also visible in the photo is the sea gate, to the right of the building.

The buildings are all relatively recent, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.

I am very grateful to Iain Macdonald for his comment on the first Diary entry about Mingary Castle, where he identifies two websites which show photographs of the interior of the castle. Photographs and other information from the RCAHMS are here.