By tradition the oldest continuously occupied castle on mainland Scotland, Duntrune joins thirteenth-century MacDougall walls to a seventeenth-century tower house still lived in today.
Duntrune Castle stands on the north shore of Loch Crinan in Argyll and Bute, looking across the water towards the village of Crinan. Its oldest fabric, a curtain wall raised by the MacDougalls in the thirteenth century, makes it, by tradition, the oldest continuously occupied castle on mainland Scotland. The tower house that rises within the wall came later, in the seventeenth century, giving the site the layered form a visitor sees today. Control of the castle later passed to Clan Campbell, and it became the seat of the Campbells of Duntroon. During the turbulent seventeenth century it was besieged by the rival MacDonalds under Alasdair Mac Colla, a reminder of how contested this western seaboard once was. In 1792 the property was sold to the Malcolms of Poltalloch, and it remains in that family: the present owner is Robin Neill Malcolm, chief of Clan Malcolm. The castle was renovated in 1954 and is protected as a Category B listed building. It is a private home rather than a formal visitor attraction, so it is best appreciated from across the loch or from the water. Film enthusiasts may note that its gateposts are said to have influenced the James Bond film Skyfall.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
What to look for
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The thirteenth-century curtain wall, the castle's oldest surviving fabric, built by the MacDougalls
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The seventeenth-century tower house rising within the older wall
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Its commanding position on the north shore of Loch Crinan, opposite Crinan village
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The setting's link to Clan Campbell of Duntroon and, from 1792, the Malcolms of Poltalloch who still own it
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Gateposts said to have influenced the James Bond film Skyfall
Plan your visit
- Location
- General area near Argyll and Bute, Argyll and Bute
This is a sensitive or fragile site, so we show only its general area. Please check official heritage sources for access before visiting, and take care not to disturb it.
Nearby places
Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Ri Cruin Cairn
Argyll and Bute
Ri Cruin is the most southerly cairn in the Kilmartin Glen linear cemetery, a Bronze Age burial cairn built between roughly 2200 BC and 1950 BC.
- Near Kilmartin
- 8 min walk from car park
- Easy path
Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Temple Wood Stone Circles
Argyll and Bute
Temple Wood, in Kilmartin Glen, comprises two stone circles - a northern and a southern circle. The southern circle's first incarnation may have be…
- Near Kilmartin
- 8 min walk from car park
- Easy path
Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Ballymeanoch Standing Stones and Henge
Argyll and Bute
Ballymeanoch is a complex of Neolithic structures in Kilmartin Glen: an avenue of two rows of standing stones (of four and two stones), a stone cir…
- Near Kilmartin
- 6 min walk from car park
- Easy path
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