A Nest Of Pirates

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Myra Douglas explores a crucial stronghold on the western coastline

It is difficult nowadays to think of Skipness as being a focal point for all sorts of intrigues and also as border territory between warring factions, not to mention being a gateway to sea-borne adventurers.

Yet such was the case when this castle, lying on green, grazing meadows near the rocky, solitary shores of the Kintyre peninsula on mainland Argyll seven miles south east of Tarbert, was first built in the 13th century as a military base in the sea wars fought along the coastline of western Scotland between Celtic galleys and Norse longships.

This stronghold overlooked four important waterways - the Firth of Clyde, the Kyles of Bute, Loch Fyne and the Kilbrannan Sound between Kintyre and the island of Arran.

Its vital strategic importance was underlined by the switch of ownership in the 1260s when it lay in the hands of Dugald MacSween whose clan had spent the previous decade heightening the keep’s huge curtain wall, gatehouse tower and portcullis.

As Norway’s King Haakon sent a huge invasion fleet into Hebridean waters, the King of Scots decided to entrust the defence of Skipness Castle to the more reliable Menteith family who were kinsfolk of the Stewarts. This forceable manoeuvre, which ousted the MacSweens, avoided any secret deals between the Argyll clans and their Viking overlords.

A couple of centuries later, the castle became the property of the Lord of the Isles and as such was an unlikely border fortress between the warring Macdonalds and the Scottish Crown.

It became one of the main targets of King James IV when he set out to crush what the Crown regarded as little more than a seaboard of pirates; and in 1493 it was successfully stormed and then given to the Stewarts.

By the end of the century it had fallen into the hands of the ubiquitous and ever expanding Campbell territories for they were always western magnates with whom the court in Edinburgh could do business.

It was the property of the Campbells for more than four centuries and was only threatened once by an unsuccessful siege involving Irish mercenaries.

A downturn in the fortunes of the for once treasonable Campbells, which led to the execution of the rebel Earl of Argyll in 1685, almost led to the destruction of the castle but more diplomatic and loyal members of the clan ensured its survival.
The stronghold remained in Campbell hands until 1867 when the impoverished owners sold the property. It was then used as a farm steading before falling into disrepair and eventually becoming an atmospheric ruin belying its strategic importance in centuries past.

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