One more photo of Inveraray, this time from the south, it’s the view we always see when leaving the town. The dark building on the right is the jail and it looks like it was quite a forbidding building, one building to try and keep out of, in days gone pass.
Taken May 2016
On holiday in Scotland 2016, we visited Inveraray, Scotland, and that one thing you can see from quite a distance, is the Dukes Tower, which was added to, All Saints Church, built in 1886. The freestanding tower was added between 1923 and 1931. This was built as a war memorial and accommodates a ring of 10 bells, reputedly the second heaviest peal in the world.
The church was for some reason closed, although the sign side it was open, but thats nothing unusual, or its just that I have go use to them being closed. So next time we are passing I will try again. It is not as old as some of the churches I visit, but it is in one of the most beautiful locations for a church, so worth a visit next time.
A little history ……..Gothic-style church built 1885 in local red granite, designed by Wardrop and Anderson of Edinburgh. Many of the interior furnishings given by Niell Dairmid, 10th Duke of Argyll. Belltower, in Gothic revivial by Hoare & Wheeler, built 1923-31 as a Memorial to Campbell dead of First World War and previous wars. Peal of ten bells by John Taylor of Loughborough, 1926.
We have had a very busy week-end, showing some visitors around Norfolk, well a little bit of the North Norfolk coast. So blogging time has been zero, but I did manage to sort a few photos. Following is a postcard of Inveraray, Scotland, a small town on the western shores of Loch Fyne and the home to Inveraray Castle, which I still haven’t visited. There are a mixture of black & white and colour photos, these were taken over two holidays that we had in Scotland last year, 2016. We have passed through the town so many times, if it’s sunny we stop, if it’s raining, then on we drive, but this is the first post about this really interesting little town.
Established in 1745 by the 3rd Duke of Argyll, head of the powerful Clan Campbell, the town is an absolute set piece of Scottish Georgian architecture. Key buildings that are worth visiting include the neoclassical church, and Inveraray Jail and courthouse, now an award-winning museum that graphically recounts prison conditions from medieval times up until the 19th century.
In May 2016, while on holiday in Scotland, we found a small road that followed a river. We came to a sign which said we were at Allt Broighleachan, near the Caledonian Forest. All I can remember, is, instead of going down Glen Coe, we went across, before the start of the run down the Glen. We followed the road for quite a few miles, always with the river insight. We met a party of lovely spotted pigs, husband did not like my idea of pignapping, so the cutest little pig stayed. This is collection of photos of the drive, a couple of photos I have changed to mono, just to see if they work or not.
In 2016, I ticked a castle off my wish list, Kilchurn Castle, one of the iconic castles of Scotland. We have passed by so many times, and each year I wanted to visit, but I wanted a nice sunny day. Well I got the sunny day in 2016, we parked in the small car park and then walked to the castle.
The closer we go to the castle, the bigger my smile got, finally I was going to explore one of my favourite castles. We walked up to the door…….it was locked, we tried again, and still it remained firmly locked……no it was suppose to be open, more people turned up, a discussion follow, but still it stayed well and truly locked. I did find a window to hold the camera up to, to get a shot of inside, as there wasn’t really any other way of seeing the interior, I got a little glimpse, which will have to do until we go back.
A little history ………Kilchurn Castle is a ruined structure on a rocky peninsula at the northeastern end of Loch Awe, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It was first constructed as a five storey tower house with a courtyard in the mid-15th century as the base of the Campbells of Glenorchy, who extended both the castle and their territory in the area over the next 150 years.
By the 17th century, it was a military barracks and in 1760 it was damaged by fire and abandoned. Kilchurn fell out of use and was in ruins by 1770. It is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
After exploring in the sunshine, we made our way back to the car, a little disappointed, but it was still a good visit. The following photos show you how most people first see the castle from the road, the second is a close up of the same photo, but I have changed it to b&w.
To continue on with our journey after visiting Tarbert, in 2016, we caught the ferry from Kennecraig to Port Askaig on the Isle of Islay off the west coast of Scotland. The weather was perfect and it felt like a mini cruise, especially as we had a fish & chip supper on board. We landed at Port Askaig and our hotel was a stones throw away from the terminal. We settled in at the hotel and after exploring Port Askaig, which didn’t take long, we visited the bar of the hotel. We had come to Islay and Jura, for the Whisky Festivals. So to get into the swing of it, we had a few drinks in the bar and got to met fellow Whiskey drinkers……they were quite of few……this is something that is taken very seriously, note books came out and drinks ticked off. The next day we caught the ferry to Jura, on the smaller blue ferry you can see in the photos. We were now on our way to Jura’s Whisky Festival and to explore this wild and rugged island…….more to follow.
Last year, May 2016, on our way to Kennacraig Ferry Terminal, to catch the ferry to Islay, we had about fours hours to spare, so we stopped at Tarbert which is on the way. Target is a fishing town built around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Lock Fyne, in the Argyll and Bute council area. We had never visited Tarbet before, but I had read it had a castle, so we were looking forward to somewhere new to explore…..we were not disappointed.
I also saw a large church, which I would have loved to have explored, but the castle won, mainly as I was thinking of the wonderful views we would see as we climbed.
Tarbert is the gateway to the beautiful peninsula of Kintyre and the lovely natural harbour is full of boats. There is still a working fishing fleet and plenty of yachts to sail these beautiful waters. As a strategic stronghold during the Middle Ages, Tarbert’s economic prosperity came during the Early Modern period, as the port developed into a fishing town. At its height, the Loch Fyne herring fishery attracted hundreds of vessels to Tarbert.
High above the town is Robert the Bruce’s 14th century castle, only the keep remains, but the visit to the castle will be covered in the next post. There is quite a climb to the castle, well it felt like it in the hot sunshine, there are some steep steps first, then a grass path to the top. The views were really wonderful and we were so lucky that the weather was behaving.
The following photos were views taken on route to the castle.
