Achadun Castle (Alternatives Names Achanduin Castle or The Bishop’s Castle or Achenduin (Acha an dùin) or Achinduin or Achindown)
Picture taken by Colin MacDougall
Location: The roofless ruins of Achadun Castle are located on the southwest coastline of the Isle of Lismore 4 miles west of Lismore Cathedral. Achadun’s ruins occupy the summit of a prominent steep limestone ridge commanding extensive views to the west across Loch Linnhe and the small Isle of Bernera. The castle is on a sightline north to Coeffin Castle, and west to Duart castle on the isle of Mull across the water. The closest approach to Achadun Castle is the road to Achadun Farm, which branches west from the island’s main road just above the old schoolhouse south of Achnacroish. Achadun can also be viewed on the west shore of Lismore from the ferry to Mull. After passing the Eilean Musdile Lighthouse on the outward passage, look northward up Loch Linnhe to view Achadun Castle.
Origin: Achad is a Gaelic word meaning field and is usually a prefix before another word. The name is usually found where a marginal land was once used as a pasture outfield by Gaelic farmers. In this case the Gaelic name was likely Achad an dùin which would have meant literally the outfield of the fortress. There was likely an Iron Age dun on this site at one time but, if so, it is now long gone, probably robbed of its stone for building materials. Achadun Castle stands upon “2 1/2 pennylands at Achacendune” which were part of fourteen pennylands (about 140 acres) granted in May 1240 to Bishop William of the Bishopric of Lismore in the See of Argyll by Eugenius de Ergidia (of Argyll). In this document he is called Eugenius which is the Latin form of Ewan. He would become 3rd Chief of Clan MacDougall eight years later. In the 1240 grant there is no mention of a castle or manor being at Achacendune. In 1241 Bishop William drowned at sea and The Bishopric remained vacant until 1250. The poverty of the Diocese of Argyll which covered so much of Ewan’s lordship is undeniable and is given as the reason for this long vacancy but there may have been other reasons as well. Turner’s article cited below states that in this diocese:
“..Bishop was at any time wealthy enough to have been the likely
builder of the castle of Achanduin. It would seem clear that neither
was the case. Archaeological excavation indicated a probable construction
date in the 1290s (Turner, in prep), a time when the under-endowed see
was held by a Dominican possibly related to the MacDougalls of Argyll.”
(Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 128 (1998), 645-652 by Dennis Turner)
It is believed that the MacDougalls built Achadun Castle in the 1290s but that at some point it was taken over by the Bishops of Argyll. There were very close connections between the See of Argyll and the MacDougalls. Achadun Castle was first mentioned in 1304 church records in Latin in a donation recorded from “Eugenil de Ergadia, Lord of Lorn, Menderaloch and of Lesmor”, likely meaning Sir John, the son of Alexander the 5th Chief of the MacDougalls:
In 1304, by a deed dated at Achichendone, Ewin of Argyle, lord of Lorn, of Menderaloch,
and of Lesmor, granted to Bishop Andrew for maintenance of the episcopal table 5 ½
pennylands in the island of Lesmor of his land next to the castle or manor of Achychendone,
namely, the pennyland called Pennyngscanhach, the pennyland called Tyrfeirlach, the two
pennylands of Achychnahunsen, and the pennyland and a half of Geyle.”
(Origines Parochiales Scotiae (OPR) Vol. 2 Part 1 on page 164)
And Origines Parochiales Scotiae Vol. 2 Part 2 on page 828 records a donation by Ewin, “lord of Lorn” as being in 1334 but this is thought to be a transcription error so that both grants were actually made on the 10 September 1304:
“By a deed dated at Achindune 10 September 1334 Ewin lord of Lorn granted
to Andrew bishop of Argyle a £10 land in the isle of Lismore, called Frakersek,
Craiginche, and Achindune.”
Achadun Castle was the headquarters of the Bishops of Argyll and served as a residence for the Bishop of the Isles until the 16th C. The Bishop Andrew mentioned in the 1304 grant was close to the MacDougalls. After the clan’s defeat at the Pass of Brander and the loss of Dunstaffnage castle in 1308 he joined the Alexander, the 4th MacDougall chief, and his son Sir John in exile in England. English records show that ‘Bishop Andrew’ had a protection from the King of England on 12 April 1310 (CDS, 3, 27, no 141) and, other payments from the crown. In 1313 – 1314 Bishop Andrew is described as ‘living in England at the King’s charge’. Bishop Andrew’s apparent exile in England with John of Lorn seems to suggest a close and continuing relationship with the MacDougalls of Lorne. The cathedral of Lismore continued to function and Andrew was still Bishop of Argyll on 18 November 1327 (Paisley Reg. 137). Bishop Andrew’s death at the close of 1341 or early 1342 may be inferred from the Pope’s letter to Bishop Martin.
Achadun Castle (Photo: Marc Calhoun www.marccalhoun.blogspot.com)
The Bishop of Argyll seems to have had possession of Achadun Castle itself in 1452 and for a short time took up occupation. Achadun Castle had probably been given to the Bishopric at an earlier date but the Bishops did not find much use for it. The events of 1452 certainly seem to imply that the Bishop was an infrequent visitor to Lismore. The construction by Bishop David Hamilton of his castle at Saddell in Kintyre, about 1508-1512, effectively terminated the occupation of Achadun Castle as an Episcopal residence. Thereafter it probably fell into a state of decay though the castle was still held by the Bishops of Argyll until the mid-16th C. when the Scottish Reformation occurred.
In the 1641 King Charles I granted Sir James Livingston of Skirling (in Lanarkshire) a member of his personal household (the Keeper of the Privy Purse) a 19 year lease of the lands and teinds (rents) of the Bishoprics of Argyll and the Isles, including those on Lismore. In 1642 the grant was enlarged. There is an undocumented tradition that he occupied Achadun Castle at this time. In the 1640s, the MacLeays appear to have sought the protection of Sir James Livingston and adopted his name (ultimately in the form Livingstone), particularly when travelling outside the Highland area. The isle of Lismore was untouched but much of Argyll was devastated in the brutal war religious wars of eth 1640s. The royalist Livingston of Skirling’s tenure cannot have survived the execution of the king in January 1649 and it appears that the nearby lands of Achinduin, Frackersaig, and Craignich reverted to the feudal superior, the Earl of Argyll. However, the short Livingston tenure had an important effect on the MacLeays of Bachuil by impelling many of them to take the surname of Livingstone, though the MacLeay or Maconlea name appears in Lismore documents for another hundred years at least.
Achadun Castle (Photo: Marc Calhoun www.marccalhoun.blogspot.com)
Description: The ruinous remains of the 13th C. Achadun Castle occupy the summit of a prominent steep limestone ridge. Achadun Castle, like Coeffin Castle to the north, was constructed of local limestone rubble with prominent red and grey granite boulders, with lime mortar and coarse gravel infilling the walls. It was built about 1290 by masons who also worked on the Cathedral Church of Lismore. Marks on a lintel at Achadun indicate the work of a professional stone mason. The SW and SE walls have collapsed outward, but the NE wall and a substantial part of the NW wall survive to a maximum height of 21 ft. (6.7 m.) This curtain wall, varying in thickness from 5 to 8 ft. (1.4 to 2.4 m.) encloses an area measuring about 25 yards (22 m.) square which has contained at least two ranges of buildings flanking a small courtyard. The SE range measured 25 yards (7.6 m.) in internal width and comprised a ground floor and an upper floor. The NW wall of this range is 5 ft. (1.6 m.) thick at ground level. Although largely buried under rubble, this NW wall still stands to a maximum height of 6 ½ ft. (2 m.). Excavations in 1970 and 1971 revealed two doorways leading into this range from the courtyard.
A second, smaller range occupied the north angle of the courtyard. Though no inner walls survive, two window embrasures survive at first floor level in the NE curtain wall.
The landward entrance is centrally placed in the NE curtain wall but it is badly damaged. From this entrance a straight mural stairway, which retains most of its stone treads, gave access to a parapet walk. A second entrance gateway at the SW has an internal width of 4 ft. (1.4 m.). The approach to this entrance from outside was facilitated by a stone-built platform which, on excavation, was found to incorporate a deep pit, 6 ½ ft. (2.2 m.) square, and evidently designed to contain a movable platform or bridge.
The remains of a sub-rectangular building of dry stone masonry, occupying the NE part of the courtyard and partially overlying the NW range, were excavated in 1971 and were evidently of late date.
Achadun Castle (Photo: Marc Calhoun www.marccalhoun.blogspot.com)
References:
1 – Technical information has been provided by the Canmore Database of Historic Environment Scotland and their Achadun Castle site may be visited at: http://canmore.org.uk/site/23018
2 – See also the Gazetteer for Scotland site Achadun at: http://www.scottish-places.info/scotgaz/features/featurefirst6194.html
3 – Journeying in MacDougall Country by Walter M. Macdougall, Past President of the Clan MacDougall Society of North America on pages 23, 133, 145, 213 contains descriptions and notes on this site. This excellent book is available from Lulu.com with profits going to the Dunollie Preservation Fund from its book sales at http://www.lulu.com/shop/walter-macdougall/journeying-in-macdougall-country/paperback/product-2242050.html
4 – SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1998, The Bishops of Argyll and the Castle of Achanduin,
Lismore, AD 1180-1343 by Dennis Turner
5 – Lismore The Great Garden by Robert Hay ISBN978 1 84158 565 9 Published in 2009 by Birlinn Limited, Edinburgh
6 – Highland Papers Volume 2, pp. 248-260. Edited by JRN MacPhail. Published by Scottish History Society, Edinburgh, 1916