Location: Ardmaddy Castle is now part of a mansion located 2 miles (3 km) N of Loch Melford and 12 miles (18 km) SSW of Oban in Kilbrandon parish in Netherlorn, Argyllshire. Ardmaddy stands on a conically-shaped rising ground on the mainland at the head of the small Ardmaddy Bay opposite the Isle of Seil. Clachan Sound separates the castle on the mainland from the Isle of Seil. Ardmaddy Castle commands an extensive view.
Origin: Ardmaddy Castle, which originally belonged to the MacDougalls of Raera, was probably built in 1579 as a tower house when the MacDougalls of Raera cadet family of the Clan MacDougall became the principal force in Nether Lorn. The MacDougalls of Raera had been close allies of the Campbells for a century. That ended in September 1645when the MacDougalls refused to support the Campbells in their Covenanter religious rebellion against King Charles I. After responding to the King’s call to clans loyal to the crown the loyal clans including MacDougalls faced defeat and merciless retribution and devastation by June 1647. In 1650 Ardmaddy estate was seized by the 8th Earl of Argyll, the Campbell Clan Chief as payment for an enormous fine he had imposed for a charge of bigamy in his role as Chief Justicar of Argyll upon his former ally John Maol (Bald John) MacDougall of Raera. After the loss of their estate and seat at Ardmaddy Castle, the MacDougalls of Raera became associated with Craigenict on Lismore. From the MacDougalls of Craigenict sprang the MacDougalls of Mingary. The tale describing how John Maol MacDougall lost his Ardmaddy lands to the Campbell to the 8th Earl is told in several stories. The likely version is as follows:
John Maol MacDougall and His Two Wives
John Maol (“the Bald”) MacDougall of Raera and Ardmaddy was an elderly man married to a sister of the Earl of Argyll and they had long been close allies until the rebellion against King Charles I. The MacDougall and Campbell alliance had split in September 1645 when the King asked the clans of Argyll to support their King against the Scots Covenanters in the Civil War then underway. It was said that John Maol’s wife was bewitched but perhaps he had problems as well. When John Maol looked upon his wife (whom he truly loved) there would appear above her head the apparition of a gray goat chewing its cud. Evidently this sight got on John’s nerves. He built a house for her at Bamaghearry to put both his wife and her goat away from his sight. Then John of Raera met Donald Dubh of Calder, a Campbell, at a fair and they retired to a public house at Kilmore. In the public house Donald inveigled John to marry Donald’s sister who, instead of a goat, would bring the Pass of Brander as her dowry. John Maol agreed, which was a bad mistake, for now the Campbells had John Maol of Raera charged with bigamy.
Accounts differ as to what took place once John had signed the contract to marry Donald Dubh’s sister but one version says that when this clever piece of business was finished and the marriage contract signed, Donald took horse and rode to Inveraray the home of 8th Earl of Argyll, who asked him where he had been the night before. “I was,” said Donald, “putting another patch on your coat-of-mail. John Maol of Ardmaddy has married my sister.” Upon this the 8th Earl remarked, “He is married to my sister.” Donald then showed the 8th Earl the marriage-contract between his sister and John Maol. In his own legal court where he was the Chief Judge the 8th Earl then pursued John Maol MacDougall of Raray for bigamy on behalf of his sister. The 8th Earl’s own court judgement procured for her a large annuity, which John Maol MacDougall could not pay; so that, in course of time, a heavy debt accumulated against him, which led to the loss of the estates in 1650. While John Maol MacDougall was lying a corpse in his home of Ardmaddy Castle, the Campbells sent an armed party to take possession of the castle of Ardmaddy and the property of the deceased John Maol, on the ground that they had a right thereto on behalf of their injured kinswoman, John Maol’s first and legitimate wife, until the arrears owing to her should be paid up. John Maol’s family was unable to satisfy their demands for payment. Consequently were deprived of their Ardmaddy estates by the authority of the 8th Earl of Argyll, then High Justicar.
Some say that as John Maol MacDougall lay dead in his own hall, a blacksmith of the name of Brown, who lived at Cachlaidh-dhearg, became aware of the approach of the Argyll party coming to seize Ardmaddy. The blacksmith hastened to Ardmaddy Castle by a footpath, and succeeded in securing the valuable Charter Chest box containing the title-deeds of the MacDougalls of Raera. He threw the Charter Chest out at a back window of the castle, whence it was carried away by a woman to Torsa, an island in the neighbourhood, then in possession of a relative of the MacDougalls of Raray. The Justicar 8th Earl of Argyll who had tried the case and set the enormous punishment fine for John Maol MacDougall then gave the confiscated Ardmaddy estate to his own son Lord Neil Campbell who occupied and enlarged the castle. Upon his father the 8th Earl and High Justicar’s execution in 1661 for his treason, Neil Lord Campbell who would become the 9th Earl.
Another version states that, in 1648 or 1649, the aged John Maol was imprisoned at Inveraray by the 8th early (now 1st Marquis of Argyll) and forced to give up Ardmaddy. He was in fact imprisoned as retribution for his role in the Clan MacDougall support of the King in the rebellion by the Covenanters in which the 8th Earl had played a major part. It is a fact that in 1661, the seizure of Ardmaddy Castle by the Campbells was condemned after a trial by the Scots Parliament, yet the decision was ignored by King Charles II who confirmed the 9th Earl Lord Neil Campbells’ possession the following year, 1662. (See page 243 Vol. 2 of A History of Clan Campbell by Alastair Campbell of Airds).
Lord Neil Campbell, the 9th Earl of Argyll was himself executed for treason in 1685 after leading an invasion of Argyll in support of the Monmouth Rebellion against King James VII of Scotland and II of England. A small cave, a short distance nearby was a hiding-place of the traitor Lord Neil Campbell but Ardmaddy Castle. However, even then Ardmaddy remained in Campbell hands. Ardmaddy was purchased by the Campbell Earl of Breadalbane in 1692 whose wealthy family used it as a summer residence until 1933 when it was sold. Without the legal deeds to Ardmaddy in the Charter Chest, the Breadalbanes demanded security and received security from the Earl of Argyll guaranteeing their indemnification to save them from loss in the event that the legitimacy of their purchase of Ardmaddy without its missing deeds of ownership were ever to be challenged.
Description: Ardmaddy Castle stands on a conical eminence which has the appearance of an artificial mound. The old tower house of the MacDougalls of Raera provided the central foundation for augmentations made by later generations of prosperous Campbells. The old tower walls are thick. Its circular stairs once led to upper stories and they still turn downward to the vaulted cellar. There are two cellar chambers, each having a cannon port.
The date stone that once surmounted the old tower’s portal reads “I M C—1579”. The initials are those of John (Iain) MacDougall, whose citadel this was. Ardmaddy is now a mansion built in Jacobean style. The lower storey and other interior portions are the remains of a late medieval tower house that was the seat of the MacDougalls of Raera. It was remodeled by later Campbell owners in 1790 and again in 1862, when plans designed by James Graham were employed in the reconstruction. The north block is 19th C. Scots Baronial style of 2 storeys and a garret with a gabled slated roof, and pedimented dormers with oriel and bay windows.
The south block is 18th C. Georgian, 2 storeys with harled exterior walls and a slated roof. Two wings project from the front. This south block contains the remains of the earlier tower house. An octagonal tower is linked to the south block. It was used as a prison for Jacobites during 1745, 1746 and 1747.
In a small room off the cellar passage is a long message dated 1745 scratched upon the pane of a barred window, a grim year for the Jacobites supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie. These lines, left by a prisoner of the Campbells, are filled with somber reflections upon the fate of men and princes. That prisoner knew not how well he wrote. Neither the 8th nor the 9th Earls of Argyll were destined to enjoy undisturbed possession of Ardmaddy. The Covenanter 8th Earl of Argyll who stole Ardmaddy was executed in 1661 for Treason against the King. His son Neil suffered the same fate in 1685 for his own rebellion.
References:
1 – Technical information has been provided by the Canmore Database of Historic Environment Scotland and their Ardmaddy Castle site may be visited at:
- https://canmore.org.uk/site/148676/ardmaddy-castle-court-of-offices
- https://canmore.org.uk/site/22606/ardmaddy-castle
2 – See also the Gazetteer for Scotland site Ardmaddy at: http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst4660.html
3 – Journeying in MacDougall Country by Walter M. Macdougall, Past President of the Clan MacDougall Society of North America on pages 68, 82, 83, 84, 163, 165, 186, 215, 243, 261, 262 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 – See also the Historic Environment Scotland web page Ardmaddy House at: http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB12226
5 – The story of the loss of Ardmaddy Castle is recorded on pages 155-157 and 170-171 of Records of Argyll published by William Blackwood and Sons of Edinburgh and London in 1885.
6 – The Act of Parliament ordering the return of Ardmaddy back to the MacDougalls is: “Acts of The Parliament of Scotland, Volume 7, 12 July 1661, RPS reference 1661/1/466”