Carrick Castle

Carrick Castle is a castle in the North East of Scotland's Cowal Peninsula. It lies on the coast of the sea arm Loch Goil in the village of Carrick, about seven kilometers south of Lochgoilhead. 1971 Carrick Castle was inducted into the Scottish monument lists in category A. Probably the most strategically situated on the route between the Firth of Clyde and Loch Fyne castle was once surrounded by water and thus to defend effectively. The channel between buildings and coastal silted but later.

History

Builder of Carrick Castle were the Campbells of Lochawe. The name part Carrick is derived from Gaelic Carraig (rock ) and not by the Scottish Region Carrick. During the 15th century is given as the likely period of construction of Carrick Castle in earlier sources, it appears after extensive archaeological investigations today plausible to start from a building in the 14th century. It describes four phases of use. The lowest soil layer sits directly on the bedrock, which was only roughly trimmed prior to construction to form a level foundation. In this layer, which indicates the time of construction and the earliest use, numerous iron artifacts, bones and pottery shards were found. The latter is imported, probably dating from the late 13th century goods. From this period probably unchanged, preserved today both four and three meters wide basements come. They were filled with a 50 cm thick clay layer partially.

Above this layer, there are traces of the second use phase. With the use of carved stone material to a lehmverfugten masonry can be concluded that there has been a renovation or remodeling at this stage. The cellars were here largely filled with debris. Phase 3 can be assigned to the late 15th and 16th centuries. From that time, numerous artifacts have been preserved, including two coming from France vessels that dated to the 16th century, and a nürnberger coin and an ornate knife handle from the late 15th century. Carrick Castle was probably abandoned by the end of the 17th century. Was involved in the course of the uprising against King James II, in the John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll, bombed the HMS Kingfisher Carrick Castle. The building was heavily damaged and used from this point on, at best sporadic. In the uppermost layer of soil, the subsequent time has been documented, in which Carrick Castle fell largely untapped. In the Victorian era stones were removed from the ruins to build new houses. In 1988, restoration work, which were large parts of the original building restored and made ​​habitable.