Scotland · Ruin
Carnasserie Castle
Carnasserie Castle is a 16th-century Scottish tower house with an attached hall range near Kilmartin in Argyll, built for John Carswell in the 1560s. Largely blown up in the late 17th century and never rebuilt, its outer walls and ranges survive today as a scheduled monument in state care.
Its prime
1572
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1572
The shape it held in its prime.
A five-storey rectangular tower house adjoins a longer three-storey hall range, both constructed of rough grey-brown rubble stone with visible coursing. The tower is topped by corbelled parapet walks on three sides with remnants of open rounds and a small cap-house over the stair; walls are pierced by narrow "double keyhole" gunloops and regular window openings. A projecting north-west stair-tower marks the entrance, and a low rubble wall encloses a courtyard to the south and west.
Its story
The story of Carnasserie Castle.
Carnasserie Castle was built by the reforming churchman John Carswell — Rector of Kilmartin, Chancellor of the Chapel Royal at Stirling, and later titular Bishop of the Isles. Construction began in 1565 with masons brought from Stirling; though notionally built for his patron, the Earl of Argyll, Carswell intended it as a personal residence. Over the entrance are the arms of the 5th Earl with the Gaelic motto DIA LE UA NDUIBHNE — "God be with O'Duine" — invoking the semi-legendary ancestors of Clan Campbell.
On Carswell's death in 1572 the castle passed to the Earl of Argyll, and in 1643 it was sold to Donald Campbell of Auchinleck. During Argyll's Rising it was garrisoned for the earl under the command of Dugald MacTavish of Dunardry, 14th Hereditary Chief of Clan MacTavish; the support of Sir Duncan Campbell, 4th Baronet, and Lady Henrietta Lindsay — whose initials and the date 1681 are carved on an archway in the garden — for the uprising led to the castle's destruction, and it was never rebuilt.
Only slightly altered since, Carnasserie presents an unusually accurate picture of 16th-century architecture: a five-storey tower house joined to a three-storey hall house, with "double keyhole" gunloops and renaissance detailing, designed more for domestic than military purposes. In the 19th century the estate was sold to the Malcolms of Poltalloch, owners of nearby Duntrune Castle, and the ruin is now in state care as a scheduled monument.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1572.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Carnasserie Castle — including 4 interiors: great hall (hall house), tower drawing room, basement kitchen and cellars and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Carnasserie Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1572 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Carnasserie Castle.
The families that held Carnasserie Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
