Scotland · Partial ruin
Gylen Castle
Gylen Castle is a 16th‑century tower house ruin on the south end of the island of Kerrera, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, standing on a rocky promontory above the Firth of Lorne. Built in 1582 by Clan MacDougall, it was besieged and burned in 1647 and later conserved; it is a scheduled monument.
First raised
1582
Its prime
1582
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1582
What Gylen Castle looked like in its prime.
A solitary rectangular grey‑stone tower house set on a steep grassy promontory above a rocky shoreline, with a crenellated parapet surviving at the top and narrow vertical window openings on the facades. The castle rises directly from cliff edges and overlooks the Firth of Lorne, with low rolling island silhouettes on the distant horizon and open sea to the seaward side; surrounding ground is rough pasture and exposed rock.
Its story
The story of Gylen Castle.
A MacDougall Tower House, 1582
Gylen Castle was built in 1582 by Clan MacDougall on a promontory at the south end of the island of Kerrera, overlooking the Firth of Lorne, in what is now Argyll and Bute. The tower house was raised in a Renaissance style and was occupied for only a relatively short time before the upheavals of the 1640s reached it.
Besieged and Burned by the Covenanters, 1647
During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Gylen was besieged and burned in 1647 by Covenanter forces under General Leslie.
Scheduled Monument and Restoration, 1931–2006
Gylen was made a scheduled monument in 1931, by which time it was a ruin. Extensive conservation was completed in May 2006, funded by a £300,000 grant from Historic Scotland together with £200,000 raised by members of Clan MacDougall from around the world — the clan restoring the tower its forebears had built.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1582.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Gylen Castle, including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Gylen Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1582, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Gylen Castle.
The families that held Gylen Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Built by Clan MacDougall in 1582; clan members worldwide later helped fund its conservation, completed in 2006.
