Scotland · Still standing
Lochnaw Castle
Lochnaw Castle is a 16th-century Scottish tower house with an attached range of later domestic buildings, sited beside Lochnaw Loch in Wigtownshire. The central five-storey square keep is joined to 17th- and 18th-century domestic wings; the property remained a private residence into the 20th century.
Its prime
1704
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1704
What Lochnaw Castle looked like in its prime.
A five-storey square stone tower (the 16th‑century keep) stands at one end of a long two-storey domestic range with a steep slate roof and multiple chimneys; the masonry is pale grey rubble with darker inclusions. The tower is capped by a battlemented parapet and small corner projection, while the adjoining range has regularly spaced sash or mullioned windows and a central doorway. The complex sits on low terraced lawns beside a loch and was complete in its early‑18th‑century form, including a small chapel added in 1704.
Its story
The story of Lochnaw Castle.
The Island Castle and Archibald the Grim, 1363-1390
The earlier castle at Lochnaw stood on an island in Lochnaw Loch, five miles from Stranraer in the historical county of Wigtownshire; its ruin is on the island still. It was a royal castle, and in 1363 it was given to the Agnews. In 1390 Archibald the Grim, 3rd Earl of Douglas, sacked it, and it was dismantled afterwards.
Four Builds Beside the Loch, 1486 to c. 1953
The castle by the loch shows four periods of construction: a simple keep of the 16th century, domestic dwellings of the 17th and 18th centuries, and a mansion-house that was later demolished. The central square tower, five storeys high, formed part of the new castle, and a plaque on the south-east wall of the keep carries the date 1486. A chapel was built in 1704 and demolished about 1953.
Agnew Tenure to 1948, Category A Listing in 1972
The Agnews remained in the new castle until 1948. The tower house, in what is now Dumfries and Galloway, was designated a category A listed building on 20 July 1972, and it is occupied as a private residence.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1704.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Lochnaw Castle, including 1 interior: chapel interior (interior). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Lochnaw Castle.
The families that held Lochnaw Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Agnew
Held by the Agnews from 1363 until 1948.
From the archive
Lochnaw Castle on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
Lochnaw Castle, Stranraer, Scotland LOC 3450320958
ca. 1890-1900 · Photochrom Prints Collection (via Wikimedia Commons)
Public domain
Fig. 145. — Lochnaw Castle, from East.
1889 · MacGibbon & Ross, vol. 3 (1889)
Public domain
Fig. 146. — Lochnaw Castle. Plan.
1889 · MacGibbon & Ross, vol. 3 (1889)
Public domain
