Scotland/Scots > Black's picturesque tourist of Scotland

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ARGYLESHIRE, ETC.
look upon.” * The principal feature in the scene, however, is
Dunolly Castle, once the residence of the Lords of Lorn.
“Nothing can be more wildly beautiful,” says Sir Walter
Scott, “ than the situation of Dunolly, the ruins of which are
situated upon a bold and precipitous promontory overhanging
the bay of Oban, and distant about half a mile from the vil¬
lage. The principal part which remains is the donjon or keep ;
but fragments of other buildings, overgrown with ivy, attest
that it had once been a place of importance, as large, appa¬
rently, as Ardtornish or Dunstaffnage. These fragments en¬
close a court-yard, of which the keep probably formed one
side; the entrance being by a steep ascent from the neck of
the isthmus, formerly cut across by a moat, and defended,
doubtless, by outworks and a drawbridge. Beneath the castle
stands the present mansion of the family, having on the one
hand Loch Etive, with its islands and mountains, on the
other two romantic eminences tufted with copsewood. There
are other accompaniments suited to the scene ; in particular
a huge upright pillar or detached fragment of that sort of rock
* Wilson’s Voyage.