Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 2

THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 445
KILCHURN CASTLE.

This noHe relic of feudal ages is situated near the head of Loch-A-We,
under the impending gloom of the majestic Ben Cruachan, which rises
abruptly in rocky masses from the opposite shore of the lake. Amid the
grandeur and variety which that fine lake derives from its great expanse,
and the lofty mountains with which it is s\irrounded, it cannot be denied
that Kilchurn Castle forms the leading and most picturesque object —
Is paramount, and rules
Over the pomp and beauty of a scene,
Where mountains, torrents, lakes, and woods unite
To pay it homage.
There is no other ancient castle in the "Western Highlands that can com-
pete with it in point of magnitude ; and none, even throughout Scotland
at large, can be compared -with it for the picturesque arrangement of its
buildings, the beauty and fine effect of its varied and broken outline, or
its happy appropriateness to its situation. It stands upon a projecting
rocky elevation at the head of the lake, into which the water of Orchy
flows, and which elevation is occasionally converted into an island when
the river and loch are flooded by rains. Although now connected with,
the shore by an extended plain, obviously of aUuvial origin, and conse-
quently forming a peninsida, it seems certain that the rocky site of the
castle must have been at one time an island, and that the change has been
produced partly by alluvial deposit, and partly by the lowering of the
waters of the lake. Anciently it must have been a place of great strength,
and its unusual size and extent attest the feudal splendour and magnificence
which the knights of Glenorchy were accustomed to gather around them.
But this fine relic of baronial dignity is now a ruin — " wild yet stately, —
not dismantled of turrets, nor the wall broken down, though obviously a
ruin " — and hastening to decay. The exterior walls are yet entire, but
the mountain blasts sweep tlirough its roofless halls, and the thistle waves
its head in the now silent court-yard.
Wordsworth has addressed some fine lines to Kilchurn Castle, con-
cluding thus : —
Shade of departed power.
Skeleton of unfleshed humanity,
The chronicle were welcome that should call
Into the compass of distinct regard
The teils and struggles of thy infancy ! _
Yon foaming flood seems motionless as ice ;
Its dizzy turbulence eludes the eye.
Frozen by distance ; so, majestic pile,
To the perception of this Age appear
Thy fierce beginnings, softened and subdued.
And quite in character — the strife,
The pride, the fury uncontrollable
Lost on the aerial height of the Crusades !
Kilchurn, or, as it ought to be A\Titten, Coakliuirn, Castle is said to have
been erected by the lady of Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, the ancestor
of the ducal family of Argyle. Sir Colin, who was a Knight-Templar,
was absent on a crusade at the time, and for seven years the principal
portion of the rents of his lands are said to have been expended by his