Castle Campbell ***

Region: Loch Lomond, Stirling & The Trossachs

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Description:

Beautifully situated on a rocky outcrop between the burns of Care and Sorrow amid the hills of Dollar Glen and quite impressive in spite of it being partly ruinous, this is truly a stunning castle.

In the 15^th century the Campbells acquired the castle from the Stewarts. The new owners however did not like its name ´Castle Gloom (Glume)´. Colin Campbell, 1rst Earl of Argyll and Chancellor in 1490, commissioned the building of the tower and persuaded Parliament to have its name changed to Castle Campbell.

As the Campbells were the first noble family to embrace Protestantism, John Knox, the notoriously zealous reformer, was a guest of the 4^th Earl and in 1556 preached in the castle.

It is not known for certain but it seems that the royalist general James Graham, Marquis of Montrose failed to take the castle in 1645 and that the burning was done by Cromwell´s general Monk. The castle was abandoned shortly afterwards. In the 19^th century the 6^th Duke of Argyll sold it.