Carrick Castle
Carrick Castle is a ruined tower house of considerable antiquity standing directly on the eastern shore of Loch Goil, a narrow sea loch that branches off Loch Long in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is one of the most dramatically situated castle ruins in the entire west of Scotland, rising sheer from the water's edge on a rocky promontory with barely a yard of ground between its walls and the loch. The castle is a scheduled ancient monument and its combination of historical depth, romantic ruin aesthetics, and extraordinarily picturesque setting make it a place of genuine fascination for anyone with an interest in Scottish history, medieval architecture, or simply landscapes of haunting beauty.
The castle's origins are believed to date to the fourteenth century, with the tower house thought to have been constructed around that period, though the site itself may have been fortified earlier. It was a stronghold of the Clan Campbell, those formidable lords who came to dominate so much of Argyll and the surrounding region, and for centuries it served as one of their significant residences and defensive positions. The castle's position on Loch Goil gave it strategic value as a point from which movement along the loch could be observed and controlled. One of its most notable historical moments came in 1685 during the ill-fated rebellion of Archibald Campbell, the ninth Earl of Argyll, who raised a revolt against King James VII of Scotland. Following the collapse of the rebellion, the castle was captured by government forces and burned, an act of political destruction that left it in the ruinous state it remains in today. That fire marked the effective end of the castle as a functioning stronghold, and the centuries since have worn it down into the picturesque shell that visitors find now.
In person, Carrick Castle is a deeply atmospheric place. The surviving structure is a rectangular tower of considerable height relative to what remains intact, built in the local dark stone that weathers to grey and green with moss and lichen. The walls are thick and robust, speaking to the building's defensive purpose, though the interior is now open to the sky and heavily overgrown. Standing close to the walls, you become acutely aware of how the loch laps virtually at the castle's base, and on still days the reflections in the dark water create an almost perfect mirror image of the ruin. The sounds are those of the loch — gentle water, occasional waterfowl, the creak of small boats moored at the tiny village nearby — and on windy days the gusts funnel down Loch Goil with considerable force, giving the ruins an appropriately dramatic energy. There is a quality of profound quietness here that is rare even by Scottish standards.
The surrounding landscape is one of the most striking in Argyll. Loch Goil is narrow and enclosed by steep, forested hillsides that rise sharply on both sides, giving the loch a fjord-like character that feels almost Scandinavian on overcast days. The hills around it reach considerable height and are clothed in a mixture of commercial forestry and semi-natural woodland, with open moorland above the treeline. The tiny settlement of Carrick, which clusters around the castle, consists of only a small number of houses and has a deeply remote feeling despite not being impossibly far from the Central Belt. Lochgoilhead, the village at the head of the loch a few miles to the north, is the nearest settlement of any size and offers basic amenities. The broader area falls within Argyll Forest Park, and the landscape is rich in wildlife including red squirrels, otters along the loch shore, and a wide variety of birds of prey.
Getting to Carrick Castle requires some commitment, which is part of what preserves its sense of remoteness and reward. The most practical approach by road is to drive to Lochgoilhead, which is reached via the A83 and then a single-track road along the western shore of Loch Long, followed by the road over the hill known locally as the Rest and Be Thankful route or alternatively via the village of Arrochar. From Lochgoilhead, the castle is accessible by road along the eastern shore of Loch Goil, though this road is very narrow and single-track for most of its length, demanding careful driving and patience at passing places. The castle ruin itself sits right at the roadside and is visible as you approach. There is no formal visitor centre or ticketed entry — the site is freely accessible as a scheduled monument, though visitors should treat the structure with appropriate care given its age and fragility. The surrounding area is best visited between late spring and early autumn, both for weather and because midges — the notorious biting insects of the Scottish Highlands — can make outdoor activity genuinely uncomfortable in the warmer, damper months, particularly July and August in sheltered loch-side spots like this one.
One of the more unusual aspects of Carrick Castle's story is the manner in which it combined strategic military purpose with a certain degree of courtly use — it appears to have been used at various points not merely as a defensive fortification but as a place of residence associated with the considerable Campbell network of power. The loch itself was an important highway in an era when land travel through these mountains was extremely difficult, and the castle's position meant that it was accessible by galley and small craft far more readily than by overland routes. This maritime orientation gives it a slightly different character from many Scottish tower houses, which were typically embedded in agricultural land. The village of Carrick that still exists beside the ruin is one of the smallest and most isolated settlements in Argyll, and it retains a quality of stillness and self-containment that feels almost unchanged from another era. For those willing to make the journey, the combination of the ruin, the loch, the enclosing hills, and the profound quiet make Carrick Castle one of the genuinely underappreciated historic sites of western Scotland.