Perched above Dollar, in Clackmannanshire, between two ravines with sinister names (the 'Burn of Care' and the 'Burn of Sorrow'), Castle Campbell was the Lowland seat of the Earls of Argyll — the Campbells, one of the most powerful families in Scotland and major actors of the Reformation.
The Lowland seat of the Campbells
The castle was renamed 'Castle Campbell' by an Act of Parliament in 1489 (it was previously called 'Castle Gloom'). It was the Lowland seat of the Earls of Argyll, the Campbells, who dominated the west of Scotland and played a leading role in the political and religious life of the realm. Convinced Protestants, the Campbells were decisive supporters of the Reformation: in 1556, the 4th Earl of Argyll welcomed here the sermons of John Knox in person — one of the few documented stays of the great reformer outside Edinburgh. The castle was thus a home of the Reformation in the Lowlands.
From Mary Stuart to the Renaissance loggia
Castle Campbell also received the Catholic court: in 1563, Mary Stuart stayed there three days for the wedding of her sister-in-law, in an atmosphere of festivity (masques, dances, lute) that John Knox, present in Scotland, disapproved of. In the 1590s, the 7th Earl modernised the castle in the Renaissance fashion, adding an elegant arcaded loggia of ashlar — an element of Italian inspiration rare in Scotland — and galleries. An inventory of 1595 lists 47 beds, a sign of the lifestyle of a great house. Castle Campbell thus illustrates the double life of the high Scottish nobility: commitment to the Reformation, and taste for Renaissance refinement. To see: the fifteenth-century tower house, the ashlar arcaded loggia (rare in Scotland), the remains of the east and south wings.
Did you know?
Castle Campbell is ringed by names that chill: it stands between the 'Burn of Care' and the 'Burn of Sorrow', above the glen of 'Dollar Glen', and was formerly called 'Castle Gloom'. This gloomy toponymy, born of the wild landscape and old legends, contrasts with the elegant Renaissance loggia the Campbells added there — as if Italian beauty had come to light up the darkest of Scottish sites.
Notes
Castle Campbell lies at Dollar, Clackmannanshire; a castle run by Historic Environment Scotland, at the head of Dollar Glen. Seasonal hours to check.
Quiz
- Which family held Castle Campbell?
- The Campbells, Earls of Argyll
- The Douglases
- The Stewarts
- Which reformer preached here in 1556?
- John Knox
- Cardinal Beaton
- Thomas Cranmer
- What did the 7th Earl add in the 1590s?
- A Renaissance-style arcaded loggia
- A keep
- A Romanesque chapel