Ardencaple Castle

Ardencaple Castle
Rhu, Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, Scotland
Ardencaple Castle, 1879.
Coordinates56.0091317, -4.7569701
Heightremaining tower: 45 feet (14 m).[1]
Site information
Controlled byunknown lairds of Ardincaple: c.1100s-1460s.
MacAulay lairds of Ardincaple: c.1460s-1760s.
Campbells of Argyll: c.1760s-1852.
Colquhouns of Luss: 1852-1923.
H. Stromberg-Macaulay: 1923-1931.
Adelaide Parker Voorheis: 1931-1934.
consortium of developers: 1934-1937.
Royal Navy (HMNB Clyde): 1937-.
Open to
the public
Grounds only.[1]
Condition1 remaining tower.
Site history
Builtoriginal: c.12th century.
rebuilt c.18th & 19th centuries.
Built byoriginal: unknown.
rebuilt: Campbells of Argyll.
In usec.12th century to 20th century.
Nav aid: 1957-present.[1]
Demolished1957.

Ardencaple Castle, also known as Ardincaple Castle, and sometimes referred to as Ardencaple Castle Light, is a listed building, situated about 1 statute mile (1.6 km) from Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, Scotland.[2][3] Today, all that remains of the castle is a tower, perched on the edge of a plateau, looking down on a flat tract of land between it and the shore of the Firth of Clyde.[4] The original castle was thought to have been built sometime in the 12th century,[5] and part of the remains of the original castle were said to have existed in the 19th century.[2] Today, that sole remaining tower is used as a navigational aid for shipping on the Firth of Clyde. Because of its use as a lighthouse the tower has been called Ardencaple Castle Light.[6]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference uniquelighthouse was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Black, Adam; Black, Charles (1861). Black's Picturesque Tourist of Scotland (15th ed.). Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black. p. 440.
  3. ^ "Historic & listed buildings". Historic Scotland (historic-scotland.gov.uk). Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  4. ^ John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, Duke of Argyll (1907). Passages from the past. Vol. 1. London: Hutchinson. p. 185.
  5. ^ "Parish of Row". The New Statistical Account of Scotland. Vol. 8. pp. 73–75.
  6. ^ Ingram-Brown, Robert (1974). Brown's Nautical Almanac: Daily Tide Tables. Brown, Son & Ferguson.