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Shuna Island, Castle Shuna

Building (18th Century) - (19th Century), Tower House (Medieval)

Site Name Shuna Island, Castle Shuna

Classification Building (18th Century) - (19th Century), Tower House (Medieval)

Canmore ID 23289

Site Number NM94NW 1

NGR NM 91533 48263

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/23289

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Lismore And Appin (Argyll And Bute)
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Archaeology Notes

NM94NW 1 91533 48263

(NM 9153 4826) Castle Shuna (NR)

(remains of)

[Undated] OS map.

As described.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 29 April 1970.

Surveyed at 1:10,000.

Activities

Field Visit (July 1970)

NM 915 482 Castle Shuna, Appin.

This small tower-house (Pl. 46D, E) is situated on sloping ground at the S end of the island of Shuna, about 1'1 km NNW of Castle Stalker. A description of the Western Isles, compiled between 1577 and 1595, states that the island at that time belonged to John Stewart, Laird of Appin, while another description of c. 1630, which describes Shuna (wrongly referred to as 'Iona') as 'the most profitable and fertilest (island) in all these Countries', similarly describes it as the property of the Laird of Appin (Skene, Celtic Scotland, iii, 436 ; Geog. Coll., ii, 155.).Neither of these sources refers specifically to the castle; the building is markedly domestic in character, however, and would not have been considered worthy of special notice. On architectural grounds it may be ascribed to about the end of the 16th century; the builder was probably John Stewart, who died in 1595, or his son Duncan Stewart. During the course of the 17th century, a circular stair-tower was added against the SE wall.

The original structure comprises a rectangular block measuring 11·6 m from NE to SW by 7'4 m transversely over walls 1'1 m in thickness (Fig. 172). The vaulted ground-floor remains intact, and the SW and SE walls stand to second-floor level. The masonry is of local rubble, predominantly limestone, set in coarse lime mortar, with quoins and window-dressings of schist; many of the latter have been removed since the building became ruinous.

An entrance-doorway near the NE end of the SE wall, now enclosed within the added stair-tower, gives access to the NE compartment of the axially-vaulted ground storey, which was the kitchen. In the NE gable-wall there was a large fireplace, the rear wall of which has collapsed, having a salt-box in the NW side; the fireplace-arch has disappeared, and its original form cannot be ascertained. This apartment is lit by a splayed window at the NE end of the NW wall, which has a daylight opening of not less than 0'45 m. A substantial partition-wall separates the kitchen from another vaulted apartment of similar dimensions, lit by a window in the SW gable-wall, and having in the W angle a narrow spiral stair which leads to the first floor. This stair, which is lit by two small slits, is constructed without a newel, and terminates at first-floor level in a neatly corbelled roof; both of these features can be paralleled in work ascribed to the late 16th century at Breachacha Castle, Coll (Turner and Dunbar 1973, 155-87).

The principal entrance-doorway to the first floor was placed immediately above the ground-floor entrance in the SE wall, and it appears probable that access was originally by a forestair, perhaps of timber, which was subsequently replaced by the existing stone stair-tower. The NE side of this structure has entirely collapsed, but part of the splayed jamb of an entrance-doorway at ground-floor level remains in situ. The first-floor apartment, which was evidently the hall, was served by a large segmental-arched fireplace in the SW gable-wall. At the Wangle a doorway leads to the service-stair that communicates with the cellar, while to the SE of the fireplace there is an embrasured window, having splayed jambs and a straight lintel. A similar but wider opening is formed near the SW end of the SE wall, and others may have existed in the NW and NE walls, which do not survive to this level. A series of five moulded corbels which carried a runner supporting the joists of the second floor can be seen in the SE wall, while there is a scarcement in the SW wall at a slightly higher level. The original means of access to this floor is uncertain; the walls were not sufficiently thick to include a mural stair, although it is possible that the N angle projected internally to include a small spiral stair. When the external stair-tower was built, it was carried up to a doorway at second-floor level. The only other features that survive at this level are the scanty remains of two small windows on either side of the chimney-flue in the SW gable-wall, and another window at the SW end of the SE wall.

About 10 m SE of the castle there are the turf-covered foundations of a substantial building. This appears to have measured 20m from NE to SW by 7'3 m transversely over walls 1'2 m in thickness, which stand to a height of about 1'1 m at the NE end. The masonry is set in clay mortar and is brought to a neat vertical face. The structure appears to have been divided by a partition wall into two unequal compartments with no internal means of communication, the larger being towards the NE and having a doorway mid-way along its length in the SE wall. A small annexe is built against the outer face of the NE wall. The exact nature of these remains is uncertain, but the plan-form, taken in conjunction with the position of the doorway in the wall furthest removed from the castle, suggests that they may have comprised a house and byre built after the castle ceased to be occupied, and doubtless making use of building-materials removed from it, perhaps in the 18th or early 19th century.

RCAHMS 1975, visited July 1970.

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