Balloch Castle

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Balloch Castle
Sight of Loch Lomond

Balloch Castle is a castle near the Scottish town of Balloch in West Dunbartonshire . In 1971 the building was included in the Scottish Monuments List in the highest category A.

history

In 1072, King Malcolm III spoke . to the Lennox clan the lands at Loch Lomond . In 1238 they built a castle on the lake shore (Old Balloch Castle), which served as the ancestral seat of the Earls of Lennox . Around 1390 they gave up the structure in favor of Inchmurrin Castle on the island of Inchmurrin , which was considered safer. The castle passed into the possession of another branch of the Lennox clan, who used it until 1652. James Stewart, 4th Duke of Lennox, sold the property to John Colquhoun of Luss . The moth hill, still recognizable today, is listed as a Scheduled Monument .

At the beginning of the 19th century, John Buchanan of Ardoch acquired the property. He had today's Balloch Castle built around 500 m north of the older castle. Built between 1808 and 1809, the building is one of three castles in the Dunbartonshire region designed by the English architect Robert Lugar . In 1830 Gibson Stott bought the property and upgraded the facility. After A. J. Dennistoun-Brown acquired the castle in 1845, the Glasgow Corporation finally bought the building for £ 30,000 in 1914 . They hoped to increase the number of passengers on their trains to Balloch by creating a tourist attraction in the vicinity of the city. The Dumbarton District leased the site in 1975 and opened it as a landscape park in 1981. The facility has been part of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park since 2002 . Balloch Castle has been listed in the register of endangered listed buildings since 2008. However, its condition is classified as good with low risk.

description

Balloch Castle lies north of Balloch about 250 m east of the Loch Lomond shore. Architecturally, it has features of the Tudor Gothic style. The masonry of the two-story castle is made of sandstone . It is decorated with ribbons, towers and on the east facing front with battlements. The main building is symmetrical with five vertical axes. The central entrance area closes with a flat arch and is flanked by octagonal turrets. On the right is a lower, two-story wing that ends with a tower.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b Information from the West Dunbartonshire Council ( February 21, 2014 memento on WebCite )
  3. ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  4. ↑ Entry on buildingsatrisk.org.uk

Web links

Commons : Balloch Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 56 ° 0 ′ 46.8 "  N , 4 ° 35 ′ 1"  W.