Torosay Castle

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Torosay Castle
Side view with statue

Torosay Castle , also called Achnacroish House and later Duart House (not to be confused with the nearby Duart Castle ), is a castle on the Scottish Hebridean island of Mull . It is located on the east coast of the island in Duart Bay, north of the small town of Lochdon . In 1971 Torosay Castle was included in the Scottish List of Monuments in Category A.

history

At the current location of Torosay Castle was a previous building called Achnacroish House for a long time, which belonged to the headquarters of a line of the Campbell clan from Lanarkshire . Today's Torosay Castle was built for John Campbell of Possil between 1856 and 1858 . As an architect, David Bryce was responsible for the planning. In either 1865 or 1870 the castle was then sold to Arburthnot Charles Guthrie of Clan Guthrie . He renamed the building Duart House . From 1911 it was finally called Torosay Castle . From 1983 the narrow-gauge railway operated the Isle of Mull Railway between the ferry terminal in Craignure and Tororsay Castle. It served the direct journey of tourists to the castle and was operated until 2010.

As of summer 2012: Torosay Castle has been sold to private customers; neither the castle nor the garden are currently open for tours. The railway line has been dismantled in places, all trains have been sold.

Statues

Torosay Castle is surrounded by an extensive park area. The terraced gardens are the work of Scottish architect and designer Robert Lorimer and were created in the late 19th century. A total of 16 statues are set up there, which are themselves classified as monuments in category A. The total of 19 limestone sculptures date from the 18th century and are the work of the Italian sculptor Antonio Bonazza . They had previously been set up in an abandoned town near Padua and were bought in Milan around 1900 . They each show four hunters, gardeners and fishermen as well as seven women.

Trivia

In July 2008, when a sideboard that had been locked for over 100 years, was opened inside and a. a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne from 1893 found. The champagne was in good condition, the yellow labeled bottle can be seen today as the oldest surviving bottle from this manufacturer in its visitor center in Reims (France) - “priceless and not for sale”.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b Entry on Torosay Castle  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
  3. ↑ Torosay Castle on Undiscovered Scotland
  4. ↑ Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  5. ↑ "Priceless champagne discovered" on BBC News

Web links

Commons : Torosay Castle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 56 ° 27 ′ 17.8 "  N , 5 ° 41 ′ 13.7"  W.