Kildalton Castle


(Kildalton House)

An abandoned but largely intact Scots Baronial mansion on the remote SE coast of the island on Islay (Argyll and Bute), Kildalton Castle (or Kildalton House) is situated in woodland 1½ miles (2.5 km) northeast of Ardbeg. This large and sprawling was built 1867-70 for the distiller John Ramsay (1815-92), who had bought the 21,853-ha / 54,000-acre Kildalton Estate in the 1850s. His chosen architect was John Burnet (1814 - 1901), an earlier proposal by James Ingram (1799 - 1879) having not been to Ramsay's taste. The house takes a traditional form; a central five-storey tower with one and two storey wings, all with attics, constructed in stugged ashlar with dressings in a light-coloured sandstone. It is replete with crowstepped gables and crenellated parapets, the parapet corbelled out on the tower.

Kildalton Castle was later home to the wealthy English traveller John Talbot Clifton (1868 - 1928). It has been C-listed since 1980, but is currently on the Buildings at Risk Register. The estate has been reduced to just 809 ha (2000 acres).


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