Kilt at the Castle

[Jack Daw]

I copied this from the MacCallum Malcolm Clan Society web page:Duntrune Castle is the home of Robin Neill Malcolm, the current chief of Clan MacCallum/Malcolm. Duntrune came into the possession of the Malcolm family in 1792 when it was purchased by Neil Malcolm, Twelfth Laird of Poltalloch.It is claimed that Duntrune is the oldest, continuously inhabited building in Scotland.

It is a Norman-style, stone castle from the twelfth century and is located on Loch Crinan and looks out on the Sound of Jura.

Duntrune is still a private residence and is not open to the public.

Follow this link to learn more aobut the history and the ghost.

The Malcolms, who live in Duntrune Castle, still have a large stone mansion in Poltalloch near Kilmartin, but they abandoned it in the 1960s or 70s. To avoid paying taxes on the home and property, the roof of the mansion was intentionally removed and the garage was caved in, but all the walls of the buildings remained erect. Despite this, the lawn was still well manicured. I know all this because I saw the property myself in 2003.

The circumstances were explained to me, after I left Poltalloch, by the landlady of the B&B where I was staying in Kilmartin. I went to Poltalloch to look at an ancient burial cyst that was located in the middle of a large, thick copse of trees and I came upon the nearby eerie mansion by accident. It was a dreary, dark, rainy late afternoon, and it was very spooky to say the least, while I explored the strange site. The garage still had three or four cars parked inside that were left there decades before. Until the landlady explained later, you can imagine that I had all sorts of thoughts going through my head about what had happened.

And, there is the legend of the Piper of Duntrune who had both his hands severed at the wrists for giving...But, that's another story....