Aros Castle
With commanding views over the Sound of Mull, Aros Castle is located at
the mouth of the Aros River, where it enters Salen Bay on the north
eastern coastline of the island of Mull in Argyll and Bute. Aros is
thought to have been built at the beginning of the 14th century by the
MacDougalls, before passing to the MacDonald Lords of the Isles. After their
forfeiture in 1493 it was acquired by the MacLeans of Duart. They held it
until the end of the 17th century. Like almost all MacLean property, it
became a property of the Campbell Earls of Argyll and was probably
abandoned around this time.
Little remains of this 13th Century castle. Internally, few
features have survived the ravishes of time. The ground floor is filled
with fallen rubble from above. At first floor level there is a large
pointed window in the north wall, this no doubt lighting the hall. The
main stair was housed in a projecting tower at the north-west angle.
It is believed that treasure from a sunken Spanish galleon is buried
amongst the ruins and it was in Aros Castle that Lord Ochiltree in 1608
gathered together the Highland chiefs for dinner aboard his ship before
imprisoning them and taking them south to Blackness, Dumbarton and
Stirling.
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