October 10, 2015

This Scottish tower house in located just north of Kilmartin in Argyl and Bute was built between 1565 and 1572 by John Carswell, called the first Protestant Bishop of the Isles, who was responsible for publishing the first book in the Gaelic language, which happened to be a translation of John Knox’s Book of Common Order, in an effort to bring the Gaelic-speaking region under his dominion into the Protestant religion.

The tower itself is now a ruin, but some of the elaborate stonework remains intact. While it has an imposing medieval facade, it must be remembered that it was a renaissance structure, inhabited by a rich and powerful clergyman in a powdered wig, and during its day would have been outfitted accordingly.

For me, the place is a contradiction and a bit of a hypocrisy. A man who would be hailed as a religious revolutionary of sorts and would help usher in the wave of protestantism that would overtake and eventually transform Scotland, much against its will, was also a man who seemed determined to live behind a facade of bygone strength and under the banner of a medieval romanticism that he would help stamp out. Scotland became a place of austere and stark character following this protestant path, and lost much of its former color and creativity. Maybe he didn’t fully understand the consequences of the movement he was igniting, but that’s always the danger with ideological missionaries—they seldom do.

Still, it is an impressive ruin, and being so well-preserved, it gives a good impression of the use of space within the walls and how it may have looked when active. I managed to have it all to myself the hour or so that I visited that day and it is a worthwhile trip to spend some time exploring the site.