Largie Castle, Tayinloan

Largie Castle was a 19th-century mansion on the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute. Charles Wilson designed the house for Augustus Moreton Macdonald between 1857 and 1859. It stood near Tayinloan until demolition in 1958. The building replaced an earlier structure on the same site. Its style reflected the tastes of a Scottish gentleman of the Victorian era. The castle once overlooked the waters of West Loch Tarbert. Today only the gate lodge and some garden walls remain. Lady Archibald Campbell recorded stories of a brownie that lived in the house before the First World War. The spirit showed pleasure when favoured guests arrived by moving furniture in a locked room. A cup and saucer left for the brownie were treated as his special property. Witnesses described the brownie as a small man in brown with a pointed beard. His antics amused residents and visitors alike. Visitors now find a quiet country lane where the castle once stood. The remaining gate lodge shows the original entrance arch. Ivy covers parts of the old garden walls. Wildflowers grow along the lochside path. The site offers views across West Loch Tarbert to the hills beyond. It is a peaceful spot to imagine the vanished mansion and its lively resident.