Largie Castle, Rhunahaorine

Largie Castle stands as a ruin in the village of Rhunahaorine on the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute. The site overlooks the waters of West Loch Tarbert and the wider sea loch beyond. It once belonged to the MacDonald of Largie branch of the Lords of the Isles. The family held the land from the mid-15th century until the late 18th century. Their main residence moved to a new Largie Castle in Tayinloan during that period. The original castle was a small, simple but fortified rectangular house. After the Battle of Rhunahaorine Moss in 1647, General David Leslie ordered its demolition. The ruins now lie within a working farmyard on the edge of the village. Only fragments remain visible above ground, including parts of the enclosing walls. Visitors find low grass-grown mounds and sections of crumbling stone walls around the farm buildings. A filled-in cellar marks the south-western end of the old structure. Two-metre-high wall stubs run along the northern and eastern edges of the enclosure. The remains sit quietly among farm sheds and fields, offering a quiet glimpse of a once important stronghold.