Inchinnan Castle

Inchinnan Castle was a 16th-century stronghold in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It stood about one mile south-east of Erskine and half a mile north of Inchinnan village, close to the River Clyde and Newshot Island. The building was also called Inchinnan Palace in some records. The site had belonged to the Lord High Steward of Scotland since 1151 before passing to the Stewart Earls of Lennox. By the 13th century it formed part of the lordship of Darnley and Inchinnan, held by Sir Robert Croc. The castle’s most notable owner was Matthew Stewart, the 2nd Earl of Lennox, who rebuilt and enlarged it around 1506. James V of Scotland visited on 15 October 1525. An inventory from about 1570 lists chapel goods including two missals, statues of the Virgin Mary and St Anne, and an ivory hanging chandelier. The castle later passed to the crown in 1571, then through other Stewarts to the Earls of Lennox and Richmond. Finally the lands were acquired by the Campbells of Blythswood. Today no visible remains of the castle survive above ground. The site lies near the riverbank just south of Inchinnan village. Walkers can reach it along quiet lanes that follow the Clyde’s edge. The surrounding flatlands and distant hills give a sense of the castle’s former position above the water.