Achallader Castle is a ruined 16th century tower house under the shadow of Beinn Achaladair

Beinn Achaladair

Beinn Achaladair is a Scottish mountain situated six kilometres north east of the hamlet of Bridge of Orchy. The mountain stands on the border of the Perth and Kinross and Argyll and Bute council areas.-Overview:...

, about 3.5 miles north of Bridge of Orchy

Bridge of Orchy

Bridge of Orchy is a landmark hamlet in Argyll, Scotland.Dating back to 1751, it includes a notable tourist hotel. Located at the head of Glen Orchy, it is on the A82 road, has a railway station and is on the West Highland Way long distance path. Nearby prominent peaks include the munros Beinn...

, Argyll

Argyll

Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Its name is from Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....

, meaning field of hard water.

History

The tower originally belonged to the Fletcher family, but Sir Duncan Campbell of Glen Orchy

Glen Orchy

Glen Orchy is a long glen in Argyll and Bute in Scotland. It runs south-westerly from the Bridge of Orchy to Inverlochy following the River Orchy...

, built most of the existing tower, which he acquired in 1590. The MacGregors

Clan MacGregor

Clan Gregor, Clan McGregor, Clan MacGregor or Clan M'Gregor is a Highland Scottish clan. It is the most senior clan of Siol Alpin, translated as referring to King Kenneth I, descending from the ancient Kings of the Picts and Dál Riata...

 burnt the castle in 1603.

In the summer of 1683 a Commission for the settlement of the Highlands

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

, led by Sir William Drummond of Cromlix stayed at the castle, welcoming, among others McIain, the future victim, with his clan, of the massacre of Glencoe

Massacre of Glencoe

Early in the morning of 13 February 1692, in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution and the Jacobite uprising of 1689 led by John Graham of Claverhouse, an infamous massacre took place in Glen Coe, in the Highlands of Scotland. This incident is referred to as the Massacre of Glencoe, or in...

.

In 1689, with William and Mary

William and Mary

The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...

 now reigning, the McIain’s returning from their victory at Killiecrankie

Battle of Killiecrankie

-References:*Reid, Stuart, The Battle of Kiellliecrankkie -External links:* *...

 and repulse at Dunkeld

Dunkeld

Dunkeld is a small town in Strathtay, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is about 15 miles north of Perth on the eastern side of the A9 road into the Scottish Highlands and on the opposite side of the Tay from the Victorian village of Birnam. Dunkeld and Birnam share a railway station, on the...

, pulled down what they could of the castle. It was never restored.

In June 1691 John, Earl of Breadalbane

John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland

John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland , son of Sir John Campbell of Glen Orchy, and of the Lady Mary Graham, daughter of William Graham, 1st Earl of Airth and 7th Earl of Menteith, was a member of Scottish nobility during the Glorious Revolution and Jacobite risings and also known as...

, empowered by King William to treat with the clans, conferred with the highland chiefs in the ruin of the castle. By a mixture of threats, promises of bribes, and duplicity, he persuaded most of the clans -but not the McIains - to enter a treaty. This included secret provisions, which he later denied, including the right of the chiefs to request relief from their oaths of allegiance from the exiled James VII and II

James II of England

James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

. The promised bribes did not materialise.

Description

The castle formerly rose to three storeys and a garret

Garret

A garret is generally synonymous in modern usage with a habitable attic or small living space at the top of a house. It entered Middle English via Old French with a military connotation of a watchtower or something akin to a garrison, in other words a place for guards or soldiers to be quartered...

, well defended by shot-holes. Now only two walls, one with a trace of corbel

Corbel

In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...

ling, remain, sheltering the farm buildings of Achallader Farm.

Tradition

It is said that when the Fletchers owned Achallader, Sir Duncan Campbell - known as Black Duncan - ordered an English servant (or soldier) to pasture his horse in the Fletchers’ corn. When warned off by the Fletchers - in Gaelic - he did not understand; when he did not remove his horse they shot him. Black Duncan, affecting concern that the Fletcher laird would be hanged for the killing, advised him to flee to France. Before he fled he passed the property to Black Duncan, supposedly until his return, to prevent it being forfeited to the Crown. The Fletchers never recovered the property.
Yes this may well be the tradition however the real truth is that Black Duncan knew there was a change in the law coming so he sent our chief off claimed the land and then massacred our clan at Glen Aray in the wee Hamlet of Drimfern. This perpetuation of the great Campbell name is nauseating the chief should hand the castle back because deception is a criminal offence and he has inherited land that was taken by deception.