📌 Port Ellen, Isle of Islay
★
16th century castle with 15th century keep and 13th century courtyard, overlying an ancient fort: in writing, Dunyvaig Castle sounds like an impressive place, once guarding ships belonging to the Lords of the Isles in the adjacent bay. Pay a visit today and you’ll find that the castle is rather less than the sum of its parts. Most of the structure has either collapsed into the sea or been covered by vegetation. And accessing the rear end of the castle impossible (unless you fancy risking your life above a large drop onto rocks) thanks to more recent erosion. As long as you bear all this in mind, it’s still worthwhile making the trip. The headland is at atmospheric place in a storm, offers excellent views of Lagavulin Distillery when it’s sunny, and it’s only a few minutes’ walk from the nearest parking spot if it’s chucking it down with rain…
🌍 Location
📌 Off the A846 just east of Lagavulin Distillery, Isle of Islay
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NR 406455
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.633345,-6.123127
🚌 Lagavulin Distillery (0.5 mi)
🚗 Limited space to park at minor road end (don’t block turning circle), 🧭 NR 408457 / 🛰️ 55.635439,-6.120388
📝 Key info
⌚ Always open
🎫 Free
💬 From the parking area it’s a 5-min walk to the castle along a choice of grassy paths.
