Tour Scotland Travel Video Castle Stalker Loch Laich Argyll

Tour Scotland travel video Blog of Castle Stalker on a tidal islet on Loch Laich on ancestry visit to Argyll, Scotland. The original castle was a small fort, built around 1320 by Clan MacDougall who were then Lords of Lorn. Around 1388 the Stewarts took over the Lordship of Lorn, and it is believed that they built the castle in its present form around the 1440s. The Stewart's relative King James IV of Scotland visited the castle, and a drunken bet around 1620 resulted in the castle passing to Clan Campbell. After changing hands between these clans a couple of times, the Campbells finally abandoned the castle in about 1840, when it lost its roof. In 1908 the castle was bought by Charles Stewart of Achara, who carried out basic conservation work. While most castle scenes in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail were filmed in and around Doune Castle, Castle Stalker appears in the final scene as " The Castle of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh ". First the castle is seen from a distance; next, a French castle guard, John Cleese, taunts King Arthur, Graham Chapman, in a French accent from its battlements; finally, a massive attack is launched against the castle, after which police officers who were investigating the death of a historian earlier in the film arrive and are in the process of arresting Arthur and the other knights for killing him when one officer places his hand over the camera's lens cap and ends the film's visuals. The castle also makes a brief appearance in the film Highlander: Endgame. Castle Stalker is the inspiration for " Castle Keep " in the children's book, The Boggart.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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