What is recorded here

Inverary Castle was a 19th-century steamship, not a castle at all, and that mistake is the interesting part. A castle suggests stone towers and knight errand, but this was brass, coal smoke and wheel thrash on Lower Loch Fyne. The name may have come from a port, a company or a proud owner, while the castle word came later through memory, joke or mishearing. Steamships were castles of their age: self-contained, armed with pressure and speed, and answerable to nobody once clear of the harbour wall.

Scotland's National Record of the Historic Environment records Inverary Castle: East Loch Tarbert, Lower Loch Fyne, Firth of Clyde as Steamship (19th Century). The official map says its point is accurate as follows: NGR given to the nearest 100m. The record does not by itself mean that the public may enter the place.

Inverary Castle is a historic castle built by the Campbell family, specifically the Dukes of Argyll, in the 13th century, with significant later expansions. It is important as the ancestral seat of the Clan Campbell and a prominent example of Scottish baronial architecture.

The historic-place record does not grant public access. Check current conditions and ownership before entering land or a building.