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The ruins of Fincharn Castle rests on a small rocky bluff on the southwest shore of Loch Awe, less than a mile from the small community of Ford. Once a commanding structure, it now consists of portions of only three high-standing walls --- part of what was once a long rectangular tower. The structure was two storied having narrow windows with flagstone sills and heads.
It is not certain whether a beam-hole at a higher level marks the position of a third floor or the roof. On the northside there appears to be the ruins of a chimney. No entrance has been located, thereby giving rise to the belief that a removable ladder to an upper floor may have been in use. In 1563, during the time of the Scrymgeour family, Fincharn Castle was known as the "Messuage (or, Manor Place) of Glassary."
The name, FINCHARN, is taken from the Celtic Fiannacharn, the "Fingalians’ Mound", which is the name given to an unusually large burial cairn located on the nearby Fincharn Farm.
Reference is sometimes found stating that Fincharn Castle was the "Home of the MacMartins"; this was the name applied to John of Glassary whose father, Mr. Radulf of Dundee acquired the lands of Gillascop MacGilchrist in the late 13th century.
* Taken From: F. S. MacKenna’s "UNFAMILIAR SITES IN MID-ARGYLL", an article written for the Natural History and Antiquarian Society of Mid-Argyll in 1982
Photo courtesy of Pat Kight, feel free to visit her website at http://www.peak.org/~kightp/scotland/
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