Smerby Castle, also known as Island Muller Castle, is a ruined

fortified house A fortified house or fortified mansion is a type of building which developed in Europe during the Middle Ages, generally with significant fortifications added. During the earlier Roman Empire, Roman period it was common for wealthy landowner ...

on a promontory known as Isla Muller,

Kintyre Kintyre (, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East Loch Tarbert, Argyll, East and West Loch Tarbert, Argyll, West Loch Tarbert in t ...

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, north of

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre Peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing port. The 2018 populatio ...

. The site is protected as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

History

16th century

Ranald MacDonald Ranald MacDonald (February 3, 1824 – August 24, 1894) was the first native English-speaker to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between C ...

was granted Smerby Castle from his father

James MacDonald, 6th of Dunnyveg James MacDonald (Scottish Gaelic: ''Séamus Mac Dhòmhnaill''; 1501 – 5 July 1565), 6th Scottish clan chief, Chief of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, was a Scottish-Gaelic lord. Biography MacDonald was the son of Alexander MacDonald, 5th of Dunn ...

. Angus MacDonald, 8th of Dunnyveg was kept as a prisoner in chains at Smerby Castle in 1598 after James MacDonald was sent to seek his fathers submission to King

James V of Scotland James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV a ...

. Angus suffered burns after his Kintyre house Askomull was burnt down by his son James and was subsequently captured. The MacDonalds of Smerby were known as "MacConnell" due to the Gaelic pronunciation of Macdonald as such. In a 1594 Bond by James "Macdonald" of Smerby, signed as M'Connall and a 1597 Bond by Sir James "MacDonald" of Knockrinsay also signed as M'Connall

Notes

References

*{{cite book, first1=Angus, last1=Macdonald, first2=Archibald, last2=Macdonald, title=The Clan Donald, year=1900, publisher=The Northern Counties Publishing Company, Ltd, location=Inverness, volume=2, url=https://archive.org/details/clandonald20macd, ref=Macd2 Clan Donald Scheduled monuments in Argyll and Bute Ruined castles in Argyll and Bute Kintyre