Castle Sween

This is an impressive castle which dominates the sea approaches to Loch Sween. It was known as the "Key to Knapdale", and at Knapdale People, there is a whole section devoted to this fort. It was destroyed when the MacDonalds invaded Argyll in the 1640's, and never rebuilt. As you can see in the above photo, directly across Loch Sween is Taynish. Castle Sween is now a major centre for tourism. A flourishing trailer court lies next to it, and when we visited, there was lots of little boats in the water.

Castle Sween Information at Website

I have done some re-arranging of Knapdale People and added information on Castle Sween. Included is a listing from my data base on the people who lived at Castle Sween from the late 1700s to the 1850s. This list joins two others: the listing of people in 11 Knapdale Burial Grounds; and a listing of the people involved in the 1848 Arichonan Affray.

In the process of doing this, I realized that (a) it is very easy to transfer my data base program (Paradox) into html format... and my data base at this point has some 37,000 entries.

(b) If you go to Google Books, you can download all sorts of old (the copyright has died) books, that previously would only be accessible in faraway libraries, or in second hand bookstores somewhere. Thus, I have the Book of the Dean of Lismore, as it was translated and published back in the 19th Century, and therefore, my website now has TWO ancient Gaelic poems in which Castle Sween plays a central role!