Home Farm, Rosneath Castle

At Rosneath, landscape painter Alexander Nasmyth designed a Gothick eye-catcher steading for the Duke of Argyll c 1803.

In plan the steading is three sides of an octagon with at the centre a tall belvedere which rises above the surrounding  buildings.

Tall blind pointed arches, bartizans and a balustrade  decorate the facade.

Two octagonal towers with pyramid roofs echo the main tower, while two round towers finish the steading at either end.

The steading was the Home farm for Rosneath Castle, an estate and secondary residence of  the Duke of Argyll that was built  at the same time c 1803  and finally demolished in 1961. The neo-Classical mansion had been the residence of HRH Princess Louise, Dowager Duchess of Argyll who lived there until her death in 1939. The site of Rosneath Castle is now a caravan park.

Hexagon, Inveraray

The Hexagon is a charming Gothick gazebo overlooking the The Millar's Lynn on the River Aray on the Inveraray estate. Built in 1802, the Hexagon was used as a fishing house by guests at the castle and most notably by Lady Elspeth Campbell, sister of the 10th Duke of Argyll. That lady was an expert with the rod and line who spent many (happy) hours fishing there. And such was her expertise that it was said; 'there was always salmon on the table when Lady Elspeth was at the castle'. Quite possibly the Hexagon was designed by Alexander Nasmyth, who was working at that time on the family's estate at Rosneath.

It is a great pity that one of Alexander Nasmyth's more ambitious designs was never built; a lighthouse he designed for Inveraray harbour, with battlemented parapets rising from a castellated tower, surmounted by a Chinese pavillion. What a sight that would have been.