Stalker

#103 Castle Stalker
Strathclyde, Scotland
~1446
This is NOT an official Lego site

The original military building on this tiny island in an inlet of Loch Linnhe in western Scotland is thought to have been a small fortified building erected by the MacDougalls about 1320 when they were Lords of Lorn. The Lordship of Lorn in the western highlands passed to the Stewarts in 1378 when John Stewart of Innermeath married Isabell MacDougall. The current Castle Stalker (or Gaelic 'Stalcaire' meaning Hunter or Falconer) was built on the island, Cormant's Rock, by the 3rd Lord of Lorn, Sir John Stewart, about 1446, the same time he had an illegitimate son. In 1463 Stewart, now a widower, sought to legitimize his teenage son by marrying the mother, a MacLaren, at hearby Dunstaffnage, but he was murdered by a party led by a renegade MacDougall, Alan MacCoul, outside the church. He survived long enough to marry, and his son Dugald became the first Chief of Appin. The Stewarts and MacLarens had their revenge on the MacDougalls at the Battle of Stalc in 1468, where MacCoul was killed by Dugald himself.

King James IV, an avid hunter and hawker, was a frequent visitor at Stalker, guest of his cousin Duncan, son of Dugald and second Chief of Appin. Alan Stewart, the third Chief, led the Stewart clan in the Battle of Flodden in 1513 - the battle was a disaster for their ally King James, who was killed, but the Stewart Chief and all five of his sons managed to survive. About 1620 Castle Stalker passed into the hands of the Campbells of Airds as the result of a drunken wager by the seventh Chief, Duncan. In 1689 the Stewarts of Appin briefly regained Stalker when they sided with King James VII against King William, but just the next defeat in the Battle of Dunkeld obligated them to return the castle to the Campbells. When they refused, the castle was beseiged for several months in 1690, until an honorable surrender was agreed upon.

Castle Stalker under the Campbells housed a garrison of 59 Goverment troops in the Rising of 1745. A regiment of 300 Stewarts of Appin, aligned with Prince Charles, beseiged the castle but their 2lb cannon balls merely bounced off the thick walls. Stalker was an important link for men and supplies between Inverary and Fort William, and following the Battle of Culloden in 1746 was used as a weapon surrender center and prison briefly. The last Campbell left Stalker in 1800, when they moved to Airds on the mainland. From 1800 to 1840 the castle was just a storehouse, until the roof either fell in or was removed to avoid taxes. In 1908 Stalker was purchased from the Campbells by Charles Stewart of Achara, and in 1965 Lt. Col. D. R. Stewart Allward purchased the castle and restored it with the help of his wife, family and friends. He died suddenly in 1991, but Stalker remains with his wife and their four children.

Photos of the Lego Model Completed June 24, 2005 The photos of my model show the battlements in the way I believe they might have looked in 1468, just as 6 boats of MacDougalls in their red tartans attack the castle. The resident Stewarts as well as several MacLarens, both in their similar green/blue tartans, seem eager to engage their enemy.

ENE View	Southeast View	Southwest View	WNW View


Ground Plan with cellars & pit	1st Floor with Great Hall	2nd Floor with Living Quarters	Battlements & Garret


East Elevation	South Elevation	West Elevation	North Elevation


South View	Closeup of the castle	View from the MacDougalls