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Duart is the oldest lived in castle on Mull and stands proudly on a clifftop guarding the Sound of Mull, for over 400 years it has been the base for the Clan Maclean's formidable sea-borne power. One of the most spectacular and unique sites on the West Coast of Scotland, the position of Duart was well chosen.

The castle is sited on a crag at the end of the peninsular jutting out into the Sound of Mull at the intersection of the sound of Mull, Loch Linne and the Firth of Lorne and within view of the neighbouring castles of Dunstaffnage, Dunollie, Aros and Ardtornish, part of a chain of castles up the Sound of Mull to Mingary Castle.

Duart was originally a rectangular wall enclosing a courtyard. In 1350 Lachlan Lubanach, the 5th Chief, married Mary Macdonald, the daughter of the Lord of the Isles and she was given Duart as her dowry.

The first recorded mention of the Macleans of Duart is in a papal dispensation of 1367 which allowed their Chief Lachlan Lubanach Maclean to marry the daughter of the Lord of the Isles, Mary Macdonald. This it is said, was a love match, and her father was persuaded to allow it only after he had been kidnapped by Lachlan (an incident in which the Chief of the Mackinnons was killed). Thus the Macleans came to own much of Mull, the Mackinnon lands being granted to them by the Macdonalds as a dowry. Almost certainly, Lachlan built the keep that stands today though the great curtain walls were probably of the previous century.

Sir Fitzroy Maclean, born in 1835, was brought up largely in Gibralter and Malta, where his father was serving with his regiment. Family history says Sir Charles took his son and daughters on a holiday to Scotland in the 1870s and, from then on, Sir Fitzroy was determined to purchase and restore the castle.

In 1911 he finally achieved his aim and bought the ruined castle and 300 acres from Mrs Guthrie, the widow of Mr Murray Guthrie, who had inherited the estate from an uncle. She also changed the name of her own home, built in 1850, from Duart to Torosay.

In 1991 Sir Lachlan Maclean, the present Clan Chief engaged Professor Sir James Dunbar Naismith to repair the castle. The main repairs were completed in 1995, but work on the castle still continues.

To-day the castle is open to the public, for which there is an entrance charge. Visitors may walk through the dungeons and state rooms at their leisure, ending on the top of the keep where it is easy to appreciate the strategic site of the castle. For more information about Duart Castle and the Clan MacLean, go to their Website.

Opening Times - 2010:

Castle & Tea room:
1st April - 30th April: Sunday - Thursday, 11 am - 4 pm
1st May - 18th October: daily, 10.30 am - 5.30 pm
12th - 18th October:

Admission Charges - 2010:

Adult - £5.30
Child (3-14) - £2.65
Seniors - £4.80
Family Ticket (2+2) - £13.25

Groups (15+): £4.50

Events and Attractions.

There is normally a Maclean Clan gathering held at Duart every five years, the last one was in June 2007, with supporting events in and around Mull; details available on the Duart Castle website.