The Lee MacLellan Family Story
Our family were farmers on the land around Craignish Castle
It is safe to say that our ancestors to this point were all tenant farmers, as only the very rich owned land. The tenant farmers were allowed to farm in return for some payment to the owner, perhaps a Lord. In Craignish the MacLellans were tenant farmers for the Campbell clan, who were richer and more powerful. We know from Scottish historical records that Joseph Campbell was the local Lord, also called the "laird".
The Craignish Castle was the original home of the Campbells of Craignish. The castle was established in the early 12th century. Meaning that it's about 900 years old!
The castle withstood a siege by a MacDonald in the 1640s.
The original Donald McLellan likely farmed on the land owned by Joseph Campbell. His grandson Duncan McLellan (1791-1850) married Flora McLaughin, who was from a parish to the south of Craignish Parish, North Knapsdale. We know that Duncan worked on a farm called Gatcharran in Craigsdale. He later worked on three farms in the adjoining North Knapdale Parish between 1814-1818:
Bardarroch, Castle Sween, and Barnagad. Unfortunately these were farm names, not towns or cities, so historical records on exactly where those farms were are difficult to find.
A new wing was added to the castle between 1698 and 1710, and offices and stables were added around 1770. In 1800 the estate was sold to a Campbell of Jura, and in 1837 a new mansion was built on the side of the tower house, replacing the earlier extensions. Half of that 1837 castle has since been demolished.
This picture shows the castle on its rock foundation (date unknown). You can see that it would be difficult to attack the castle directly
This is a picture of the Castle Craignish taken in the 1860's after it was rebuilt for its more modern inhabitants (who were not MacLellans)
Joseph Campbell lived here while he was laird, as most of the land was owned by Campbells. One of our ancestors married a Campbell.
On our trip to Scotland in 2018 we were able to find the existing castle, still standing, but in private hands. (See the picture bottom right. A red Peugeot is parked in the shadows.) We didn't want to invade anyone's privacy, and we were short on time, so we didn't knock on the door.
This is what Craignish Castle looked like on our trip to Scotland in 2018