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The Old Town[edit]
The original town of Inveraray was situated on the estuary of the River Aray, at the intersection of the trading route through Glen Aray and the estuary where ships were able to anchor. The town grew up in the shadow of the first Inveraray Castle, home of the Earl of Argyll from the early 15th century.
To encourage trade there were various proposals for burgh status, with the 1st Earl of Argyll being successful in 1474 when King James III established it as a burgh of barony. This allowed a weekly market on Saturdays and two annual fairs: the feast of St Brandan on 16 May and the feast of Michael the Archangel on 29 September.
During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the Marquis of Montrose, and his army of Royalist supporters advanced into Argyll. Montrose's army burned and sacked Inveraray and the surrounding territory between December 1644 and January 1645. On 14 January 1645, Montrose left Inveraray and headed north where they would fight in the Battle of Inverlochy on 2 February 1645.
Inveraray became a Royal Burgh on 28 January 1648 following incorporation by Charles I. Records from 1690 and 1706 recorded about fifty properties in the town.
In 1746 a “summons of removal” was served on the people of the town, in order for the 3rd Duke of Argyll's vision for a new town to be built, half a mile away from where his new castle was being built. There were delays in work actually starting on the new town, with most of the houses in the old town not being demolished until 1771 to 1776, although some had been demolished in 1758 to allow for the construction of the military road.
Inveraray Castle[edit]
Main article: Inveraray Castle
Inveraray Castle
The first Inveraray Castle was built around 1432 and by 1457 was the home of Colin, second Lord Campbell when he became first Earl of Argyll.
In 1744 the third Duke of Argyll decided to demolish the existing castle and start from scratch with a new building. The castle was 40 years in construction, and the work was largely supervised by the Adam family, still renowned to this day as gifted architects and designers. The end product was not a castle in the traditional sense, but a classic Georgian mansion house on a grand scale, Inveraray Castle.
Over the years the castle has played host to numerous luminaries; Queen Victoria visited it in 1847, and the Royal connection was further cemented when her daughter, Princess Louise, married the heir to the Campbell chieftainship,the Marquess of Lorne, in 1871, illustrating the elevated position of the Argyll family in the social order of the times.
Inveraray Castle has served as the ancestral seat of the Duke of Argyll and the chief of Clan Campbell since the 18th century. The current Duke and Clan Chief is Torquhil Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll.
The New Town[edit]
View from the Bell Tower.
In 1747, William Adam had drawn up plans for the creation of a new Inveraray. By 1770, little had been done, and the fifth Duke set about rebuilding the town in its present form. Some of the work on the rebuilt Inveraray was done by John Adam. The Inveraray Inn (formerly known as the New Inn, Great Inn, Argyll Arms Hotel and Argyll Hotel) on Front Street being his, as well as the Town House. Much of the rest of the town, including the church, was designed and built by the celebrated Edinburgh-born architect Robert Mylne (1733–1811) between 1772 and 1800.
The end product was an attractive town which included houses for estate workers, a woollen mill, and a pier to exploit herring fishing, which was to grow in later years to play a major role in the town's economy. The finished product is one of the best examples of an 18th-century new town in Scotland, and the vast majority of the properties in the centre of Inveraray are considered worthy of protection because of the town's architectural significance.
