Inveraray Jail – A Courtroom, the Cells and Lunch by the Fire
A few hours.
The route
Inveraray Jail is the old courthouse and prison of Argyll, kept much as it was when trials were heard upstairs and prisoners were held in the cells behind.
It's a good one for children, with a courtroom to sit in, cells to step into and hammocks to try. Afterwards, there's lunch by an open fire at the George, just down the street.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Kabn in Cairndow, 4 miles away. Sleeps 2; next free Fri 30 Oct to Sun 1 Nov.
Inveraray Jail recommends booking ahead on its website, though you can also pay on the day.
The day
Inveraray
A morning under a roof in Inveraray, from a courtroom of 1820 to the cells behind it, then lunch a few steps away.
About three hours
Inveraray Jail
An attraction
Inveraray Jail stands at the top of Main Street, on Church Square. There's free parking in front of it for a few cars, and in the large car park on the Avenue, across Main Street. Inveraray was the principal county town of Argyll, and this was its courthouse and prison, built in 1820, with a bigger 'model' prison added in 1848. Upstairs, the courtroom is set out as if a trial were under way. Below it are the cells of the old prison, and across the yard the new prison has four floors to explore, where you can try a hammock or a wooden bed. You may meet the warder or the matron on the way, and a free audio guide tells the prisoners' stories. Allow an hour and a half to two hours. It's open from 10am to 5pm, with last entry at 4pm, and through the winter it opens Thursday to Monday only. Under-fives go free, and well-behaved dogs on a lead are welcome. The old stairs are steep and worn, so pushchairs can't go in: the jail keeps them safe and lends baby carriers. Wheelchair users go free to the ground floors of both prisons. There are toilets and baby changing inside.
The George Hotel
Lunch
The George is a minute's walk from the jail, on Main Street East. It has been here since 1776, and its restaurant has stone walls and four open fires. Lunch is served from noon every day: Cullen skink, fish and chips, a venison burger or Loch Fyne langoustines, and there's a children's menu. Dogs are welcome in the restaurant, and it has wheelchair access.
If it rains
Nearly all of it is under a roof: only the short gravel path between the two prisons and the airing yards are open to the sky.
Campbell Coffee, a café in Inveraray.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Argyll and Bute.
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Photographs by Andy Pegg, Marcellino Lafleur and Lukas Broz via Google