Isle of Mull

Aros Castle

The ruins of a 13th-century hall-house and bailey on a promontory above the Sound of Mull near Salen.

Welcome

Aros Castle is the ruin of a thirteenth-century hall-house on a flat-topped promontory above the Sound of Mull, just north of Salen, where the Aros river meets the sea.

What stands is the tall shell of the hall-house, its walls up to three metres thick and still some ten metres high in places, heavily overgrown, with fragments of the curtain wall that closed its bailey, a ditch and bank on the landward side, and a small stone-built landing for boats by the shore.

It was probably built by one of the MacDougall lords of Lorn, and by the later fourteenth century it belonged to the Lords of the Isles, who used it as a base. Argyll's troops held it in 1690, though two years before it had been called ruinous, old, useless and never of any strength. It is a scheduled monument, and you can walk around the ruins, at your own risk.

A short drive awayEas Fors, SalenA knitwear studio, shop and coffee shop at Salen on Mull, run by a brother and sister who grew up on the island.5 min by roadSee it

Before you go

Aros Castle is just north of Salen, on the promontory above the mouth of the Aros river.

You can walk around the ruins at your own risk; the walls are overgrown.

Getting there: CalMac ferry: Oban to Craignure (50 minutes), Lochaline to Fishnish, or Kilchoan to Tobermory.
Where: Just north of Salen, by the Aros estuary.
Access: Walk around the ruins at your own risk.

Where it is

Aros, near Salen, Isle of Mull, PA72 6JH.

Close byNear Salen.