Who lives in Duart Castle now?

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Perched on a crag above the Sound of Mull, Duart Castle isn’t a museum piece kept behind velvet ropes. It’s a family home — and has been, on and off, for close to 700 years.

So, who lives there now?

Duart Castle is presently home to Sir Lachlan Hector Charles Maclean, 28th Chief of Clan Maclean and 12th Baronet of Duart and Morvern, and his wife, Marcella Maclean. Sir Lachlan was born on 25 August 1942 and, weeks later, was brought to Duart as a baby, the western Highlands judged safer than wartime southern England. He would go on to become the 12th Baronet in 1990, and today holds the honours CVO and Deputy Lieutenant of Argyll and Bute. He also serves as a Lieutenant in the Royal Company of Archers, the sovereign’s ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland, and acted as Silver Stick for Scotland during Queen Elizabeth II’s 1999 state visit for the opening of the Scottish Parliament.

Far from being a distant landlord, Sir Lachlan is closely involved in the day-to-day running and preservation of Duart, championing local stonemasons, carpenters and joiners in the castle’s ongoing restoration — most recently a £1.2 million programme to repoint chimneys and walls and repair water damage, ensuring Duart survives for the next generation of Macleans.

A home with a properly turbulent past

Duart’s story begins in the 13th century, when Clan MacDougall built the first stronghold on this naturally defended headland. The Macleans arrived in the 1350s, when Lachlan Lubanach Maclean married Mary, daughter of the Lord of the Isles, and received Duart as part of her dowry. He became the 5th Chief of Clan Maclean and the 1st Laird of Duart — and the castle has been the clan’s seat ever since. Two centuries later, the 12th Chief, Hector Mor Maclean, completed the thick curtain wall and added the buildings around the courtyard that still give Duart its present shape.

The castle has a small, strange footnote in the story of the Spanish Armada. After the Armada’s defeat in 1588, a damaged Spanish galleon anchored in Tobermory Bay, a few miles north of Duart. Clan Chief Lachlan Mor struck a deal with the Spanish captain — aid in exchange for troops to help settle a feud with the MacDonalds — but the vessel was mysteriously blown up before the bargain could be honoured. Some of the surviving Spanish crew were held prisoner in Duart’s dungeons, a story still told today through the waxwork figures on display there.

The Macleans’ loyalty to the Stuart cause proved far more costly. Staunch Royalists, they held Duart against a Campbell-led government siege in 1647, and again in 1653 when Oliver Cromwell sent six ships to take the castle. By then the Macleans had already withdrawn to Tiree, and a violent storm settled the matter for them, sinking several of Cromwell’s ships, including HMS Swan. The wreck was rediscovered in 1979, and recovered artefacts are now on display in a room dedicated to the story. But loyalty to a losing cause carried a price: crippling debts, largely owed to their old rivals the Campbells, eventually forced the Macleans out. By 1678, Duart had passed into Campbell hands, and the castle was left to crumble, its stones carried off to build cottages nearby. For more than 150 years, Duart stood empty — until 1911, when Sir Fitzroy Donald Maclean, 26th Chief of Clan Maclean, bought back the ruin and a small parcel of land around it, engaging the Scottish architect Sir John Burnet to restore it to a livable home once more.

Why visit

Duart is one of the last privately owned clan castles in Scotland still lived in by its clan chief, which gives a visit a very different feel from a state-run heritage site — you’re stepping into someone’s actual home. Inside, the Great Hall displays Maclean portraits and tartans, while the Edwardian State Rooms sit alongside the much older 14th-century keep and its atmospheric dungeons. The Sea Room tells the story of HMS Swan and the 1653 wreck, and on a clear day the battlements offer sweeping views across the Sound of Mull towards Lismore and the mainland mountains — keep an eye out for dolphins and, in warmer months, basking sharks in the water below. Outside, there’s a small Millennium Wood to explore, a rowan tree in the courtyard, and the Maclean clan crest carved in stone above it all.

“For over 700 years, Duart Castle has watched the ships pass through the Sound of Mull — first as a lookout for Norse longships, now as one of Scotland’s best-loved clan homes.”

How to visit

Duart sits about three miles (a ten-minute drive) from Craignure, reached by the CalMac ferry from Oban, a crossing of around 40–50 minutes. There’s currently no shuttle bus running from the ferry terminal, so a car (or a scenic walk, for the energetic) is the most practical way to get there. The castle grounds, tearoom and gift shop are free to enter and open to all; entry to the castle itself is ticketed, bookable in advance via the Duart Castle website or on arrival. Historic Houses members get free entry with a valid membership card, and groups of 15 or more can enquire about a group rate at [email protected]. Dogs are welcome in the grounds but not inside the castle, tearoom or shop, except assistance dogs.

When to visit

For the 2026 season, Duart Castle, its tearoom and gift shop are open from 1 April to 26 October. Opening hours are 10.30am–4pm in April and October, and 10.30am–5pm from May through September. Outside these dates or hours, the grounds remain accessible so you can still admire the castle’s exterior and the views — there’s a donation box by the car park if you’d like to contribute to its upkeep.

While you’re on Mull

Across Duart Bay lies Torosay, once a neighbouring Scottish Baronial estate designed by architect David Bryce in 1858 — sadly no longer open to visitors, though the old railway track between Craignure and Torosay can still be walked. In Craignure itself, the small Mull Museum is free to enter and covers the island’s wider history, including its own connection to the Spanish Armada wreck. Further north, the harbour town of Tobermory, with its row of brightly painted buildings, marks the spot where that ill-fated Armada galleon once anchored.

Duart Castle is proof that a Highland stronghold doesn’t have to become a ruin, or a relic, to survive — sometimes it just needs a family determined enough to keep the fires lit. Have you visited Duart, or do you have Maclean roots of your own? We’d love to hear your stories.

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