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Lament for the Castle of Dunyveg

Title

Alternative Title

Cumha Chaisteal Dhum-Naomhaig A Glas (Campbell Canntaireachd)

Artist

Patrick Molard, Bruce Gandy, James Campbell on goose

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Information

According to Alexander Haddow in "The History and Structure of Ceol Mor" few castles in Scotland can boast such a wild history. It has a very sheltered, almost landlocked little harbour, a rare thing in an area of turbulent waters. The tune was apparently composed to commemorate the siege and consequent abandonment of the castle owned by the MacDonald's of Islay. The MacDonalds were quickly able to go out and harry any invader through the famous iron gate which was in fact a water gate. They would then quickly withdraw behind the locked sea gate. However they eventually abandoned the castle when the Campbells of Argyll cut off the lead water pipe which fed water into the castle, thus driving the occupants to surrender through thirst.

It appears in the manuscripts of Angus MacKay, Colin Campbell, D S MacDonald, Duncan Campbell and Skinner.

Patrick Molard's recording includes an extra variation from the Campbell Canntaireachd, where it is named A Glas. This is referred to in the PS book 1. Campbell finishes the tune at this point

Music Committee note November 2025.

For the 2026 Silver Medal competitions players choosing to play the Campell Canntaireachd version should play the variations based on this shown below. These differ only in the middle 2 bars of line 2, and have been devised by the current music editor. The same variations were previously published by Archie Kenneth in his book 5.

It should be noted that line 2 of the ground and thumb of this version contains 2 B echo beats, as in Campbell. This has been considered a mistake by previous PS editors. Either one or two B echo beats may be played.

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PS Book 1

Angus MacKay Manuscript Lament for the Castle of Dunyveg
Kintarbert (Angus MacKay) Manuscript Lament for the Castle of Dunyveg 81
CC V2 62 A Glas
John MacDougall-Gillies Manuscript Lament for the Castle of Dunnyveg
Colin Cameron Manuscript 64 Cumha Caisteal Dhunamhaig. Lament for the Castle of Dumyveg