NB4133 : E filette
taken 11 years ago, near to Stornoway/Steornabhagh, Isle of Lewis And Harris, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scotland
Lews Castle was completed in 1848 to the design of the Glasgow architect Charles Wilson for the opium dealer and island proprietor Sir James Matheson. John Gifford in his Pevsner guide of 1992 sums it up as a "Large Tudor toy fort ... with battlemented towers and a machicolated parapet, but quite relaxed despite these martial appendages". In 1918 the estate, including the castle, along with the rest of Lewis and Harris, was bought by the soap merchant Lord Leverhulme, who gave it to the burghers of Stornoway in 1923.
Used as a naval base (HMS Mentor) during the Second World War and as accommodation for college students in the 1950s, the Castle was subsequently disused until 2011, when a major restoration began to create a home for the island's museum and archives. The impressive state rooms were reopened to the public in 2016.
Lews Castle is listed Category A Link
Castle website Link