In a small settlement in the remote Assynt district of the North-West Highlands of Scotland, about 45 miles north of Ullapool, a strange architectural feature sits atop a rocky headland overlooking the beach and turquoise sea.
This fascinating structure is believed to be Europe’s smallest castle – a tiny concrete building built in the 1950s by English architect David Scott. He abandoned the castle almost immediately after the six-month build was complete, spending just one weekend there after its completion.
Built in a Brutalist style, the coastal fortress is a folly that has become part of the landscape in Achmelvich, with the concrete forming an almost imperceptible transition into the surrounding rock. The castle has occasionally been used as an unofficial bothy since it was abandoned.
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Inside, there is a bed platform, hearth and storage shelves – all within a building of under two metres in height. The glass windows and door that were originally installed have been lost over the years, with graffiti added in various places, but the concrete shell of the building remains intact.
With a tall but very narrow opening, the design closely resembles a hermitage – likely the source of the castle’s given name. Other key similarities with a hermit’s cell include its isolated location and elevated position above a small sea inlet. This position means visitors must enter the castle from below, suggesting a defensive design. The pillbox style also hints at a possible military connection.
The so-called Hermit’s Castle has been featured in several books by the Scottish crime novelist Val McDermid, and has undoubtedly served as inspiring source material for many other creatives.
So who was David Scott, the architect behind this peculiar building? Was he, in fact, a hermit? Supposedly not, the stories suggest. Locals remember him as a sociable man, rather than a hermit. He was supposedly an architect from Norwich who had a particular fondness for this part of Scotland, and he built the structure as a bothy where he could spend the night after coastal walks and sketching local scenes. Perhaps it was simply a creative exercise.
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