ARGYLL LODGING . .The second guide was equally passionate about his tour, I'm quite sure, but I couldn't understand half of what he said. He Scottish accent was so strong. After a while, I got tired of trying to understand him and focused on my artsy photos of the building.

MARTIN

Fortunately, there was another posted sign that had all of the information that I really needed. "This grand residence began as a small rectangular house in the 1500's. However, its location close to Stirling Castle made it a desirable property and it was extended over the next two hundred years to the mansion you see today."

"William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, acquired the building in the 1630's and immediately started work to enlarge it. He added the east range of the house which included an imposing ground floor entrance and hall, a high dining room above, and several bedchambers. William Alexander died in 1640 and in 1665 the Town Council proposed to convert the house into a poor house - they even furnished it with beds - but the scheme was never carried out because in 1666 the house was bought by Archibald Campbell, the 9th Earl of Argyll."

MARTIN

Campbell made further expansions on the building and it became known as "Argyll's Lodging". The old Scots term for a large townhouse was "lodging" and this one fit the bill. But, money and power only went so far in Scotland in those days. It didn't prevent Alexander Campbell's execution for treason in 1685. The Campbells held on to the place for another hundred years, but in the 1800's it became public property. It should come as no surprise that at one point it was used as a military hospital. It was a surprise to me that is was also a youth hostel in the 1960's. But now, thanks to the refurnishing by Historic Scotland, it looks as it might have in the 1680's. That makes it the finest example of a Renaissance townhouse in Scotland.

MARTIN