FIRST PERIOD 142 - TARBERT CASTLE for the plastering and roofing of the castle, fitting up its hall and wine- cellar, and making a moat about it, for erecting a mill, kiln, bakehouse, and brewhouse, for building a " pele " at West Tarbert, and making a road across the isthmus to the said pele, which is probably the road used at the present day. There was a chaplain appointed, with a salary of 4. In the year after the death of the King, which happened at mid- summer 1329, payments were made for completing the castle and keeping up the park. In all probability the park referred to is the lower courtyard, which must have been a very necessary appendage in connection with the horses, cattle, poultry, and sheep, for which pay- ments appear as well as for the servants in charge. The importance of Tarbert as a military stronghold continued to be recognised long after the time of Bruce, down indeed till the troubles of last century. At the end of the fifteenth century, James iv. found him- self, like the Bruce before him, compelled to conduct an expedition against the turbulent islanders, and we have frequent references to Tar- bert in the accounts of this period edited by Mr. Dickson. There is an account of " The expens maid uppone the vittuling of the Tarbert and the King's schippis, the tyme the King past in the His, in the year of God, 1494." And at the same time couriers are despatched to summon the Lords of the Westland, Southland, and Eastland, to the meeting of the King at the Tarbert, and another courier is sent from Glasgow with writings to his Majesty ; but perhaps the most interesting item is of this same year, and as follows : "The Comptare charges him wyth xx li. ressauit frae the Bishop of Dunblane to the biggin of Tarbert," and for the " said caus " the same sum from the Abbot of Newbotell. These sums were, in all probability, for the building of the keep, which, judging from its style of architecture, as already stated, belongs to this period. In the same year, an eventful one for the place, there was delivered to my Lord Chamberlain at the Tarbert, iii xx vj li. xiij s. iiij d. (<6(), 13s. 4d. Scots). For what purpose this money was used we do not learn, but it is satisfactory to find documentary evidence for building operations corroborating the equally valuable evidence of architectural style. The King was back again at Tarbert three years later, when we may readily suppose the keep to have been finished.
