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Castle Toward is a former country house which is one of the best-known coastal landmarks on the southern tip of the Cowal peninsula in Argyll, Scotland.

As well as outdoor education, the castle is now used for residential courses for young people in music and art. The Glasgow Schools' Symphony Orchestra and West of Scotland Schools' Symphony Orchestra visit regularly. The castle's composer-in-residence is John Maxwell Geddes, who wrote a Postlude for Strings in protest at plans to sell the castle.^{[citation needed]}

The children's BBC TV series Raven uses Castle Toward as a film location.

Toward Castle was built in 1820 by Kirkman Finlay, the former Lord Provost of Glasgow, as his family's country house. Later owned and extended by the Coats family of Paisley, the house is a castellated mansion house with Italian plasterwork installed in the public rooms in 1920. The grounds incorporate the ruins of the sixteenth century Toward Castle, the Chinese lakes, wooded areas, access to the shore, and stunning views over the Clyde estuary.

The Castle and 226 acres of woodland were purchased by the Corporation of Glasgow in the 1940s. The building was used initially as a residential school for children recovering from illness or living in deprived home conditions. It then became available for residential education for children from all Glasgow Primary Schools and operated for 50 years as an outward bound centre, being used by up to 4000 children (?per year) from Glasgow and Renfrewshire.

During the Second World War the castle was used as a combined operations centre (COC No. 2), HMS Brontosaurus.^[1]

With the reorganisation of local government in Scotland in 1996, ownership passed to Argyll and Bute Council and such centres were threatened with closure. A rescue operation was mounted by Castle Toward’s then principal, Peter Wilson, and a company, Actual Reality was formed, which kept the castle in use as an outward bound centre, along with the council-owned centre at Ardentinny.^[2] There have been several attempts by the council to sell the estate, but all have met with fierce opposition.^[3][4]

The Castle is now a residential training centre operated by Actual Reality.^[5] Its long history has led to a multitude of ghost stories, much perpetuated by the young people who visit.

1. ^ Combined Training Centre - Castle Toward. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
2. ^ Dunoon Observer (10 October 2003). Castle Toward Sell Off. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
3. ^ Dunoon Observer (6 February 2004). Toward Fight Goes On. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
4. ^ [www.ipetitions.com/petition/castletoward/ Castle Toward Petition] (?). Retrieved on March 5, 2007.
5. ^ Actual Reality. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.

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