Bute's native and titular island, which within its comparatively small area contains perhaps as many interesting remains of feudal and ecclesiastical antiquity as any district in the kingdom, afforded him, of course, many opportunities of applying his archæological and architectural knowledge to the congenial task of repairing and preserving these venerable fragments of the past. Prominent among them is the ruined eleventh-century castle in the middle of Rothesay, of which Bute was hereditary keeper, and of which he restored the gateway, drawbridge, and moat, clearing away the mean modern {220} tenements abutting on the castle, and also re-building and re-roofing the great hall. The ruined church of St. Blane, also of the eleventh century, was likewise partially restored by Bute four years before his death, when a large number of interesting objects were discovered among the foundations of the early Celtic buildings.[4] Bute also restored the ancient castle of Wester Kames, and rebuilt the wall round the venerable chapel of St. Michael in North Bute, to preserve it from further depredations. The greatest architectural enterprise undertaken by Bute in his native island, or, indeed, anywhere else, was the erection, from the designs of Mr. (afterwards Sir Robert) Rowand Anderson, of the palatial house of Mountstuart, which replaced the plain old mansion burned down in 1877. This great pile of pink sandstone, with its curious upper storey of brick and oak, vast marble hall and staircase, high-pitched roofs, corbelled oriel windows, and beautiful private chapel with vaulted crypt, was begun in 1879, and at Bute's death twenty-one years later was still unfinished. His characteristic slowness in completing any architectural work which absorbed him is treated of, with much else of interest in the same connection, by Sir R. Rowand Anderson in his valuable appreciation of Bute in his relation to architecture and architects.[5] [Sidenote: Work at Falkland Palace]