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Isle of Arran


ARRAN
 
"Here, as of old, the dreaming hours fulfil
Their ancient pledge, and flower in sunlit days
Above thy pastoral slopes and wave-washed bays
Where melody and colour merge and thrill.
Thy chosen Priestess, Beauty, beckons still
From whin-clad straths and heather-haunted ways,
Or lies in wait along the scented braes,
Or chains a leafy thought from hill to hill.

Bruce found a shelter, lovely Isle, in thee
When o'er his head the cloud of menace rolled,
He saw thy rock-strewn mountains tipped with gold
When morning mounted sovran from the sea,
And on thy bosom, fold on misty fold,
Beheld her dew-stained garments floating free."
Ferdinand E. Kappey.

Whisky Distillery Tour: Arran

CONTENTS

PART I: THE CHARM OF ARRAN

Chapter I.
The Charm of Arran
Chapter II.
The Land between Sky and Water, The Holy Island
Chapter III.
Arran's Romances, King Robert Bruce, Cromwell and Arran

PART II: HISTORICAL REMAINS

Chapter IV.
Arran's Ancient Chapels - Kilbride, Kilmory, Shisken Chapel, Sannox Chapel, Glen Ashdale Chapel
Chapter V.
Arran's Castles - Brodick Castle, Lochranza Castle, The Geology of Arran
Chapter VI.
The Caves of Arran - Fingal's Cave, The Preaching Cave at Kilpatrick, The Wondrous Baul of Saint Muluy

PART III: ARRAN IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Chapter VII.
Arran in the Eighteenth Century - The Old Runrig System, John Burrell, His Scheme of Improvement, The Great Revolution, Smuggling in Arran, Famous Arran Prechers, The Arran Evictions, What Pennant Saw, Arran and the Forty Five

PART IV: THE BRANDANI

Chapter VIII.
Old Families in Arran, The Arran and Bute Barons
Chapter IX.
The Brandanes or, Men of Arran and Bute
Chapter X.
The Language of Arran, The Author of the First Gaelic Dictionary, William Shaw, Daniel MacMillan

PART V: OUR EARLY ANCESTORS IN ARRAN

Chapter XI.
Arran's Wealth of Prehistoric Remains, The Ethnology of Arran
Chapter XII.
Ancient Forts and Camps, Drumaddon, Tor Caisteal, Glen Ashdale, King's Cross, Dun Fion, Craig Na Cuiroch, Tornanschian

PART VI: ARRAN—THE BATTLE-GROUND OF THE VIKING AGE

Chapter XIII.
Arran in the Viking Age - The Christians of Iona, The Vale of Shisken and Machrie Moor
Chapter XIV.
The Arran Men at the Battle of Brunanburh - The Fleet in Lamlash Bay, Magnus Barefoot
Chapter XV.
Somerled, the Hammer of the Norsemen
Chapter XVI.
How King Hakon fought at Largs
Chapter XVII.
King Hakon at Lamlash

PART VII: THE DAYS OF WALLACE

Chapter XVIII.
The Great War of Independence - The Battle of Stirling Bridge, The Brandanes at the Battle of Falkirk, How Brandanes covered the Retreat, The Brandanes at Perth, Edward's Vengeance

PART VIII: HOW THE ARRAN MEN SHELTERED KING ROBERT BRUCE

Chapter XIX.
The Ambush at Brodick Castle - Bruce and the Spider, The Red Light on Turnberry Beacon, The Brandanes at Bannockburn

PART IX: WHAT THE BRANDANES DID FOR THE STEWARTS

Chapter XX.
What the Brandanes did for the Stewarts - The Battle of the Stones, The Steward's escape from Rothesay Castle, The King's bodyguard. The Battles of William the Lyon and the disaster at Pinkie

PART X: THE LATER LORDS OF ARRAN

Chapter XXI.
The Later Lords of Arran - The Boyds, The Hamiltons, "Lady Mary"

Arran - Enchanted Isle
YouTube Video
Part 1  |  Part 2

The Book of Arran in pdf format
Volume 1  |  Volume 2

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