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TO the east of Allt Mheine,
the eastern boundary of the lands of Ardeonaig, is the thirty-merk land of
Ardtalnaig. This district is held under the Crown.
Ardtalnaig had been at one
time a place of considerable importance. On the farm of Milton there is
pointed out a spot, where stood, according to tradition, the Castle of Tay.
There was, we believe, some vestige of a building to be seen there so recent
as the last century, but all trace of it has since been removed. This castle
was reputed to have been the hunting-seat of the Scottish kings, several
centuries ago, when they came to enjoy the pleasures of the chase in the
wilds of Breadalbane. The salmon fishings in Loch Tay also formed an
attraction, and it was while fishing there in 646 that Donald IV. was
drowned. He could not, however, have occupied the Castle of Tay, for
according to the traditionary account, the founding of it is ascribed to
Malcolm II., who reigned 1004-34. Close by, there is a cairn said to be
almost co-eval with the castle, and underneath which are supposed to rest
the remains of a mighty warrior, none other than a brother of Banquo, Thane
of Lochaber, who, as the story runs, was wounded in a conflict with McCouill,
of Lorn, in the west, and, coming hither, died of his wounds. Above his
grave was raised a cairn; which in time became covered with lichen, and from
which it received the name of Carnbane, or white cairn, a name that came to
be applied to the farm on which it stands. From time to time in course of
land improvements several relics have been discovered about the place.
Prior to the appointment of
Sir Duncan Campbell, second laird of Glenorchy, to the Bailiary of Discher
and Toyer, the Kings’ Bailies held their Courts at Ardtalnaig, and a portion
of land there is still known as the Bailie’s land. The last of the Bailies
who presided there was a Macintosh of Monzievaird. He is said never to have
visited the district without having at least one execution carried out, and
“ Cha’n ann a’ h-uile latha bhios mbd aig Mac-an-Toisich”—“It is not every
day that Macintosh holds a court ”—became an ominous and proverbial saying
in the country-side. The Black Book of Taymouth says that Sir Colin
Campbell, first laird of Glenorchy, “ conquessit the takis of the threttie
markland of Ardtallonick.” The same authority gives 1480 as the year of Sir
Colin’s death, while the Chronicle of Fothergill records his demise as
having taken place in 1475. The latter appears to be the correct date. In
the Crown Rental for 1480, Sir Duncan Campbell, Sir Colin’s heir and
successor, is entered as tenant of certain lands on Loch Tayside, but his
name does not appear in connection with Ardtalnaig. Two-thirds of the lands
were then in the hands of the Carthusian monks, under whom Sir Colin,
however, may have held. The remaining third was let to Donald McCawis
(McTavish), son of Duncan McCawis, and his mother, who were granted a lease
of three years, to date from the expiry of their existing lease, which had
two years to run; but by 1484, they, for some inexplicable reason, had
ceased to be tenants, and their lands were occupied by an Irishman, named
Patrick Leitch. James Campbell, laird of Lawers, got a tack of the
Charterhouse lands of Ardtalnaig with the mill thereof, sometime prior to
1555, and in that year he assigned the tack to Sir Colin Campbell, sixth
laird of Glenorchy, who, before his death in 1583, got feus of both the
Crown and Charterhouse lands on Loch Tayside, and these have remained in the
possession of his descendants ever since.
The church and manse of
Ardeonaig, so called, are situated in the lands of Ardtalnaig, in what was
formerly known as the boat croft of Tullich, a forty-penny land. The
original manse was built shortly after 17 91, and in 1795 the boat croft
became the minister’s glebe. The old church, which stood within the
graveyard at Ardeonaig, having got into a delapidated condition, the fourth
Earl of Breadalbane erected the present church in 1820, the Presbytery of
Dunkeld having sanctioned its erection in Kenmore parish. To the east of the
church and manse the lands of Ardtalnaig lie in the following order:—Wester
Tullich, Tom-nadason, Easter Tullich, Craig, Ten-shilling land, Kindrochit,
Achomer, Claggan, Leadour, Tullichglas, Tomflour, Lurg, Revane, Mallie,
Cromron, Carnbane, Croftdow (the last five possessions being now known as
Milton), Leckbuie, Skiag, Shenlarich, Kep-rannich, and Ardradnaig.
The meal mill of the property
was wrought up to about 1832. There was also a lint mill. It was erected in
1788. Various other industries have from time to time been prosecuted at
Ardtalnaig and abandoned, notably among these, lead and copper mining,
distilling, bobbin-turning and farina-making. Lead was wrought in Leckbuie
hill in the last century, and, in the time of the first Marquis of
Breadalbane, copper was discovered at Tomnadason, and mines were opened
there by the second Marquis, and continued in operation till his death in
1862, when the workings were discontinued, the undertaking having, it is
understood, proved unremunerative. Lead mines were also wrought at the top
of Meall na Creige, on the march of the Ardtalnaig and the Ardeonaig lands,
and something was done in unearthing silver ore in Milton hill. The late
Marquis of Breadalbane possessed one or two trinkets, made of gold found at
Tomnadason.
The burying ground of
Ardtalnaig was laid out early in the last century. The second interment in
it was made in 1715. |
