|
FROM FORT-WILLIAM TO
CAMPBELLTOWN AND THE MULL OF CANTYRE
BY LAND ALONG THE COAST.
District of Appin, 1.—Berigonium,
or Dun Mac Snichan, 2.—Ardchattan Priory, 3.Connel Ferry to Loch Fyne and
Lochgilphead, 4.—Lochgilphead; Knapdale; Loch Swin; Milan More, 5.---Cantyre,
west side, 6.—Religions Edifices, styles and ages of, 7.—Campbelltown,
8.—Seat of early Scottish Monarchy, 9.—Mull of Cantyre; Dunaverty Castle;
Sandy Island, 10.—East side of Cantyre; Sadell Abbey; Castle of Aird, 11.-Skipness
Castle, 12.
N. B.—The roads throughout
this excursion are good, though very hilly; and no conveyance but a horse
and cart can be had, except from Oban, Lochgilpbead, and Campbelltown.
We would strongly advise the
pedestrian tourist to undertake this excursion along the coasts of
Argyleshire, as the scenery is everywhere varied and beautiful, the road
being midway between high mountains and the islands in the Western Sea, the
districts pretty well peopled, the inns clean, if not elegant, and
remarkably cheap, and the interest of the way being constantly kept up by
the recurrence, at every other fifth or sixth mile at Ieast, of some old
castle or chapel, with its sculptured tombs and crosses; while it is within
the power of the traveller, at several points, as he may incline, to end his
journey by going on board a steamer, or to vary it by breaking off into the
higher and wilder districts of the interior. The coast line is, of course,
better cultivated, and in some places well wooded; and what they want in
height, the hills make up by roughness and variety of form; and between them
there are innumerable large tracts of beautiful pasture and copse ground.
Owing to the superabundant moisture of the climate, however, the surface is
always damp and boggy, and we would therefore warn the tourist to keep to
the main road, and not to attempt cross-cuts, however tempting they may be
in apparently shortening distances, unless he is accompanied by a guide, an
appendage which generally, in the Highlands, costs more than it is worth.
1. By steaming it from
Fort-William to Corran Ferry early of a morning, the pedestrian could reach
Ballachulish to breakfast; and then, if he does not mean to wait there a
day, so as to visit the slate quarries, Glencoe, and the waterfalls at the
head of Loch Leven (see Route r.), which, if he has not previously seen
them, he undoubtedly should do, he can proceed through the picturesque
district of Appin—the soil of the Royal Stewarts, and one of the strongest
retreats of Jacobitism, and still retaining much of Episcopacy—and reach
either of the inns at Connel Ferry on Loch Etive by night. The inconvenience
of crossing the successive ferries of Ballachulish on Loch Leven, Shian
(across Loch Creran) and Connel Ferry, at Loch Etive, is compensated by the
varied and striking scenery at all these points. Loch Leven is encompassed
by towering alps, and the mountain screens on all hands, as seen from
Ballachulish, are singularly grand. Loch Creran is encircled by chains of
lofty graceful mountains with, a long stretch of low ground at the entrance,
and at Shian, the views are soft, cultivated, and wooded. The boundary
chains of Loch Etive slope away on the south, but hem in the water more
closely on the north. From the broken character of the coast, the landscapes
at Connel are extensive and diversified, and some of the objects they
present carry back the thoughts to the most remote antiquity. The chief
local objects the tourist will have to attend to by the way, are (1.) Appin
House (— Downie), situated in a beautiful park, descending in graceful
undulations from the hills. (2.) Castle Stalker, the ancient residence of
the Stewarts of Appin, having the royal arms finely carved over the entrance
gate. (3.) Aird's House; and, after crossing the fine inlet of Loch Creran,
which stretches ten miles from the main coast, (4.) Bercaldine Castle, an
old castellated mansion, in part still inhabited, and commanding a
magnificent view; westwards from which a beautiful plain, nearly six miles
square, conducts to a ridge (Ardnamucknish) boldly projecting into the sea;
at the foot of which stands (5.) the House of Lochnell (Gen. Campbell), and
the ridge is crowned by a high observatory, which is often taken for a
lighthouse.
2. As the road turns round
towards Loch Etive, and opposite the Castle of Dunstaffnage, it passes under
a magnificent set of cliffs, called the " Cragan Righ," or King's Rocks,
formed of an extremely hard and singular conglomerate, composed of a great
variety of primitive and trap rocks, which, as Dr. Macculloch slyly remarks,
is much admired by the English from its resemblance to plum-pudding; and
about 400 yards in advance, and to the north-west of these cliffs, is the
little double-topped rocky eminence, on which conjecture has for a long time
back been pleased to fix as the site of Berigonium, the ancient Pictish
capital, already described, page 90. At the base of the cliff is a small
burying-ground and ancient cell, or chapel, from which the "street," or
paved way communicated most likely with the sea-shore opposite Dunstaffnage,
or with the vitrified site, and which, therefore, was, in all likelihood,
only a modern procession road to the religious sanctuary.
3. Before quitting the north
side of Connel Ferry, the ruins of Ardchattan Priory, four miles up Loch
Etive, and described, page 93, well merit attention. Ardchattan is a name
familiar and interesting to all acquainted with Highland annals. The Priory
church (which only measures twenty-two yards by nine) was built by Duncan
M'Coul or Macdougal of Lorn (of the family de Ergadia), in the thirteenth
century, and burned during Montrose's wars by Colkitto. Little of it is now
left except the entrance gable. Robert Bruce held a parliament here---one of
the last at which the business was conducted in the Gaelic language. The
Prior's house is still entire, and is the residence of the proprietor, Mr.
Popham of Ardchattan. It adjoins the south-west corner of the church, and
behind it, to the west and north-west, the other monastic buildings appear
to have stood. The church was not cruciform, nor does it appear to have been
interspaced by piers and pier arches. There is a square ambry entire at the
south-east corner. Among the office houses may be traced indications of the
old buildings, with two doorways, one of them with several mouldings and of
a very obtuse arch. This Priory was likely dependent on that of Beaulieu, as
to which see page 386; and Mr. Howson (Cambridge Camden Society
Transactions) describes the shaft of a stone cross within the church, with
extremely grotesque figures, enclosing a galIey between them, and composing
a heraldic group, with a mutilated inscription of the fifteenth century.
There is only one inscription which Mr. H. was unable to decipher, or to
recognise the character in which it is written; and if Celtic, it is
probably the only one of the kind, though the Highlanders generally imagine
that all the inscriptions are in the Gaelic language!
4. Regaining Connel Ferry,
either by returning from Ardchattan, or going round by the head of the loch
to Taynuilt inn, which will give a view of its inner reaches, and the grand
assemblage of mountains around Ben Cruachan, so minutely described by Dr.
Macculloch (see also ante, page 93), our route next winds in among the trap
hills of Lorn to Lochs Nell and Feochan, from the lower end of the latter of
which at Kilininver a branch road leads to the slate quarries of Siel and
Easdale, distant three or four miles; and while here, Loch Craignish, with
which Dr. Macculloch was so enamoured, should be visited, but it is inferior
to Loch Swin, afterwards noticed. A succession of beautiful pastoral
valleys, with rocky gorges and overhanging luxuriant copses, leads to
Kilmelford, [Most interesting associations of the primary schists and
trap-rocks, banded to. gether by intersecting veins of basalt, occur all
along this road.] whence a more open and cultivated district extends to
Lochgilphead. At Carnassary, nine, and Kilmartin eight, miles from
Lochgilphead, are the shells of the main keep and turrets of the castles of
these names; and at Kilmichael Glassary, within four miles of the village,
there is a sculptured slab cross, and also extant the cell of the old county
prison. Instead of pursuing the public road, the tourist would be pleased
with a short side excursion from Kilmelford inn to Loch Avich, and the lower
parts of Loch Ave, which he will cross at Port-na-Sherry, distant about
twelve miles. The former is popularly believed to be the " Loch Launa" of
Ossian; and its picturesque islet and castle to be " Innislauna." In Loch
Awe, the Priest's Isle, with the ruins of the ivy-clad island castles of
Ardconell and Feonahan, and the house and grounds of Eriden (one of the
residences of Niel Malcolm, Esq., a most extensive proprietor in Argyleshire),
are all well worthy of being seen; and the main southward road can be
regained at the lower end of the loch. Or, if it is wished to reach the
banks of Loch Fyne, a rough bridle-road will be found from Port-na-Sherry,
over the hills to Port Crean, near the deserted Forge (eleven miles), which
is intersected near the middle at Braelechan by a district road, leading
northwards to Inverary. The ascent is easy (about 500 feet), but the descent
is remarkably steep towards Loch Fyne, commanding, however, a most
unrivalled view of the great clusters of peaked mountains towards the east
and north.
5. Lochgilphead is a very
considerable village near the south end of the Crinan Canal. It contains a
population of about 2500. The Bishop of Argyle and the Isles has his
diocesan chapel here, and his residence in the neighbourhood. [There is a
strong attachment to Episcopacy in many parts of Argyleshire. It escaped us
to mention, for the information of English tourists, that there is an
Episcopal service at Oban, and the erection of a chapel is in
contemplation.]
The long peninsula, which
stretches far to the south from the Crinan Canal, is distinguished into the
districts of north and south Knapdale, lying to the north, and of Cantyre,
to the south, of East and West Lochs Tarbert, which are separated by but a
very narrow isthmus. On the east side of Knapdale, along the route to
Tarbert and Campbelltown, the shores are low, rocky, and uninviting. Still,
a good deal of wood in several places clothes the acclivities of the hills,
along which the road conducts by the sea-shore for about twelve miles. The
hill Sliabghaoil, three miles beyond Inverniel Kirk and House, is regarded
as the locality of the death, by a boar, of Ossian's Brown Diarmid. Urins,
Mucroy, and Barmore House are afterwards passed on the way. Half a mile
beyond the latter, a road branches off to East Tarbert, distant two miles
and a half. Approaching West Loch Tarbert, the way leads through a beautiful
strath called Glen Ralloch. In crossing the isthmus, the sandy shore should
he avoided.
But before passing into
Cantyre, the western districts of Knapdale well deserve special notice.
Knapdale will, on a reference to the map, be observed to be indented, in
resemblance to the rest of the Argyleshire coasts, by two inlets of the sea,
Loch Swin and Loch Killisport These exhibit some fine scenery, that of the
former especially, which is about nine miles in length, being towards its
upper extremity of remarkable character. It forks at the head into three
different branches, and is otherwise indented, particularly on the west at
Tayvillich, near the branching off of these terminal inlets. It is
encompassed towards this upper extremity by hills high and abrupt, the
promontories being of the like character, with rocky shores, and here richly
enveloped in natural and planted wood to the water's edge. The road from
Lochgilphead to Kiels—where there is a well-regulated ferry to Lagg in Jura,
eight miles wide, a distance of seventeen miles, divided into three short
and nearly equal stages by two inns at Bellanoch and Tayvillich—runs along
the tract intervening between Loch Swin and the Sound of Jura. On the
adjacent heights are the remains of two or three forts or towers, but the
loch is hardly seen from it, except at Tayvillich. To examine Loch Swin, and
the objects of interest along its shores, the plan is to deviate from the
Kiels road, which itself strikes off from the road from Lochgilphead to
Crinan, at Bellanoch, five and a quarter miles from the former, at a point
about one and a quarter miles past Bellanoch, and to go on as far as the
village of Kilmichael Lussa, at the manse of North Knapdale (ten miles from
Lochgilphead), and there take boat. About four miles further down the east
side of the loch, the shell remains pretty entire of Castle Swin or Sueno, a
royal castle, and a place of great strength and age. It forms a small
square, divided into two compartments, and having two round corner towers on
one side. On the opposite side, at Tayvillich, in a deep recess or bay, are
the ruins of another stronghold, and on the coast the mansion house of
Taynish (M'Donald). Colkitto, during Montrose's wars, had his boats carried
across from Tayvillich to the Sound. On this occasion an arrow was
discharged at his party from the walls of the castle, which so exasperated
the fiery Scoto-Hibernian, that he vowed that he would not leave a bull to
bellow, a Campbell to hollow, or a M`Niell to leap (a peculiar attribute it
would seem of them) in all Knapdale—a threat which he pretty faithfully
carried out. This portion of Knapdale was at one time a territory of the
M'Niells.
On Eilan More, one of those
islets off the opening of Loch Killisport, are the remains, singularly
entire, of a small chapel and vaulted cell, with a sarcophagus, having the
figure of a priest, in his cope, sculptured on the lid, with elaborate and
beautiful tracery about it, supported by four grotesque figures. This
sacellum, Mr. Howson remarks, is nearly the most curious place he ever saw.
It is divided into two apartments, each about five yards by four, the
western one having been the dwelling of the priest or hermit. The windows
and doors are Norman shaped, rude, and very small, as they also are at the
associated chapels of Kiels and Kilmory. Another plain stone coffin is seen,
not far from the chapel, along with the remains of a cross. There are the
fragments of another cross on the summit of the isle, with intricate knots
and patterns on one side, and a representation of the Crucifixion, with two
female figures by the cross, on the other. (See also Macculloch's Letters,
II., 89.) At the south end of the old chapel of Kilmorie, in Knap, on the
adjoining coast, will be found one of the old rude figured crosses. On the
opposite shore of Loch Killisport are the houses of Ormsay and Drundrishaig.
6. Cantyre, a district about
forty miles long, with an average breadth of six miles, presents no clusters
of high or impassable mountains; for, except around the Mull, the hills are
low, undulating, and moorish, and rarely picturesque in their outlines ;
while, on the other hand, the quantity of cultivated land is greater than in
almost any other part of the Highlands, unless, perhaps, we except the east
coast of Caithness.
Separated from the rugged and
wild bounds of Knapdale by Eastern and Western Lochs Tarbert, we would
recommend the examination of the district in question to be commenced from
the former across the little isthmus which divides them, and over which our
readers likely know that more than one "royal bark":
"Ancient legends told the Gael
That when a royal bark should sail
O'er Kilmaconnel moss,
has already passed, and
thence down by the west coast and across to Campbelltown, whence the Mull of
Cantyre and the eastern portions of the district can be most conveniently
visited. The roads on the whole are indifferent, and so full of ups and
downs that the traveller will find himself best off on foot, or horseback,
for the progress of a wheeled carriage is necessarily slow. Numerous little
inns or public-houses will be found on the way, which are chiefly kept by
matrons. East Loch Tarbert, [See also the introduction to our account of
Islay and Jura.] by which we have supposed the tourist to approach, is but a
bay of Loch Fyne, and its shores are about the most barren, lifeless, and
forbidding (for the bare rocks even want the size and height which would
give them grandeur of character) that can be conceived; but after the
frowning walls of old Castle Tarbert (built by Robert the Bruce as a watch
tower against the Irish), and the straggling houses of the little fishing
village below, with its fleet of herring boats, and a set of rough hillocks
and knolls, among which little patches of corn land have been gained from a
black boggy soil of the Kilmaconnel isthmus, which is not a mile wide, are
passed—the stranger finds himself once more descending for half-a-mile
towards the west coast, along the margin of a more open sea-loch, the banks
of which are clothed with herbage of the richest and greenest hue, and
embellished with occasional woods of birch and Scotch firs, and very
valuable wide-spreading oak copses. The shores are low, but skirted with
numerous promontories and islets fringed with wood; and here and there,
rising above the general copse covering, are a few clumps of large and
stately ash and beech trees. A sombre gray tone of colouring, however, rests
upon the scenery, especially as brown heather and bare rock everywhere
overtop the woody region ; and hence a bright calm sunny day is needed to
give full life and cheerfulness to the landscape. The narrow isthmus between
the lochs might be easily cut for a canal, but the western one is rather too
shallow to warrant the expense. A pier has been formed at the west end for
the use of the Islay steamers which usually land their cargo here, in
communication with other steamers on East Loch Tarbert for Glasgow. Further
on, as we attain the more
Old Albyn should in fight
prevail,
And every foe should faint and quail,
Before her silver cross."—Lord of the Isles.
open sea-beach, directly
exposed to the Atlantic storms, the trees dwindle down almost to the size of
bushes, and, except around gentlemen's seats, skirt only the most protected
slopes and burn sides ; but the agricultural zone here increases in breadth,
beauty, and fertility ; and the views—which are bounded on the one hand by
hills of moderate height, and on the other by the magnificent blue mountains
of the Islands of Islay and Jura, the table-land of Gigha, and the dim
outline of Rathlin Isle on the Irish shore—are filled up in the foreground
by large corn-fields and wide natural meadows, on which numerous herds of
cattle are constantly grazing. A smooth green plain, either of natural
tufted sward or cultivated ground, but seldom exceeding half-a-mile in
breadth, if so much, accompanies us thence all along the coast nearly to
Mackerihanish Bay, and this plain, subsiding into a low sandy beach, is
skirted next the land by steep banks and rocky cliffs, varying from one to
two hundred feet in height. The plain's surface is also in a few places
checkered by lines of detached rocky pinnacles and arches, which evidently
at one time constituted islets, coves, stacks, and reefs in the sea, that
must formerly have flowed up to them. At the bay just mentioned, a great
change suddenly takes place in the character of the coast. A long sandy
beach runs out into a shallow and a very dangerous sea, on which lines of
white breakers are almost constantly dashing : the shore within is also
quite flat and low, and from it a smooth valley, nearly two miles broad, but
only forty feet above the sea-beach, extends across the country to
Campbelltown, through which the ocean evidently in former times also passed,
then detaching the southern portion of Cantyre into a separate island. The
valley is now covered over with fine alluvial soil, every particle of which
is highly cultivated, the crops of oats and barley in particular which it
yields, being in no part of the country surpassed in quality and in length
of straw. Barley, indeed, is the main article of produce, as the demand for
it in Islay and Campbelltown (in the latter of which alone there are
twenty-four distilleries for the manufacture of whisky) is very great.
The plain or valley just
mentioned is called the Laggan or How of Cantyre, beyond which the southern
portion of the peninsula rises in long wild chains of hills, composed of
rough primitive rocks.
7. So far for the external
aspect of the district referred to. Every one acquainted with the ancient
Irish history, and that of the Dalriatic Scots, is aware that this territory
was peopled at a very early period ; that the population was for ages more
dense here than in most other parts of the kingdom ; and that it was exposed
to very frequent descents and invasions, and perhaps to several considerable
changes, or at least intermixtures of its inhabitants. In fact, its
populousness is attested by the number of parishes into which it was
divided, and the many old churches and burying-grounds which abound
throughout the district. Every sixth or eighth mile, one meets with a ruined
monastery, or an ancient chapel, with their accompanying little burying
yards, all of which are completely filled with graves, and abound with
carved monuments of high antiquity. The religious fanes themselves are of
small dimensions, rarely exceeding twenty-five paces in length, and eight in
breadth, and not above thirty feet in height ; they were neatly
proportioned, though quite simple and devoid of ornaments, except a low
round arched or early Norman altar window, with rounded door-ways, and a
very humble belfry. Such are undoubtedly the remains of the most ancient
chapels in this country, and they correspond in their style of architecture
with that of the cathedral of Iona, which, though greatly superior in size
to the ordinary parish churches, seems to be of the same age with them. They
are almost in every case niched, both outside and in, with sculptured
effigies of bishops, with their mitres, crucifixes, and pastoral rods; or of
warriors, with their rude galleys, hounds, broadswords, and battle axes.-
High, upright stone crosses, of precisely the same slaty substance as those
interspersed among the ruins of Iona, and all believed to have been brought
from that holy isle, generally line the approaches to the old Cantyre
churches, or occupy a prominent situation in the market-place of its
villages. The rude figures represented on these crosses are all evidently
carvings of the same era ; the old Saxon character is solely employed in the
lettering of them, and although few of the inscriptions are now legible, one
seldom fails in making out the initial Latin words, "Hae est' crux," &c.,
with which they all commence. Time, with the gray lichen and long wiry
maiden's-hair moss, have partially obliterated those inscriptions;—while the
nodding cotyledon and climbing fumatory depending from the old ruined walls
of the chapels, add much to their venerable, but now desolate appearance.
Their names are all of well-known Celtic saints, and bring back to memory
the days of Columba, whose disciples they are said to have been; [In
descending West Loch Tarbert, these interesting lanes are met in the
following order:-1st. The Chapel at Tyanloan with the walls quite perfect.
2d. Killean or St. John's Church. 3d. Kilchenzie. 4th. Kilkerran or
Campbelltown; and 5th. On the eastern coast, three miles from this town,
K.ilcousian.] and another class of still older antiquities, also in every
direction, presses upon the traveller's attention, so as to stamp the
country with the classic interest of one which had been an early cradle of
mankind, and the nursery, perhaps, of many renowned tribes. All along the
coast, and especially on the sides next Ireland and the Hebrides, a series
of watch or ward hills occur, the different links in the chain of which may
often be detected in the tabular or conical rocks which present themselves
along the shores, with walled structures round their tops, often vitrified,
and with which signals were exchanged from similar stations on the
acclivities and summits of the higher hills. Lines of such beacons, some of
them with very significant names may be traced around the shores and across
the country.
As to the ecclesialogical
antiquities, we may submit the following summary of Mr. Howson's laborious
and learned researches, as contained in the papers already alluded to,
published by the Cambridge Camden Society, Parts ii. and iii.-1st. The
buildings of St. Columba's days, and of the Culdees in general on this
coast, probably down to the tenth century, seem to have been all of wood,
or, as Bede calls it, "more Scotorum, non de Lapide, sed de robore secto et
arundine." Hence their ready destruction by the pagan Northmen. 2d. About
the year 1000, Scandinavia became Christian, and thence the western isles,
subject to the Norwegian crown, likely came under a uniform and regular
submission to the Church—their bishops being for a considerable time
consecrated at Drontheim, where an archiepiscopal see was fixed about 1150,
with supremacy over Man, the Hebrides, Orkney, and the Faroe Islands. 3d. If
quoad sacra territorial divisions existed prior to the commencement of the
Scoto Saxon period (1097) they were created under the private authority of
bishops, hermits, or chiefs, rather than by public law ; and although the
parochial subdivision of the country existed under Malcolm Caen More, and
was general in the lowlands of Scotland in the reign of Alexander II., yet
it is probable that the thorough parochial system was not completed in
Argyleshire till a comparatively late date ; for even the Scoto-Saxon
policy, of having justices and sheriffs made for the isles, was not carried
into effect till the reign of James IV. 4th. The parishes were named after
the most distinguished Celtic saints, whose chapels existed in the several
districts ; and particular families or clans seem, in some instances, to
have had patron saints, as they had tartans and clan badges—another proof of
the modern era of the parochial divisions. 5th. Romanesque towers and Norman
windows and archways are not to be taken here as of the same antiquity with
such styles in England ; and although the Abbey of Sadell was founded about
1150, and there may be a very few other buildings in the shire of as early a
date, as, for instance, the four chapels of Kilkerran, Kil Michael, Kil
Chouslan, and Kil Coivin, all now within the parish of Campbelltown, and all
of which are mentioned in title-deeds engrossed in the Chartulary of
Paisley, of dates between 1250 and 1300, yet the remaining parochial chapels
of Argyleshire, for the most part, were erected when the family de Insulis
was at its height of power, and cannot be held as of higher age than the
thirteenth century. In fine, Mr. Howson records "a general, though somewhat
vague impression left on my mind by the Scottish buildings is, that they
will be found to vary from the English, if compared in the order of
chronological sequence, but to vary according to a different law. I think
that the early Scotch Gothic is almost as self-consistent a style as the
early English Gothic, and extremely similar that the middle Scotch never
worked itself so free from early forms as the decorated in England; and that
the later Scotch exhibited, in many points, the character of a return upon
the earliest Gothic."
8. The royal burgh of
Campbelltown is a straggling but densely peopled town, containing about 7000
inhabitants. It stands at the head of a crescent-shaped harbour or bay,
bordered on the opposite sides by hills, which, on the north, are bare, and
not high, but on the south assume a bold and mountainous character, and are
partially wooded. The harbour is commodious, affords excellent anchorage,
being from six to ten fathoms deep, and sheltered by a bank or bar of
shingle, connecting an islet called Davar, lying near the north, with the
southern shore. Whisky is its great staple commodity; there being no less
than from 25 to 30 distilleries in the place, paying upwards of £100,000
a-year of duties. Its market-place boasts of the largest and most beautiful
stone cross in the country, said to have been brought from Iona. Dr.
AI`Culloch's reading of the inscription on it is, " IIac est crux Domini
Yvari M. II. Eachyrna quondam Rectoris de Kyrecan et Do-mini Andre nati ejus
Rectoris de Kilcoman qui hanc crucem fieri faciebant." The patron saint here
was Kilkerran or Cilciaran, by whom Christianity was introduced into Cantyre
in the sixth century ; whose cemetery and cave, with a castle of the same
name, lies on the south side of the bay. Kilkerran Castle was fortified by
James V., during his expedition in 1536, against the Macdonalds and other
turbulent island chieftains. It is related that Macdonald, the owner, retook
it, and hanged the king's governor over the wall, before the monarch's
galleys had got clear of the harbour. The parish church occupies the site of
another of Macdonald's strongholds.
9. Campbelltown is not a
little interesting, as the original seat of the Scottish monarchy. The old
name of the parish was Dalruadhain, from having contained the capital of the
ancient or Dalreudinian kingdom, so called from Cairbre Ruadh, red-haired
Cairbre, son of Conan II. King of Ireland, reputed to have headed the colony
of Scots, who migrated from Ireland in the third century, and, by slaying
Oscar, the son of Ossian, to have become undisputed possessor of Cantyre.
Being driven back to Ireland, the Scots returned in the fifth century, under
the conduct of Lorn, Angus, and Fergus, the sons of Ere. Erca, Lorn's
daughter, is described as the grandmother of St. Columba, the apostle of the
Highlands. On the death of Lorn, who had taken the northern division of
Argyleshire, still called after him—Angus being supposed to have had Islay—Fergus
united the former territory to his own, which consisted of the southern
parts, and became the founder of the Scottish monarchy. His kingdom was
bounded on the north by that of the Picts, of which Inverness is supposed to
have been then the capital; and on the east by that of the Strathclyde
Britons, whose capital was Balclutha, now Dun-barton, or Dun-briton. The
houses of Fergus and Lorn subsequently long contended for the kingly power,
but the former was at last triumphant; and in the ninth century Kenneth
extended his dominions by the conquest of the Picts, previously much
weakened by successive wars with the Saxons, Britons, and Norwegians, when
the seat of monarchy was transferred to Forteviot in Perthshire.
10. The ride across to the
Mull (ten miles) is cultivated and pleasing. There the country is rude,
hilly, and uninteresting, excepting some parts of the coasts. In the cliffs
are several caves, the frequent resort of tinkers or gipsies, and smugglers.
The Mull is distinguished by a lighthouse. To the eastward is a pyramidal
hill, with a precipitous seaward front, on which stood—for hardly a trace of
it remains—Dunaverty Castle, one of the very earliest of the residences of
the island kings, being that wherein Angus Og entertained the fugitive
Bruce. It is nearly surrounded by the sea, and was protected by a fosse,
crossed by a drawbridge, and the ascent was fortified by several walls. In
1647, a party of Colkitto's men, Montrose's Irish auxiliary, were besieged
here by General Leslie. The garrison at length capitulated at discretion;
but the general, drawing a nice distinction between the discretion of the
Estates,—the expression used in the treaty,—and his own discretion,
inhumanly ordered the whole, to the number of 300, to be massacred in cold
blood; and their bones, to this day whitening on the beach, attest their
tragic fate. Our road terminates at the ferry of Ballychastle, the
communication with Ireland.
Sanda, an island not far from
Dunaverty, was a place of rendezvous of the Scandinavian fleets. It stands
about three miles off the shore, measures a mile and a half by half a mile,
and contains the remains of an old chapel, in the burying-ground attached to
which are said to moulder the bones of many Danish and Norwegian chiefs. In
the Sound there are abundance of cod, and a variety of other fish along the
coast.
11. The ride north from
Campbelltown by the east side of Cantyre is pleasingly diversified, leading
along the face of declivities by the sea, now open, now partially wooded,
and at intervals conducting across fertile intersecting valleys, but in
general the district is bleaker than the opposite coast. At the third mile
are the ruins of the ancient church of Kilkouslan. About eleven miles on the
way, we pass the ruins of the Abbey of Sadell, which was commenced in the
twelfth century by the mighty Somerled, and finished by his son Reginald.
Its length was 136 feet, that of the transept 78 feet, and the breadth 24
feet; and it had cloisters arranged in a square on one side: but there is
little of any part remaining. Though they may have been numerous, the
religious buildings do not seem to have been of larger dimensions than the
other monasteries and chapels of the county. The apertures of the windows
are narrow, and appear to denote an early English character. Among the
fallen crosses and carved grave-stones, full length effigies are still
pretty entire of two of the old knights (Macdonalds of Sadell) in plate
armour, with inscriptions in the Saxon character around them. The present
family's tomb is also an elegant structure. Near these most interesting
ruins are the new and old castles of Sadell, the latter a square keep, with
pointed turrets and machicolated battlements, and consisting of a dungeon
and three storeys of miserably small apartments,—the kitchen, also, though
provided with a large vaulted chimney, being most wretchedly small. The
whole is enclosed within a quadrangular court, and inhabited by several very
poor families. Three miles farther on is the modern Torrisdale Castle.
Crossing a considerable hill, a mile and a half beyond, are Carradell Kirk,
and an insular vitrified fort, and one mile to the west the bridge and inn.
On a rock overhanging the sea, and defended by a deep and broad ditch, are
the remains of a Danish fort of some size, called the Castle of Aird, the
outer wall of which is 240 feet long and 72 broad, and had been 6 feet
thick, and 12 feet high. Carradell House is a picturesque residence, with an
ample lawn. Six miles in advance, we pass the House of Cour, and five and a
half miles past this we reach the Kirk of Clunaig and Corsaig House. Beyond
them the cross-road strikes off to West Loch Tarbert, which it reaches at
Stonefield House, about six miles from East Loch Tarbert Inn. That along the
east coast is continued two and a half miles to Skipness village, bay, and
castle.
12. Skipness Castle is an
ample and imposing, and, though of great antiquity, a very entire structure,
the most perfect and interesting in Argyleshire, with the exception of
Kilchurn. Its outer wall, which is 7 feet thick and 33 feet high, measures
450 feet in circuit. At each of two opposite corners is a small projecting
square tower. The main tower of four storeys stands within the wall, and at
the north-east corner it is protected by a mid wall, forming an inner court,
and is still inhabited. It had a regular warder's tower on the top, and
platforms extended along the outer battlements for defence by bowmen; while
the outer gate was protected by two splendid flanking towers and a
portcullis, worked in a small tower above it. The stone stairs in the main
keep are inserted in the body of the wall, not in any turnpike, and there
are no corner turrets, both proofs of great antiquity. Hard by, are the
ruins of the chapel, till lately used as the parish kirk. It was a small but
neat pointed Gothic structure, and besides several half-effaced tomb-stones,
one very beautiful sculptured cross, once upright, still remains. |
