Jura: the Telford Pier

My principal aim on going to Jura was to see and photograph the pier at Lagg, across from Kiells, Knapdale. This was part of a drovers' "road", by which cattle were transported across the Jura Sound from the Western Islands to Knapdale, and thence to the Kilmartin tryst, the Falkirk tryst, and into England.

Thomas Telford, a very capable and famous Scottish civil engineer, designed this pier in the early 1800s. He was also involved in the building of the Crinan Canal.

Jura Landscape

Aside from coastal 'microclimates', Jura looks like this:

Dominating the skyline are the "Paps of Jura". "Paps" mean "breasts." While we were there, we met a large retinue of athletes who were going to run up and over the Paps. They all looked very fit. In my opinion, the distillery tourists looked jollier.

Jura: the Hotel, and etc

We stayed at the Jura Hotel in Craighouse, right beside the Jura Scotch Distillery. The latter produces "Superstition" Single Malt Whiskey which is one of my favourite kinds.


These are some of the trees outside of the Jura Hotel, by the way.

Jura: The Hotel, and its landscape

I really enjoyed our stay on this island. It has a very small human population (apparently some 200 people), and a very large deer population. "Jura" means "Isle of the Deer". The people live on the east side of the island (the west is too rocky). On the north end is the Corryvrecken, an outrageously dangerous whirlpool between Jura and the Isle of Scarba. Apparently, it is in full roar during the winter months. Roads up in this part of the Island are rare and difficult. They advise four wheel drive, etc. So, Mary and I did not even try to go that far north. One person who did go up there, and spent the last years of his life in that part of the world, at "Barnhill", was GEORGE ORWELL. While there, he wrote "1984." Given the description of this isolated place, one has to agree that George was a hair shirt kind of guy.

Jura

There is a small ferry that travels across the Islay Sound to Feolin on Jura.

The Feolin Centre is a nascent information centre for Jura. It is part of the Inver Estate, the southernmost estate on Jura.

Islay: Kildalton Cross

Kildalton Cross is the only complete, unbroken, early Christian wheel cross to survive in Scotland. It was carved in the late 700s.

The Cross stands beside a roofless church (probably 13th century). Along an interior wall, there is a very imposing and large carving of a warrior. I don't know whether this was once a burial slab, on top of a grave, or was originally a wall decoration.

Kildalton Church is on the east side of Islay.

Islay: a Standing Stone!

And here is another Standing Stone, north of Loch Finlaggan, beside the road to the Finlaggan Visitor Centre, in a field. Apparently, it was one of two standing stones, observed back in 1695 by Marin Martin (an early tourist who wrote a book of his travels through darkest Scotland). Two large boulders to the east may be the missing second stone. Caldwell thinks these stones may have once been a part of a neolithic monument, now buried. There is a mound behind the visiting centre, which was excavated in 1994/95. A burial chamber (or underground store associated with Iron Age houses) was found here, lined with boulders. (That holding up that stone is me!)

Islay: Finlaggan

Finlaggan, an inland freshwater lake, was the administrative centre of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles. As can be seen by the air photo on the left, the nerve centre consisted of 2 islands: the larger with a chapel, etc., and the smaller, sort of an 'executive suite' for the very important leaders. "Finlaggan" is named after St Columba's contemporary, St. Findlugan. It is probable that the larger island, was, in Celtic times, a Christian centre.

The last of the MacDonald chieftains were executed in 1493 in Edinburgh, and there are only a few remains of what must have once been a bustling and wealthy community. The Lords of the Isles were a seafaring folk, so it is of interest that Finlaggan is inland, on a freshwater loch.

The Chapel was built in the 1300s by John I Lord of the Isles. It is ruinous now, but there are some well preserved grave slabs in the accompanying burial ground. The photo on the right is the grave slab of Donald MacGillispie.

Islay

We travelled on yet another ferry from Kennicraig on West Loch, across the Sound of Jura to Port Ellen, Islay. At this time, there was a major tour of Distilleries, encompassing all ten of them on Islay, plus the one on the Isle of Jura. Therefore, it was really difficult to find accommodation. Through the wonders of Information Scotland, though, we found a room in the Jura Hotel. This meant that we spent more time on Jura than we had planned. In fact, neither of us were much interested in distilleries (although the participants we saw seemed to be having a great time!). I was the unofficial guide of our 'expedition', and so we focussed on Standing Stones and historical centres.

I must recommend our guidebook, a tattered paperback, by a genuine archaeologist, David Caldwell. It was most helpful, especially when we visited Finlaggan on Islay!

Kilberry Castle

As we followed the road north into the heart of Knapdale, we arrived at Kilberry Castle. It was here that the historian, archaeologist and writer, Marion Campbell of Kilberry lived until her death in 2000.

Her nephew, John Campbell and his family, now live on this lovely estate. We were lucky we visited Scotland in the spring. The Western Highlands are truly lovely.

At the entrance of this estate is a display of carved burial slabs, etc., collected and placed within a shelter, for all wayfarers to see!

Stornoway and the Standing Stones

Along the north side of West Loch Tarbert, there is Stornoway Bay (Canadians will be familiar with "Stornoway" as it is the name of the Ottawa residence of the Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition Party). There we saw two impressive standing stones in a field beside the road to Kilberry. These stones are really astonishing, as one wonders the 'why' and the 'how', not to speak of 'my gosh, they've lasted some thousands of years...

Campbeltown, Kintyre

Campbeltown was once a bustling port, home to many very wealthy traders as well as landowners. Its buildings are even now, impressive in an early Victorian manner. As the Clydebank shipping industry died after WWII, Campbeltown is a quiet town on the south end of Kintyre.

It is a beautiful place, though, and its harbour is filled with yachts, etc.

Campbeltown has a successful scotch distillery, a very old one, too. It is the oldest independent family owned distillery in Scotland. Founded in 1828 on the site of Archibald Mitchell's illicit still, the Springbank Distillery is now in the hands of his great great great grand son, Hedley G. Wright.

Owned by Mr Wright's J&A Mitchell & Co Ltd, Springbank is the only distillery in Scotland to carry out the full production process on the one site. 100% of the traditional floor malting, maturation and bottling is done at the distillery in Campbeltown.

It produces the most hand made whisky in Scotland, with traditional production methods being used throughout the process, and human involvement at each and every stage.

It is the only distillery in Scotland to have never chill-filtered, nor do they add any artificial colourings to any of their single malts. It is the only distillery in Scotland to produce three different single malts, Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn, using three different production methods.

Not very far south of Campbeltown lies the Mull of Kintyre. We did not go down there this trip, but I must share an interesting fact: "mull" derives from the Gaelic "maol", which means a 'rounded hill, bare of trees' OR a bare forehead, or shaved head. Which reminds me of MAELRUBHA, that Celtic Saint I wrote about in Knapdale People Site!

Saddell Abbey

There is a one-lane road (paved!) down the east side of Kintyre. Only 13 km north of Campbeltown, we came to an evocative and moving ruin: Saddell Abbey.

. Saddell Abbey was founded in the late 1100s by Somerled (progenitor of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles), or by his son, Reginald. The Cistercian "Grey Monks" worked these lands until the late 1400s, by which time the MacDonald Power had been broken by the King of Scotland. The Grey Monks left, and the Abbey, and its lands, were granted to the Bishopric of Argyll.



Aside from the stone remains scattered through a park like area, there is (within a well built shelter ) a very fine collection of grave slabs. Originally they marked graves of knights, bishops and monks.

Skipness Castle on Kintyre

Skipness Castle overlooks Kilbrannan Sound. During the wretched 17th century Wars, most of the Highland castles were destroyed, dismantled, altogether razed to the ground. Skipness avoided this fate through the efforts of its guardian who begged and pleaded, and claimed that it was in fact, his personal home.

You can find an extended essay about Skipness on my Knapdale People site. This time, we walked down to the shore to look at the St. Brendan chapel. St Brendan is famous for his voyages into the North Atlantic, and therefore was a special favorite of sailors. At the "Skipness Castle" page, I include a short bio of this Brendan.

Over Kilbrannan Sound to Kintyre

Well within sight of Arran is the Kintyre Peninsula. The trusty ferry wafted Mary, me and our behemoth of a Volvo across Kilbrannon Sound from Lochranza (which delights in the ruins of Lochranza Castle) to the tiny port of Claonaig.

The whole area was very busy: we managed to arrive during a popular yachting event, which means that we had a difficult time finding a place to live. However, the Knap Hotel came through, and we settled in Tarbert for a few days, using it as a base to travel south to Campbeltown and north to Kilberry.

Tarbert Harbour is beautiful and is overlooked by a castle ("Tarbert Castle"), built by Robert the Bruce after he 'made good', became King, and wanted a trusty fort overlooking Loch Fyne and the Sound of Bute. In my own site, Knapdale People , I have devoted a page to Tarbert Castle and its history.

Arran: the King's Cave

If it had been up to me, I would have taken to my bed while in Arran, because I had picked up a dreadful cold whilst in Glasgow. My sister, however, is a nurse, and is firmly of the (correct) opinion that physical activity is GOOD, especially when one has a cold. So, we marched off to see The King's Cave.

The King was Robert the Bruce, and the Cave was one of the places in which he and his followers hid while on the run from Balliol and the English. The caves can be found on Arran's west coast, directly across from Kintyre. We walked from a car park, through the usual West Highland wilderness, which is festooned with gorgeous scenes of far off houses, sheep, hills, coastal plains, etc... down a very steep decline, to the rocky beach.

Along this beach are natural caves. One of them, the one that sheltered Robert the Bruce, is protected by a very attractive gate.

It is here that tradition claims that the Bruce had his famed encounter with a spider. It seems that Bruce was dejected (he had lost a series of battles, and had been on the run for a long time, and here he was camping out in a cold damp cave), and on the verge of giving up trying to gain the Crown of Scotland. But then he saw a spider spinning a web on the cave wall, only to have it collapse from the wet slippery stone. But. The spider did not give up. It tried and tried yet again, until finally, the web held. It was this determined spider that inspired Bruce to continue his efforts against the English, until he finally led the Scots to victory at Bannockburn. And it is a foolhardy person who says "tradition" has no basis in Fact!

Arran: Machrie Moor

Arran sits between mainland Scotland and the Kintyre peninsula. We landed at Brodick, on Brodick Bay, which delights in the remains of an old castle, named "Brodick Castle." We found shelter on the opposite side of Arran, at Blackwaterfoot, a tiny place with a couple of nice pubs.

.As far as we were concerned, aside from the stunningly lovely scenery, Arran offers 2 outstanding attractions: the Machrie Moor Stones and the King's Cave.

Machrie Moor is a flat area not far from the road, with no less than SIX stone circles, while the immediate surrounding area comes complete with chambered cairns, a standing stone and more hut circles.

These arrangements of stones, in circles and in lines, can be found throughout the Western Highlands. It has been determined that they are thousands of years old, and therefore, have probably meant different things to different generations of inhabitants. Amazingly, so many of them still stand, in all their spectacular grandeur.

Compared to the Kilmartin Temple Wood array (more on this later), Machrie Moor is an unadvertised backwater, with an inadequate wee space for cars, and with little more than one of those informative plaques at the site itself. But make no mistake, this is a very impressive site in itself.

It's as wonderful as Stonehenge, but without the crowds!

from Glasgow to the Isle of Arran

As will become obvious, the west highlands is a land of waterways. We left Glasgow, were lost only once (in Greenock), drove south to Ardrossan, and then, crossed the Firth of Clyde on one of the many ferries owned by Caledonian McBrayne. And a very efficient ferry system it is, given that its crews are faced with multiple tourists driving rental cars "on the wrong side of the road", and perhaps, totally unfamiliar with this whole 'ferry thing.'

The Clyde river flows through Glasgow and Greenock. "Firth" means 'an arm of the sea', or an 'estuary', and is related to Norway's "Fjord".

On to Glasgow: an unexpected find!

My sister Mary arrived from Canada, and we spent a lot of time in Glasgow mapping out how to get out of Glasgow (she did the driving, thank goodness, and she didn't complain one bit, because she is a truly heroic person!). Anyway, the central interest for me was the Mitchell Library, which has lots of archival material available, as well as a whole raft of computers available for use of anyone willing to join the library (which is easy and free). I found a lot of info about the Free Church in the stacks, of course. And I met another guide whose main interest is Heraldry (I have to send her a note SOON)

But the huge surprise and joy was found at the end of a corridor: Blundell's Puppet Centre. It was magic.

The room was filled with books on puppetry of all kinds, and all around were amazing creations, which I hope that you will go and see if you ever are in Glasgow. I've put some of my photos onto 'picasa' which will show them as a slide show.
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Edinburgh and the Great Disruption of 1843

The "Great Disruption" was another Scottish religious upheaval. It culminated half a century of evangelistic fervor and missionary itinerants throughout the Western Highlands, all mixed with dissatisfaction with the Presbyterian Church's connection with the Secular Government. This bust portrays one of the leaders of this movement, the Rev. Thomas Chalmers. I found it in the National Museum of Scotland.

Also in this Museum, in a different section, there is a statue of Hugh Miller, a mason, geologist and writer. I would not have found the latter, except for the help of a wonderful guide who became interested in my quest to find out about the Disruption. Miller was one of the most prominent signatories of the 'demission' (or separation) from the Established Church of Scotland.

Why all this interest in some remote theological quarrel? Well, because of this, one-third of the ministers left their manses and livings to found a new church, the Free Church, an exodus which certainly affected Knapdale. My Knapdale Campbell and MacIntyre ancestors were a part of this revolution, as were many other people in the area. Many of these people stopped baptizing their children in the Established Parish Church, and therefore never appear in the obvious baptism records.

I have a stack of pamphlets written by the various sides of this Disruption (the originals are part of the Guelph Scottish Collection.) It concerned every level of government in Scotland, as the Established Church was the central purveyor of what we now call 'social services.' Even the Duke of Argyll wrote an essay (I haven't read it yet, the Victorians tend to be prolix.) At my Knapdale Site, in the section, "Leaving Knapdale", there are several letters written by Knapdale members of the local Free Church to members who had already left Scotland for Canada.