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A SCOTTISH PILGRIMAGE
There comes a voice that awakens my soul. It is the voice of years that are gone; they roll before me with their deeds." Ossian
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Photograph Taken from the third level of Kilchurn Castle. Pilgrimage March 2002 |
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Have seen the Lands of my ancestors, I have touched the stones of Kilchurn.
Ben Cruachaun stands as a sentinel over Campbell Loch and glen. I hear my Kinsmen as the war pipes play "Cruachaun" is their battle cry. On the banks of Loch Awe, Neil Campbell "The Son Of The Great Colin" fought here along side Wallace at the pass of Brander, securing the Campbell fortunes. Auld Lang Syne "For Old Long Ago" Remember your Heritage for it was hard fought for. Freedom is not free. Do Not Forget your Clan your Family. Pilgrimage March 2002
The lintel carries the initials of John, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and those of his wife, Countess Mary Campbell. The castle began as an oblong, five storey keep built by Sir Colin Campbell, the Black Knight of Rhodes around 1440. The main entrance to the castle leads through the vaulted basement and into the courtyard. At the south end of the basement there is a small prison and service stair to the first floor hall.
Kilchurn Castle on Loch Awe as seen in a 1777 engraving |
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Kilchurn was a castle of the Campbells of Glenorchy, the ancestors of the Earls of Breadalbane, and was at first the principal seat of the family. Kilchurn was completely surrounded by water until 1817, when the level of the loch was lowered by the clearing of the riverbed at its outflow into the Pass of Brander. Access would have been by a causeway hidden below the surface of the water. |
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Few of the original
features of the 15th century hall survive, and the reconstruction of it can therefore only be speculative. This is an artist rendition.
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Innis Chonnel was one of the earliest Campbell strongholds, certainly from as early as 1308 until the present day. The relationship between the early Cambel ancestors and the (MacDougall) Lords of Argyll may well have been amicable initially. The killing of Sir Cailein Mor in 1296 may only have been the initiation of conflict. Certainly, as has been mentioned, the castle was in the hands of the MacDougalls by 1308, but whether it came into their hands following the death of Sir Cailein Mor at their hands in 1296 or was already in their possession is not clear. "Following the defeat of the MacDougalls, the Lordship of Loch Awe reverted to the Campbells, being confirmed in free barony to Sir Colin Campbell, son of Sir Neil Campbell, by Robert I (the Bruce) in 1315. Thereafter Innis Chonnel seems to have remained the chief stronghold of the family until the time of Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll (1453-93), who made Inveraray his principle residence."
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Inveraray Castle There was an original castle built on this site by the Campbell Earls of Argyll in the 15th century. James V visited it in 1533 and Mary Queen of Scots in 1562. But that castle was set on fire by the Marquis of Montrose in 1644 during the Civil War. The 3rd Duke of Argyll built the present castle (and much of the town of Inveraray) in the 1740s. It is more of a mansion than a castle. It was considered to be "inferior" to its predecessor - and the conical "pepper pots" were added to provide more of a "castle" look. Although the castle is still the home of the Duke of Argyll, many of the rooms in the castle are open to the public. The main hall soars to the full height of the house and is decorated with a superb collection of weapons. There are collections of tapestries, paintings and items of special interest to members of Clan Campbell. Rob Roy McGregor's sporran and dirk handle are on view. |
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The DaL Riada were originally a tribe of North Antrim in Ireland, but from as early as the third century, and especially during the late fifth century there had been a steady settlement of the adjacent coastal and island areas of Scotland by these Dal Riada Scots. This area, which became the Scottish part of the greater tribal kingdom of Dal Riada, was separated from the rest of Scotland by mountains. The Scottish part of the tribal kingdom of Dal Riada was known as Argyll which means "coastland of the Gaels," for by this time the population of Ireland had long been Gaelic-speaking, and the Dal Riada considered themselves to be Gaels in the general sense, though nonetheless Erainn in the context of ethno-dynastic politics. About A.D. 500 the kings of Dal Riada took up permanent residence in the Argyle, and with the coming of the Vikings in the ninth century, the tribe, by then centered in Argyle, was cut off from their Irish collateral kinsmen in Antrim, the O’Quins of Antrim, who declined in power after the Anglo-Norman invasion. The chief kindreds of the Dal Riada of Argyle, the Cineal Loairn and the Cineal nGabrain, soon spread into much of Scotland with the uniting of their kingdom and the Kingdom of the Picts (Chapter IV).
The Cineal Loairn derive their descent from Loam, son of Erc, a king of Dal Riada in the fifth century. They originally inhabited the present districts of Loin (named for them) and Mull, with the adjacent mainland and island territory to the north and west. This territory comprised the northern part of Scottish Dal Riada, and when the time came for expansion, the Cineal Loairn migrated up the Great Glen. The chief kindred branches of the Cineal Loaimn were the Clann Duibhne, or Campbells, the MacGillivrays and Maclnneses, the Cineal Baodan, or MacLeans, the MacNaughtens, the MacNabs, the Clan Chattan, and the Carnerons, MacGillonies, MacMartins and MacSorleys.
The Clann Duibhne or Campbells (Caimbeul), the most powerful clan in Argyle and one of the most powerful in Scotland, descend from the issue of the thirteenth century marriage between Sir Gillespie Campbell and the heiress of Duncan Mac Duibhne of Lochawe. Thus did the Campbells inherit the leadership of the Clann Duibhne, whose name they retained notwith- standing the fact that they, like the Galbraiths of Loch Lomond, were by origin Strathclyde Britons from around Dunbarton, where they were still important to the end of the thirteenth century. Ethnically these Strathclyde Britons were Laiginian, being descended from a Dumnonian influx from Ireland (see Chapter III). The senior line of the Campbells, descended from Sir Gillespic’s older brother Duncan, were the MacArthurs (Clann Artair) of Loch Fyne and Lochawe. The MacArthurs lost power after their chief, lain MacArthur, "a great prince among his own people and leader of a thousand men," was beheaded by the Stewart King James I in 1427. Afterwards they lived under the protection of their Campbell kinsmen. As for the Campbells themselves, they rose to preeminence in Argyle under royal patronage following the downfall of the MacDonalds’ Lordship of the Isles. The chief of the Lochawe line, the main stem of the family, was created Duke of Argyle in 1457. The Campbells of Glenorchy, later Earls of Breadalbane (1681), descend from the grandson of Sir Gillespie, while those who inherited Cawdor (in Moray) descend from the third son of the second Earl of Argyle. The Campbells became infamous for their political pragmatism, which led them to commit acts of brutality and treachery against neighboring clans, notably the MacGregors and the MacDonalds of Glencoe.
The MacGillivrays (Mac Giolla Bhratha) and Maclnneses (Mac Aonghuis) are of the same stock, and akin to the Clann Duibhne. The original territory of the MacGillivrays was in Morven and Lochaber, in the north of the original Cineal Loairn territory. In the thirteenth century, after political upheavals weakened the power of the Lords of the Isles in the area, most of the MacGillivrays joined the Clan Chattan confederacy, and by 1500 had moved into Strathnairn. Those that remained in Morven followed the MacLeans, the Mull branch being principal among these. The Maclnneses seem to have traditionally been the constables of the castle of Kinlochaline, originally under the MacDonalds, but later, about 1600, under the MacKenzies. However, they usually followed their kinsmen, the Campbells.
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