Information for
Visitors to Balquhidder
Balquhidder Glen Trossachs and Accommodation
Balquhidder Glen lies to the west of the A84 just south of Lochearnhead. The turn off is marked by the King's House Hotel on the right as you drive north. Balquhidder is about two miles up this narrow twisting road which passes through the small hamlet of Auchtubh. Shortly after Auchtubh on the left is the mausoleum of the MacGregor clan who owned this land.
On reaching Kirkton of Balquhidder, a small 'castle' is passed on the right. Immediately after this on the right lies the little churchyard where Rob Roy MacGregor, his wife and two sons lie. The Ruin in the churchyard is the old church and some interesting monuments are described on a plaque on the gable end.
On passing the church Loch Voil comes into view - famed for its reflections. A lovely winding road now follows the loch and offers some magnificent views and photo opportunities before reaching the western end where over the loch at the narrows can be seen Monachyle Tuarach farm. This was where Rob Roy lived when he was newly married and before his troubles started.
The next loch is little Loch Doine, at the west end of which can still be
seen the Invercarnaig burrial ground where earlier members of the MacGregor clan were
buried. This little graveyard dates back to the 17th C and the grave marker is now barely
legible.
History of Balquhidder Glen and its people
Robert the Bruce defied Edward I of England, and found himself on the run
through these glens. He rallied the remnants of
his army and won back Scottish independance at Bannockburn in 1314. There is a Bruce Cave
(one of many), ab
ove Loch Voil at
Craigruie in Balquhidder glen where he reputedly hid.
The MacGregors made their first appearance in Balquhidder Glen after losing their ancestral lands in GlenStrae to the land hungry Campbells.
The MacLarens are another ancient clan of this glen. They take their name from Abbot Labhran of Auchtoomore. Their clan badge is a laurel, "labhras" in Gaelic. The clan's traditional meeting place is Creag an Tuirc, The Boar’s rock.
In 1480, King James III appointed Sir William Stewart as his Royal Baille in the Parish. The Kirkton of Balquhidder was his centre of operations! There have been Stewarts at Ardvorlich on Loch Earn since the 15th Century.
By the 17th c Sir John Murray was the master of Balquhidder and Strathyre and relative prosperity was the general condition. All that changes with the series of Jacobite rebellions in support of the Stewart line which had been 'ejected'.
Rob Roy MacGregor is Balquhidder’s most famous previous resident. His story may be found on the 'Rob Roy' page at http://www.incallander.co.uk/rob/roy.htm.
The popular romantic picture of a Highlander as a huge, wild, hairy man with a
bottle of whisky in one hand and a blood-dripping claymore in the other, heather growing
out of both ears, and always in the face of battle, is a slight exaggeration. Certainly in
times of nation strife, there would be regional involvement and there were clan feuds. One
notable battle raged in and around the Balvaig in Balquhidder glen, all because a Buchanan
of Leny had struck a McLaren wi' a dead salmon. Because the MacGregors weighed in against
the intruders, who were massacred, the MacLarens were granted the privilege of entering
the Church at Balquhidder before them a Sunday.
Fairs were regularly held at the township of Stronvar to the south of the Kirkton. This may have been the forerunner of the Annual Balquhidder and Lochearnhead Highland Games, now held at Lochearnhead. Stronvar house now provides superb self catering accommodation for up to 12 in that fabulous house with it's historic connections.
The Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 had disastrous consequences all over Scotland. In Balquhidder glen, many clans including MacGregors, MacLarens and Stewarts had supported the forces of Prince Charles Edward. Lands were forfeit and clansman and families burned out of their homes. The MacGregor estate lnvercarnaig was laid waste. You can still see the remains of their burial ground at the top of Loch Doine.
The wearing of Highland dress was forbidden as w carrying arms. Even the bagpipe was outlawed, classed For the purpose of the Act, as weapon of war. In 1803, the MacLarens of lnvernenty, at the west of Balquhidder glen , having held their lands since the Middle Ages emigrated to Nova Scotia.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s novels "Kidnapped" and "Catriona" have also made Balquhidder a household name
In the 18th Century, the growth of sheep farms meant that the rest of the land became over-used and over-populated. When the military road was built from Stirling to Fort William in 1750, the concentration of population shifted towards this new road. Planned cottar towns were created to take the overspill. These were Strathyre, on the western side of the river, Lochearnhead or Rusgachan, which had then fourteen crofts. At the main road is Kingshouse Hotel, built originally as a drovers inn, and also used as quarters for the Army.
The railway changed everything! The cottar houses at Strathyre and most of Rusgachan disappeared to make way for the new project, and only small traces remain. By the time the line from Callander to Lochearnhead was opened in 1870, new villas, hotels and a station had been built with a large yard. Balquhidder Station was built after much representation by local people and the line was carried over a viaduct, whos remains may still be seen, to Crieff and Perth. Then the railways were closed in 1965 by Dr. Beeching, pre-empted in fact by a major rock-fall in Glen Ogle. The station at Lochearnhead became a Scout camp; the one at Balquhidder a caravan park, and the station yard at Strathyre now boasts some modern houses!
Parish registers show that there have been fifty different family names from the 16th to the 19th Century. The clan with the biggest numbers were the Fergusons, followed by the Stewarts, MacLarens, MacGregors and then Macintyres. The Carnegies came to Stronvar in 1849, and it was they who built Stronvar House and the present Church.
The chief of Clan Gregor lived until recently at Edinchip House, built 1830, and their
family mausoleum is at Auchtubh.
The much older MacGregor Clan burial ground is near the top of the glen just beyond Loch
Doine, a hint of the days when the glen was populated by more than a thousand souls.
The MacLaren chief owns Kirkton Farm. lnverlochlarig in the west has been owned by McNaughtons for years and there have been Cameron lands in Glen Ogle and Lochearnhead for a large part of the last century.
Modern times have changes much with new roads and the curse of sitka spruce, but you can still see the ruins of shielings in Glen Buckie, and over the high passes - the drovers roads. In the west of the Glen you can walk over the 'Bealach nam Corp' where the MacGregors carried their coffins to Loch Katrine.
I holidayed at Earnknowe at Lochearn a few years ago and found a small graveyard behind the farm. I later found that the MacLaren Chieftains of Ardveich were buried there. Read more of the old graveyards on the 'Burial Grounds' page.
A Short History of Balquhidder Church at Kirkton
St. Angus, a monk From Dunblane came to Balquhidder Glen in the 8th or 9th Century and built a stone oratory at Kirkton, where he spent the rest of his life. He preached from Tom Anglaise east of the present Manse .
Angus was buried at the foot of Tom nan
Angeae, the Hill of Fire, and the stone which reputedly covered his grave stands in
the Church. About 1250, Labhran of Auchtubh, from where the MacLarens took their name,
Abbot of the Culdee Monostry at Edinchip, built a small stone church (Eaglais Beag) over
this gravestone. By this time many Christian burials here, some recently discovered, make
Balquhidder an important early burial ground. In 1631 Lord Scone built a church, partially
incorporating Eaglais Beag. Three elegant windows, arches and a belfry, are seen in the
ruin.
The present church was given by David Carnegie of Stronvar. An ancient font found while making the Scone church a ruin, stands in the present church and is used for baptisms.
Another Minister Duncan Stewart (1772) put the Angus stone out of the church, incensed at the superstitious practice of parishoners standing on the stone to be married.
and finally!
Whilst a crypt was being excavated at the old church some years ago, a skeleton was found who's skull contained a musket ball. This was the head of Stewart of Glenbuckie who, whilst on his way to join in the '45' with MacGregor of Glencarnaig, was either murdered or shot himself in the head at Leny castle in Callander (Now Leny House).
