Freshwater Scottish loch settlements of the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods; with particular reference to northern Stirlingshire, central and northern Perthshire, northern Angus, Loch Awe and Loch Lomond Matthew Shelley PhD The University of Edinburgh 2009 Declaration The work contained within this thesis is the candidate’s own and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Signed ……………………………………………………………………………… Acknowledgements I would like to thank all those who have provided me with support, advice and information throughout my research. These include: Steve Boardman, Nick Dixon, Gordon Thomas, John Raven, Anne Crone, Chris Fleet, Ian Orrock, Alex Hale, Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage. Abstract Freshwater loch settlements were a feature of society, indeed the societies, which inhabited what we now call Scotland during the prehistoric and historic periods. Considerable research has been carried out into the prehistoric and early historic origins and role of artificial islands, commonly known as crannogs. However archaeologists and historians have paid little attention to either artificial islands, or loch settlements more generally, in the Late Medieval or Early Modern periods. This thesis attempts to open up the field by examining some of the physical, chorographic and other textual evidence for the role of settled freshwater natural, artificial and modified islands during these periods. It principally concentrates on areas of central Scotland but also considers the rest of the mainland. It also places the evidence in a broader British, Irish and European context. The results indicate that islands fulfilled a wide range of functions as secular and religious settlements. They were adopted by groups from different cultural backgrounds and provided those exercising lordship with the opportunity to exercise a degree of social detachment while providing a highly visible means of declaring their authority. This thesis also argues that loch settlements were not a lingering hangover from the past, as some have suggested, but a vibrant part of contemporary culture which remained strong until the latter half of the seventeenth century before going into final decline and disappearing as a significant social phenomenon. Contents Section 1: Thesis Introduction 1 Background to the study 1 Method and sources 3 Thesis outline 6 Chapter 1: Historiography & Literature Review 11 Introduction 11 From early to twentieth-century sources 11 Recent sources 17 Chapter 2: Case Studies 37 Introduction 37 Case study A: Eilean Craggan 37 Location 38 The name 39 Surveys 40 Historical context 43 Conclusions 51 Case study B: Isle of Loch Clunie 57 Location 58 The name 59 Physical remains 59 Historical context 60 Estate and household in the early sixteenth century 69 Conclusions 79 Chapter 3: Chorography 89 Introduction 89 Early maps of Scotland 90 The significance of Pont 92 Pont as a source 95 Pont’s loch settlements 97 Loch settlement depictions 101 The Pont texts 110 The maps of Robert and James Gordon 113 Site comparisons 119 The Blaeu atlas and the Pont legacy 121 Blaeu’s texts 126 Ports and harbours 131 Conclusions 136 Chapter 4: Secular Loch Settlements 147 Introduction 147 Settlement origins and phases of use 147 Loch settlement characteristics 151 Island structures and sizes 154 Locations and lochs 156 Permanent and seasonal use 160 Situation, space and access 165 Boats and loch settlements 170 Islands and gardens 173 Convention and choice 177 Eilean nam Faoileag 182 Campbell of Glenorchy interests 185 Conclusions 194 Chapter 5: Security & Social Change 197 Introduction 197 Island strengths 197 Social change and the shift to shore 206 Conclusions 216 Chapter 6: Christian Loch Settlements 217 Introduction 217 Origins 218 Christian insular sites in Scotland 222 Change and continuity 225 Altered values 229 New trajectories 232 Other religious islands 240 Co-location and shared sites 244 Island locations and sizes 247 The decline of religious islands 248 Conclusions 249 Conclusion 251 Section 2: Bibliography & Appendices Bibliography 1 Appendix 1: Loch settlement structures 38 Chart A: Island sizes and situations 39 Chart B: Locations within lochs 45 Appendix 2: Loch settlements on early maps 51 The Ortelius loch settlements 52 The Mercator 1595 loch settlements 53 Map-makers’ images of Loch Lomond 54 Pont’s Loch settlement depictions 55 Loch settlements of the Gordon manuscript maps 60 Loch settlements in the Blaeu atlas 64 Maps details from the Aberdeen area 69 Appendix 3: Surveys and historic images 71 Inchaffray 72 Lake of Menteith, Inchmahome Priory 75 Little Loch Shin 77 Loch Awe, Inishail 79 Loch Awe, Kilchurn Castle 80 Loch Brora 83 Loch Dochart 85 Loch Doon 87 Loch Dornal 91 Loch of Drumellie 93 Loch Earn, Neish Isle 95 Loch an Eilean 97 Loch of Forfar 99 Loch Kennard 101 Loch of Kinnordy 103 Lochleven 104 Loch Lomond, Eilean na Vow 107 Loch Rannoch 109 Loch Rusky 111 Loch Tay, Priory Island 113 Loch Tay, Priory Island Port 116 Loch Tulla 117 Loch Tummel 119 Lochore 121 Loch Venachar 122 Lochwinnoch 124 Appendix 4: Distribution maps 126 Loch settlements of the Pont manuscript maps 127 Key and symbological table 128 Loch settlements of the Gordon manuscripts maps 131 Key and symbological table 132 Loch settlements of the 1654 Blaeu atlas 134 Key and symbological table 135 Sources of information for all loch settlements discussed in thesis 137 Appendix 5: Loch Tulla shoe 143 Expert interpretation 143 Pictures 144 Report 149 Illustrations in section 1 Fig. 01: Eilean Craggan 53 Fig. 02: Eilean Craggan survey 53 Figs. 03, 04, 05: Detail of OS and M&P maps showing Eilean Craggan 54 Figs. 06, 07, 08: Photographic detail of Eilean Craggan 54 Fig. 09: Stone jetty facing Eilean Craggan 55 Figs. 10, 11, 12: Detail of St Blane’s Chapel 55 Fig. 13: The Glenample or Edinample estate from Pont 21 56 Fig. 14: Map of Loch Earn and Glenample 56 Fig. 15: The Isle of Loch Clunie 81 Fig. 16: Survey of the remaining structures of the Isle of Loch Clunie 81 Figs. 17, 18, 19: OS and M&P map details of Loch Clunie 82 Figs. 20, 21, 23, 24, 25: Photographic detail of structures 82-3 Fig. 26: Nineteenth-century sketch of the Isle of Loch Clunie 84 Fig. 27: Nineteenth-century photograph of Isle of Loch Clunie 84 Fig. 28: 1960s sketch of tower on Isle of Loch Clunie 84 Figs. 29, 30, 31: Detail from chorographic maps 84 Fig. 32: Sketch map showing the Isle of Loch Clunie in relation to other immediately surrounding features 86 Fig. 33: Clunie’s economic relationships – goods and services flowing to and from the island and its properties 86 Fig. 34: Sources of victual receipts 1501-10 87 Fig. 35: Rentals of the bishopric from the Clunie area in 1561 87 Fig. 36: Pont manuscript map coverage of Scotland 138 Fig. 37: Blaeu map coverage of Scotland 139 Fig. 38: Late Medieval and Early Modern loch settlements of Scotland 140 Introduction Background to the study Over the past 150 years antiquarians and archaeologists have shown considerable, though fluctuating, interest in Scotland’s freshwater loch settlements. This has tended to concentrate on artificial islets, often called crannogs, and their Prehistoric and Early Historic origins. Less attention has been paid to their role in the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods. Indeed there has often been the assumption that they were no more than a lingering presence by this time. Likewise there has been little attempt to look beyond ‘crannogs’ and consider the use of occupied islands as a whole whether artificial, modified or natural. This study starts to address these issues by examining the role of Scottish loch settlements in these later periods1 with a particular emphasis on northern Stirlingshire, central and northern Perthshire, northern Angus, Loch Awe and Loch Lomond. It attempts to provide a detailed understanding of their use within these areas while also considering the overall picture in Scotland, principally the mainland, in broader terms. By putting the primary focus on particular areas it has been possible to gain insights into the function and occupancy of specific islands over an extended period of time. It has been possible to look more widely at the number and distribution of loch settlements, the sorts of people who occupied them and whether there were differences in role or perception according to type, size or location. An important aim has been to discover more about the sorts of settlements which existed on islands and how they related to the land and waters around them. This has helped generate suggestions about why people chose to live on islands during the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods and why loch settlements finally went into decline. The principal argument of this thesis is that freshwater loch settlements were a distinctive social phenomenon and should be considered as a group rather than divided up according to whether they existed on natural islands or ones that had once been manufactured. Evidence for islands being built at this time is very limited, 1 This roughly corresponds to the centuries between 1300 and 1700, though places and events are considered either side of this. 1 though there is more for their repair and maintenance. Islands were often put to similar uses regardless of their origin. It is, therefore, more appropriate to regard them as existing as part of the same continuum. There is also little known use of the word ‘crannog’ until mid nineteenth-century antiquarians adopted it from colleagues in Ireland, where it has a long and demonstrable pedigree. Subsequently there has been considerable disagreement over what constitutes a crannog partly because artificiality is not an absolute with some islands created by modifying or extending existing features. For these reasons this study tends to refer to natural, modified and artificial islands – or NIs, MIs and AIs for short.2 The parameters of the study have been carefully considered but it is fully recognised that dividing lines over what sort of islands should be included or excluded, and in which areas, are to some extent pragmatic and a means to enable focused research.