Friday 27th August 1819
Friday Augt 27th we arose early & took a beautiful ride along the banks of Loch Awe; whence we had a variety of views of the fine ruins of Kilchurn Castle situated on a small island on the lake to Tynwilt a very small Inn where we breakfasted & afterwards proceeded through a very wild & mountainous
country to Oban a small seaport the Inn is very uncomfortable.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Kilchurn Castle was built in the mid-1400s, and it remained the base of the mighty Campbells of Glenorchy for 150 years. After the first Jacobite Rising of 1689, Kilchurn was converted into a garrison stronghold, but was abandoned by the end of the 1700s.
1846: Kilchurn Castle engraving by William Miller after H McCulloch, published in Waverley Novels vol x (Abbotsford Edition). Walter Scott. Edinburgh and London: Robert Cadell, Houlston & Stoneman 1842 - 1847. Inpublic domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kilchurn_Castle_engraving_by_William_Miller_after_H_McCulloch.jpg
2014: Kilchurn Castle, viewed from Loch Awe Hotel to the west by Boaworm - CC BY-SA 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilchurn_Castle#/media/File:Kilchurn_Castle_622A7584.jpg
https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/kilchurn-castle
Taynuilt village was a staging post and resting place for travellers for centuries. Its smelting furnace produced 42,000 cannonballs in 1781 and necessitated a military road.
2005: Taynuilt from near Balindore by J M Briscoe. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by J M Briscoe and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taynuilt_from_near_Balindore.jpg
What is claimed to have been the first monument to be erected in Britain to commemorate the death of Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar stands at Taynuilt with an inscription dated 1805 on its base. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taynuilt
Nelson’s Monument: Although she does not comment on the monument or Ben Cruachan in her diary, she captions the the sketch below as View of Ben Chruachan from Nelsons Monument, Argyllshire Augt 26th 1819. It is likely that she stopped on her way to Taynuilt on the following day and that, like several of her captions inscribed in ink, she has not taken care to apply the actual date of her drawing.
“Scottish Places”, at https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst11462.html , records the history of the monument, as follows: “A rough-hewn granite obelisk created from an ancient standing stone, this was the first monument in Britain to be dedicated to the memory of Admiral Lord Nelson following his death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It lies on a hillock in the village of Taynuilt (Argyll and Bute), to the north of the church, but was brought from its original site a mile (1.6 km) to the northwest, where it had fallen many years before. The monument is inscribed: "To the memory of Lord Nelson this stone was erected by Lorn Furnace workmen, 1805". The nearby Lorn Furnace (or Bonawe Iron Furnace) once made cannonballs for the Royal Navy and hence felt a strong connection to Nelson and his victories.”
Taynuilt Inn: Taynuilt Guest house is a historic 16th century roadside coaching inn, at the heart of the village, which even takes its name from the guest house, as Taynuilt in Gaelic means ‘house by the burn’. http://www.thetaynuilt.co.uk/about/
Oban supported very few households prior to the 19th century, sustaining only minor fishing, trading, shipbuilding and quarrying industries, and a few hardy tourists.
circa 1900: This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsc.07651. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oban#/media/File:Scotland-Oban-1-1900.jpg
2009: Oban v2 by Alan Weir from The Dale, Scotland. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oban_.jpg
The modern town of Oban grew up around the distillery, which was founded there in 1794. The town was raised to a burgh of barony in 1811 by royal charter. Sir Walter Scott visited the area in 1814, the year in which he published his poem The Lord of the Isles; interest in the poem brought many new visitors to the town. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oban
2013: Oban Bay from McCaig's Tower. The bay is sheltered by the island of Kerrera. Behind lies the Isle of Mull. Author Colin, Wikimedia Commons. Published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oban_Bay_from_McCaig%27s_Tower.jpg
Inn: Possibly The Oban Inn. According to their entry in the What Pub Guide, “It was first opened in 1790 and has always been one of the most iconic and characterful pubs in the town. Old photographs and maritime artifacts decorate the walls above the bench seating and flagstone floor.”
Oban Inn - from their entry in the What Pub Guide https://whatpub.com/pubs/GLA/1193/oban-inn-oban
Can you help us?
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?