Trossachs
Encyclopedia
Glen
A glen is a valley, typically one that is long, deep, and often glacially U-shaped; or one with a watercourse running through such a valley. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower than a strath."...
in the Stirling council area of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It lies between Ben A'an to the north and Ben Venue
Ben venue
Ben Venue is a mountain in the Trossachs area of Scotland. The name Ben Venue is derived from the Scottish Gaelic words meaning "the small mountain". The summit lies approximately 2 kilometres south-west of the pier at the southern end of Loch Katrine...
to the south, with Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine is a freshwater loch in the district of Stirling, Scotland. It is roughly 8 miles long by 2/3 of a mile wide and runs the length of Strath Gartney...
to the west and Loch Achray
Loch Achray
Loch Achray is a small freshwater loch 11 kilometres west of Callander in Stirling district, Scotland.The loch lies between Loch Katrine and Loch Venachar in the heart of the Trossachs and has an average depth of 11 metres. The south side of the loch is wooded and well served by woodland tracks and...
to the east. However, the name is used generally to refer to the wider area of wooded glens and braes with quiet loch
Loch
Loch is the Irish and Scottish Gaelic word for a lake or a sea inlet. It has been anglicised as lough, although this is pronounced the same way as loch. Some lochs could also be called a firth, fjord, estuary, strait or bay...
s, lying to the east of Ben Lomond
Ben Lomond
Ben Lomond , , is a distinctive mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros...
. The Lake of Menteith
Lake of Menteith
The Lake of Menteith , is a loch in Scotland, located on the Carse of Stirling, the flood plain of the upper reaches of the rivers Forth and Teith, upstream of Stirling. Until the early 19th century, the more usual Scottish name of Loch of Menteith was used...
, in the strictest sense Scotland's only natural lake, lies about six miles (10 km) to the south east of the glen, on the edge of the Trossachs area.
Popularity
The scenic charms of the area came to popularity with Sir Walter Scott's 1810 poem The Lady of the LakeThe Lady of the Lake (poem)
The Lady of the Lake is a narrative poem by Sir Walter Scott, first published in 1810. Set in the Trossachs region of Scotland, it is composed of six cantos, each of which concerns the action of a single day...
, extending his romantic portrayal of Scotland's past from border ballad
Border ballad
The English/Scottish border has a long and bloody history of conquest and reconquest, raid and counter-raid . It also has a stellar tradition of balladry, such that a whole group of songs exists that are often called "border ballads", because they were collected in that region.Border ballads, like...
s to poems of a medieval past rich in chivalry and symbolism. The poem gives a roll call of Trossachs place names, the lady herself being found on Loch Katrine. Scott followed up with his 1817 historical novel Rob Roy
Rob Roy (novel)
Rob Roy is a historical novel by Walter Scott. It is narrated by Frank Osbaldistone, the son of an English merchant who travels first to the North of England, and subsequently to the Scottish Highlands to collect a debt stolen from his father. On the way he encounters the larger-than-life title...
romanticising the outlaw cattle thief Raibert Ruadh
Robert Roy MacGregor
Robert Roy MacGregor , usually known simply as Rob Roy or alternately Red MacGregor, was a famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century, who is sometimes known as the Scottish Robin Hood. Rob Roy is anglicised from the Scottish Gaelic Raibeart Ruadh, or Red Robert...
born by Loch Katrine and buried at nearby Balquhidder
Balquhidder
Balquhidder is a small village in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It is overlooked by the dramatic mountain terrain of the Braes of Balquhidder, at the head of Loch Voil. Balquhidder Glen is also popular for fishing, nature watching and walking...
.
Tourism and development
The effect of this romantic literature was to draw tourists to the area and make there a need for a hotel for them to stay in, so the Trossachs Hotel was built on the north bank of Loch Achray. This still exists today as the An Tigh Mor Trossachs holiday apartments.Loch Katrine itself changed in 1859 when a dam was built at the eastern end and connecting aqueducts built to bring a new main water supply to Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. At the expense of the Glasgow water company Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
had a holiday house built for her overlooking the loch. The house, 'Royal Cottage', was never used for the purpose and ended up as accommodation for Scottish Water's employees. A steamer
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
service started, and the 1900 SS Sir Walter Scott
SS Sir Walter Scott
SS Sir Walter Scott is a small steamship that has provided pleasure cruises and a ferry service on Loch Katrine in the scenic Trossachs of Scotland for more than a century, and is the only surviving screw steamer in regular passenger service in Scotland...
is still going, giving visitors a delightful way to enjoy the scenery while adding to the picturesque view. The area is now in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park is a national park in Scotland centred on Loch Lomond, and includes several ranges of hills, the Trossachs being the most famous...
, remaining popular with walkers and cyclists, and for the motorist the winding roads have a certain charm.
Ruskin connection
The leading VictorianVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
art critic John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
(1819–1900) and the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
(1829–1896) spent the summer of 1853 together at Glenfinlas in the Trossachs. Millais started a painting of John Ruskin
John Ruskin (painting)
John Ruskin is a painting of the leading Victorian art critic John Ruskin . It was painted by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais during 1853–4. John Ruskin was an early advocate of the Pre-Raphaelite group of artists and part of their success was due to his efforts.The painting depicts...
during the visit, which he finished the following year. The painting is held in a private collection, but was on show at a exhibition on the Pre-Raphaelites at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
during 2004. John Ruskin himself was especially interested in the rock formation
Rock formation
This is a list of rock formations that include isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrops. These formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock...
s in the area and undertook his own studies of these.