Scottish Highlands: Religion, Power and Nature

St Conan’s Kirk

Mid-week in our exploration of the Scottish mainland near Bute we stopped at St Conan’s Kirk, a curious faux-medieval church with Gaudi-esque columns and crenelated walls. The curious church is situated overlooking Loch Awe and was only consecrated as recently as 1930, though the design was initiated by one Walter Campbell as early as 1886.

It's all in the detail….

A series of impressive stained-glass windows and interestingly carved chairs made the interior well worth the visit, as did the quaint cloister. The siting of the church itself is remarkable, seeming to cling to the steep hillside tumbling down to Loch Awe. There are gargoyles to spot, a solid oak communion table and odd-shaped windows in peculiar places.

The Hollow Mountain

Another unusual place in Argyll is like the set of a Bond movie: the “Hollow Mountain” aka the Cruachan Power Station. A terrific exhibition and a kilometre journey into the depths of the mountain revealed some tales of the epic scope and heroism (and tragedy) of the building of this impressive source of green power.

You say urinal…

After the peculiar church and the monumental hydro-electric station, it was of course time to visit the toilet (although on a different day) and these toilets, Rothesay's Victorian Toilets, being a tourist attraction, were far from ordinary. We’re talking Victorian splendour. We’re talking pissoirs to be proud of….

Ruin with a view

When Harriet and Chris were skirting the wilds at the end of the peninsula, the history geeks in the family dragged Sally to yet another castle. (You can’t have too many castle visits, I say!) Rothesay Castle is a ruin on the Isle of Bute and has a strange circular design, definitely like a toy castle and with friendly staff and informative panels. There was a castle on the site by the 14th century and it has had its fair share of drama, including a temporary occupation by Oliver Cromwell’s army during the Civil Wars.

Quid pro quo

You give me castle, I give you garden…. Probably one of my highlights on this trip was our visit to the Ascog Hall Garden and Fernery, in particular the “secret garden” aspect of the Fernery with its dilapidated walls and ongoing restorations. Some of the planting seemed prehistoric to me and every turn produced a surprise.

Gulf Stream

Ruined stables, strange grasses, rhododendrons, yuccas, greens of every shade, a wishing well…. And plants, shrubs and trees from round the world, not surprising since the planting was begun by Edward La Trobe Bateman who had designed The Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. The sheltered walls and the effect of the warm Gulf Stream has produced this wonderful oasis.

Ostel Bay and Inverary Castle

 

Ostel Bay

Jittery Scottish weather took us past lovely coastal viewpoints to Ostel Bay. Cloudy, drizzly at times…. But as the writer of many hiking books, Alfred Wainwright, said “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.”

Tighnabruaich

The journey to Ostel Bay went via Tighnabruaich, a village on the Cowal Peninsula where fewer than 700 people live. It’s not easy to imagine myself living day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year in such a remote spot. But there’s something elemental and profound about visiting parts of Britain that still contain the pre-industrial landscape of the natural world.

Ostel Bay

Far horizons

Ostel Bay itself was wild, windy and wrapped around, hidden from view, in dunes as far as the eye could see. The sea met the sky in a spot which seemed All Horizon. And of course the waves shushed in and shushed out again across the shingled sands.

Ferry to Bute (top right) and the magnificent Inverary Castle

Ferry to Bute

Across the car ferry to Bute included a memorable visit to Mount Stuart which I blogged about here. But first we visited Inverary Castle with its Disney-like exterior. The semi-gothic, semi-Palladian pile was inspired by a sketch by the ridiculously talented man who designed Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace as well as writing successful Restoration comedies: John Vanbrugh. The foundation stone was laid in 1746.

Turrets and Fires

The current building is what was raised and completed after a devastating fire in 1877 when the conical towers were added to give its current fairytale appearance.

Home of the Duke of Argyll

Parts of the interior, though awesome, are also homely and lived-in and the martial history of turbulent events in the history of Scotland are well displayed and explained by vivid guides.

Split walks

For some of the time on our holiday we divided for walks and the above and below collages are of the walk to the end of the Cowal Peninsula undertaken by Harriet and Chris.

Above two collages are photos taken by Harriet and Chris

There but not there

There but not there in the Marble Chapel at Mount Stuart House

Commemorate, Educate, Heal –

centenary of WWI Armistice

In previous Novembers I have used poetry to reflect on Armistice Day, the day 100 years ago, when on the eleventh hour of the the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the guns and weapons fell (mostly) silent. If only over 10,000 men had not been wounded or killed on the very day in 1918….If only politicians and powerful forces that mobilise wars were more skilful at negotiating to avoid armed conflict…. If only WWI had been the war to end all wars….The 2014 Tower of London ceramic poppies were a startling and powerful artistic symbol of the scale of the loss of life in World War One and this year the silhouette of a Tommy has been used widely to represent the memories of the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in fields of war across the world throughout history. We should remember them. (Commemorative poem at the end of this posting.)

Benmore Botanic Gardens on the Cowan peninsula

Benmore Botanic Gardens
Paintings, photographs and moving images showing the devastation in the fields, villages, towns and cities of Europe are strong reminders of the folly of waging war – the destruction of the natural and the man-made world in addition to the loss of life – is a picture of hell. So it is all the more wonderful to keep reminding yourself of the glory of nature. On our recent holiday in Scotland – two astounding beauty spots are remembered in this posting. Benmore Botanic Gardens is set into a mountainside on the Cowan peninsula.

Nature's beauty at Benmore Botanic Gardens - worth protecting

Giant redwoods and golden gates
Miles of trails lead through avenues of gigantic Californian redwood trees to viewpoints across ponds and from elevated benches and sites like an astonishing Victorian fernery or the restored gleaming golden gates.

Mount Stuart
The “there but not there” Tommie featured in the collage at the top of this post is sited in the marble chapel of Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute. A short ferry ride from Colintraive brought us to this massive estate with its coastal walk (where we picnicked.) It must be one of the most magnificent houses I’ve ever visited – an eccentric gothic surprise of a place with hundreds of highlights.

Wee gardens, lush fernery
The grounds include a maze-like garden leading to fern trails, kitchen gardens, rockeries, ponds, pine trees, a sheltered “wee garden” and the Upper and Lower Policies (“pleasure grounds around a mansion”.)

Intricate details and lavish flourishes
The house is full of gothic touches: from the astrological ceiling in “the horoscope room” to the “Red, Blue and Purple” Libraries and the awe-inspiring Russian icon, The Marriage at Cana.

They shall grow not old
Wow factor moments include walking into the 80 foot high Marble Hall, walking up the Marble Staircase and entering the Marble Chapel (first picture in this posting). H W Lonsdale’s richly coloured stained glass windows represent the signs of the zodiac and the vaulted ceiling shows “the stars in their courses.” During the First World War the 4th Marquess and Marchioness of Bute turned the house into a hospital, Lady Bute ran the hospital and supervised the logistics of treatments and altogether over 2,100 patients were treated, breaking records for similar makeshift hospitals in stately homes.

For the Fallen
by Lawrence Binyon

• first published 21st September 1914 in The Times 
• composed on cliffs in north Cornwall, in tribute to the earliest casualties in the first months of the First World War (Battles of Mons and The Marne)

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, 
England mourns for her dead across the sea. 
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, 
Fallen in the cause of the free.


Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal 
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres, 
There is music in the midst of desolation 
And a glory that shines upon our tears.


They went with songs to the battle, they were young, 
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. 
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted; 
They fell with their faces to the foe.


They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. 
At the going down of the sun and in the morning 
We will remember them.


They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; 
They sit no more at familiar tables of home; 
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time; 
They sleep beyond England's foam.


But where our desires are and our hopes profound, 
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight, 
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known 
As the stars are known to the Night;


As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, 
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain; 
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, 
To the end, to the end, they remain.

The zodiac windows at Mount Stuart House