The Isle of Arran

Prehistory

People have lived on Arran for about 10,000 years but the first settlers who hunted animals and gathered wild foods left little trace of their existence. It’s only when a farming way of life developed, around 4-5000 years BC that people built solid structures, not houses (they still lived in huts) but huge burial cairns with stone chambers in them. They can be seen all over the island but one of the best examples is the Giants’ Graves near Whiting Bay. These Neolithic people made stone and bone tools but around 2500 BC metal tools start to appear. At first these were made of bronze and the people who made them buried their dead in ‘cists’, stone boxes sometimes under a cairn, sometimes without. They also built great circles of standing stones. Machrie Moor has a whole complex of these, although many of the stones have been lost; it must have been a great centre of the community and probably had  religious significance. Later, c700 BC,  tools and weapons made of iron appear. It’s thought that the Iron Age society was marked by more strife between groups because the dominant feature of this period is the fort, ranging in size from the huge, such as Drumadoon, near Blackwaterfoot, which could accommodate hundreds of people plus animals and withstand a siege, to the tiny, like the King’s Cross Fort which could only have been a lookout post.

History

There’s no evidence that the Romans came to Arran though they must have seen it in passing since they attacked the fort on Dumbarton Rock. Celtic peoples from Ireland certainly came. An Irish poem on St Patrick mentions Arran as a wonderful place for hunting “at every fitting time delectable is Arran”. Holy Island, off Lamlash, was the home of St Molaise, a younger contemporary of St Columba, for a number of years at the end of the 6th century. His cave, holy well and preaching stone, with a very early form of the Christian cross on it can be visited today. Holy Island retains an active religious significance today since it is now a place of retreat for Buddhists and their icons sit beside the Christian ones. The vikings were certainly here though there are only two remnants of their presence – the Viking Grave at King’s Cross and the runes on the cave roof on Holy Island. But Norse place names are everywhere – Brodick, Glenashdale, Glen Chalmadale, Glen Scorrodale etc.

In later years the island played an active part in the troubled history of Scotland. King Haakon’s fleet lay in Lamlash Bay before the Battle of Largs which ended the Norse claim on the Western Isles. Robert the Bruce watched from King’s Cross for the signal that launched his successful campaign which culminated in the Battle of Bannockburn. During the struggles between Scotland and England Brodick Castle was razed more than once, the battery which you can see today being a legacy of a Cromwellian incursion.

After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, life became more peaceful and crofting and fishing became the principal activities of the people. In common with much of Highland Scotland however, many people were cleared off the land in the 19th century  and their deserted villages can be seen all over the island. A memorial to the clearances is located in Lamlash.

Natural History

The island is host to red squirrels and red deer and golden eagles soar in the mountains. Adders are occasionally seen sunning themselves but shouldn’t be touched as their bite is painful and can be dangerous. Around the shore seals bask on the rocks and gannets give a spectacular diving display. Wild flowers grow in abundance while rhododendrons and fuchsias are rampant. Two species of Whitebeam (Sorbus) found in Glen Diomhainn are not found anywhere else in Scotland.

Geology

The island offers an amazing variety of rock types and formations. The northern granites form the mountains which offer a wide range of climbing and walking experiences. To the west the schist shines like silver in the sun while the east coast has a combination of sandy beaches and sandstone rocks. The south end is noted for the ring dyke complex – long, narrow igneous outcrops running into the sea. Drumadoon point is actually a continuation of the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland and shows the same hexagonal columns. The limestone quarries at Corrie have quantities of the fossil Productus while the tracks of a giant centipede can be seen further north along the coast. Agates, quartz, jasper and other semi-precious stones can occasionally be found on the beaches.

Pictures of a range of the features described above can be found in our photograph albums.