Lochbuie
| Lochbuie Gaelic: Locha Buidhe | |
| Argyllshire | |
|---|---|
 Lochbuie House and Moy Castle | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NM616249 |
| Location: | 56°21’20"N, 5°51’32"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Isle Of Mull |
| Postcode: | PA62 |
| Dialling code: | 01680 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Argyll and Bute |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Argyll and Bute |
Lochbuie is a hamlet on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides and in Argyllshire, about thirteen miles west of of the island's main village, Craignure.
The name of the place is from the Gaelic Locha Buidhe, meaning "yellow loch".
Contents
Geography
Once known as the "Garden of Mull"[1] the fertile land around the main village of seventeen houses is surrounded by hills with the narrow valley to the east containing both Loch Uisg and the only road to the estate. The hamlet stands at the head of Loch Buie, a sea loch which contains the tidal islands of Eilean Mòr and Eilean Uamh Ghuaidhre.
Frank Lockwood's Island (or Eilean Sneth Dian) lies in the Firth of Lorne, just offshore from the Laggan peninsula to the south. This island is named after Frank Lockwood who was Solicitor General for England and Wales from 1894 to 1895 and the brother-in-law of the 21st MacLean of Lochbuie.[2]
The highest hills in the area are Ben Buie whose summit is 2,451 feet above sea level to the north, the Druim Fada range reaching 1,329 feet, to the south and Craig Ben, at 2,290 feet, to the east, overlooking Loch Spelve. A track allows walking access to Carsaig six miles to the west.
Sights about Lochbuie
There is a fine stone circle at Lochbuie, the only one on Mull,[1] and the remains of a pre-historic tomb. Both these sites are scheduled monuments,[3][4] as is Moy Castle, originally a 14th-century keep, subsequently altered, and is now an uninhabited 3-storey tower.[5]
Nearby is the imposing 18th-century Lochbuie House and both buildings were once the seat of Clan Maclaine of Lochbuie.[6]
Also hereabouts is the mediæval chapel of Caibeal Mheamhair, which may originally have been dedicated to St Oran, rebuilt in the 19th century as a mausoleum for the MacLaine family.[7][8]
A luxurious silver brooch (known as the Lochbuie Brooch) dating to c. 1500 was found on the estate and has been in the British Museum's collection since 1855.[9]
A small Episcopal church stands in the hamlet, built in 1876 consecrated to the fictional St Kilda.[1][10]
Between 1752 and the construction of the existing mansion house the MacLaine lived in a smaller house on the estate. There is an inscription above a doorway in Lochbuie House farm square that states: "After leaving Moy Castle the Lochbuie family resided in this house from 1752 to 1789 and it was in this house that Dr. Johnson and Mr. Boswell were entertained in 1773 by John MacLaine XVII chief of Lochbuie."
Samuel Johnson wrote:[11]
We came without any difficulty, at evening, to Lochbuy, where we found a true Highland Laird, rough and haughty, and tenacious of his dignity; who, hearing my name, inquired whether I was of the Johnstons of Glencroe, or of Ardnamurchan. Lochbuy has, like the other insular Chieftains, quitted the castle that sheltered his ancestors, and lives near it, in a mansion not very spacious or splendid. I have seen no houses in the Islands much to be envied for convenience or magnificence, yet they bare testimony to the progress of arts and civility, as they shew that rapine and surprise are no longer dreaded, and are much more commodious than the ancient fortresses.
Perhaps the area's most noted modern residents have been George Sassoon (author, linguist and son of the poet Siegfried Sassoon) and Siegfried's wife, the former Hester Gatty.
Economy
The 22,000-acre Lochbuie Estate, run by the Corbett family since 1921,[12] is a sporting estate and a cattle farm. Self-catering cottages are available and both loch and sea-fishing.[13]
Media and the arts
Scenes for the 1945 film I Know Where I'm Going! directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were shot at Lochbuie, and a group of 40 fans visited to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the film's release in 2005.[14]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Lochbuie) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 1841954543.
- ↑ Baird, Bob (1995). Shipwrecks of the West of Scotland. Glasgow: Nekton Books. p. 142. ISBN 1-897995-02-4.
- ↑ Lochbuie House, stone circle and standing stones, Mull - scheduled monument detail (Historic Environment Scotland)
- ↑ Cairn ESE of Lochbuie - scheduled monument detail (Historic Environment Scotland)
- ↑ Moy Castle - scheduled monument detail (Historic Environment Scotland)
- ↑ Lochbuie House (Category B) - Listing detail (Historic Environment Scotland)
- ↑ Caibeal Mheamhair – Laggan: Lochbuie.com
- ↑ St Kenneth's Chapel (Category B) - Listing detail (Historic Environment Scotland)
- ↑ British Museum Collection
- ↑ St Kilda's Episcopal Church: Lochbuie.com]
- ↑ Johnson, Samuel (1775). A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1924 ed.). London: Chapman and Dodd. pp. 224–25.
- ↑ Barrachandroman, Lochbuie, Isle of Mull
- ↑ Self Catering Cottages: Lochbuie.com
- ↑ Maclean, Nicolas (17 November 2005). "60th anniversary of I Know Where I'm Going". The Oban Times. http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Trips/Mull/20051028/ObanTimes.html. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
