"Glenmoriston of the Past"

The earliest traces of human habitation in the Highlands, dating back to around 3000 B.C. were found last century in some caves near Oban. There are however numerous remains of the later Stone Age, the Neolithic folk, who found their way north from the Mediterranean and settled along the coastal strip of the Moray Firth from where they spread out into the broader straths and glens. Ample evidence has come to light of their presence in Glen Urquhart and though there is no evidence of their settlement in Glenmoriston some of them must surely have ventured over the hill. Around 1500 B.C., known as the Bronze Age, another race came in and they, in turn, were followed by the Celtic immigrants with their Iron Age culture around 500 B.C. This race which came at intervals from various parts of the Continent are said to have built the Brochs, the hill forts and the lake dwellings, known as crannogs which have been found all over the Highlands.

Quite recently an aerial survey photograph revealed traces of what is thought to be an iron Age Fort on a big rock above Levishie. While this rather flimsy evidence provides the apparent link in Glenmoriston with prehistoric times it is the only one, but it is always possible that some other of these settlements may come to light.

W hen the Romans under General Agricola conquered the tribes in Lowland Scotland, around the year 80 A.D., they built a line of forts from the Forth to the Clyde which they later linked with a rampart known as the Antonine Wall. In later times people called it the Devil's Dyke as it seemed impossible to them that man was capable of such a work. In Agricola's time the Romans reckoned that there were nine different tribes in the Highlands, the area north of the Great Glen being the abode of the Decantae ... The Caledonii tribe gave him the most trouble but the Roman Legions, clad in protective armour, dealt with them severely in a pitched battle at Mona Gramnious, thought to be somewhere north of the Firth of Tay. In due course Emperor Hadrian took over -from Agricola and was followed by another Emperor Serverus, a veteran soldier but an old man. He led a large army north and apparently reached the Moray Firth; but while the natives harried the troops they could not be drawn into close combat. Owing to troubles at home the Romans left Britain after about 300 years occupation but, like others to come, they found that the Highland terrain made conquest of the northern tribes impossible or, perhaps, they would have said not worthwhile.

After the departure of the Romans there is a complete blank in the history of Scotland and when the curtain rose about 150 years later North Britain seems to have been divided into four separate kingdoms. The Highlands formed the North Pictish Kingdom of Dalriada held by the Scots, Christian immigrants from Ireland. Very little is known about the Picts: in fact there is a book entitled "The Problem of the Picts" which contains somewhat conflicting views of some authorities on the subject. It seems however that they were a conglomeration of the different races who came in during the earlier centuries, perhaps ages. When in the year 844 Kenneth Macalpine became king of both the Scots and the Picts, little more has been heard of the latter, their language and the meaning of their symbols having been lost in antiquity, There are certain old place names in Glenmoriston and elsewhere which are thought to be of Pictish origin, having no apparent meaning in Gaelic.

It is in fact a few of our place names that provide the only link with the distant past. Fuaran Merchard (Merchard's Well) at Balintombuie dating from fifth Century when the Christian missionary of that name was preaching the Gospel in our Glen and Clachan Cholumchille (St. Columba's church) on which the Invermoriston graveyard is situated and the well close by also bearing his name, The reader may wonder whether these early missionaries had any lasting influence on our community in view of the fact that such writers as Daniel Defoe who visited the Highlands some fifty years later stated that the inhabitants were to a large extent heathen.

Presumably at this later stage, anyone who did not qualify as a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian must be a heathen or even worse, in some people's estimation if they happened to be Papists.

The Norsemen known as the Vikings, commenced their raids in Britain in the eighth century and in due course occupied the coastal areas of Caithness and Sutherland also the Outer Isles. Their raiding parties penetrated far inland and according to local legend were involved in a skirmish with Glenmoriston men on the hill above Bhlairaidh. In a hollow about a mile up that burn there are signs of an ancient burial place and some flat slabs of atone where it is said that the slain were buried. Nearby is the Baach-a-Chail, the cabbage patch, where the wounded were treated. As mentioned later, it was reckoned in times gone by that bleeding could be stopped with an application of masticated leaves. The Norse scourge continued for around four centuries until their King Hakon was severely shaken by the Scottish King Alexander at the battle of Largs in the year 1263.

Chapter 1