![]() Kilchurn Castle, however, continued to be the chief seat for some time, and it was there that the third and fourth lairds breathed their last. There was certainly, in those days, a degree of security both from man and beast in living on an island. ![]() Until the purchase of Finlarig, with its old castle, which had been built by the Drummonds, the Augustinian Priory, in the Isle of Loch Tay, seems to have been the residence of the Glenorchy Campbells in this quarter. To Archibald, his second son, he gave Glenlyon, and to his brother John, who had in his father’s lifetime received the barony of Lawers, he gave the eight-merk land of Shian, in Glenquaich, which he had also acquired. He was twice married, and had four sons and three daughters. Glenlyon likewise fell into his hands, and he received a charter from James IV., appointing him Bailie of Discher and Toyer, and Glenlyon, when he took in tack the King’s lands in Breadalbane. About 1492 he came into possession of the lands of Balloch. Sir Duncan, the second laird, extended the family possessions on Loch Tayside by acquiring the barony of Finlarig, which had been long in the hands of the Drummonds of Stobhall, and also the tack of the twelve-merk land of Crannich from the Laird of Weem. He died in 1475, and was buried at Kilmartin. He built Inveraray Castle for his nephew, the Earl of Argyll, whose guardian he was but regarding Kilchurn Castle, on Loch Awe, there is doubt as to whether he was the actual founder of it, as there is a story that it was the work of one of his wives, who built it out of the accumulated rents of the estate during seven years’ absence of her lord and master, when he was fighting against the Turks in the Isle of Rhodes. the barony of Lawers, on the north side of Loch Tay, formerly held by Chalmers, who was accessory to the assassination of the unfortunate king. For the assistance he rendered in the capture of the murderers of James I., he was granted by James III. ![]() Of the lands on Loch Tayside, Sir Colin acquired Auchmore in tack from Menzies of Weem. His third wife was a daughter of Robertson of Strowan, and his fourth was Margaret Stirling, daughter of the laird of Keir. Thus by his two first wives Sir Colin added considerably to his lands, and he displayed his achievements on the arms of his house. ![]() On the death of his father-in-law without male issue, Sir Colin succeeded to the whole superiority of the Lordship of Lorn, which he held for a time. By her he had a son, Duncan, who succeeded him, and one daughter. Sir Colin married secondly Janet Stewart, the second of the three daughters and heiresses of William, Lord of Lorn, by whom he got the eighteen-merk land of the Brae of Lorn. About 1440 he married Mariott Stewart, grand-daughter of Isabella, Duchess of Albany, the latter of whom granted him certain lands in Lennox under the grim stipulation that thieves convicted there should be hung on her gallows at Faslane. His patrimony lay on Lochaweside and in Glenorchy, but it was not long before he was in a position to exclaim : “It’s a far cry to Lochawe.” He was four times married, and by two of his wives he came into substantial “tochers” in the shape of land in different parts of the country. Sir Colin Campbell, the first laird, and founder of the family, was possessed of the ruling principle which became a characteristic with his descendants. The Castle of Balloch is supposed to have been founded in 1570, but fully a century prior to that the Glenorchy Campbells had established a firm footing in Perthshire. His territory, however, did not stretch in one unbroken line to the west, as is the case with his descendant at the present day, for the lairds of Weem and Strowan owned lands on Loch Tayside, and the chiefs of Macnab held a considerable portion of Glendochart. IT is said that when Sir Colin Campbell, the sixth laird of Glenorchy, built the Castle of Balloch at the extreme east end of his property, he intended that it should ultimately be the centre of his domain-that his lands should extend as fai to the east as they did to the west. Lairds and Lands of Loch Tayside John Christie (1892)
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