Westwards from Killin
Suie or seat of (St. Fillan)
Close to the road is a small burial ground sited on a mound overlooking Glendochart. It is enclosed by a stone wall, probably part of the chapel built in 1759 by James McNab,
Crianlarich.
In the 1750’s two military roads met here, much as the A85 and the A82 do today. When the railways were built in the 1800’s it became the junction for the Callander to Oban line and the Glasgow to Fort William line. Today it is still the point where the train from Glasgow divides for the onward journeys to Oban or Fort William and rejoins for the return journey.
Strathfillan.
The name comes from Faolan, an Irish Saint, who founded a monastery here at the beginning of the 8th century. St. Fillan’s church was at Kirkton. The monastery in Glendochart was a centre from which teaching and civilising influences were spread throughout Breadalbane and neighbouring districts.
Dal Righ.
The word means the king’s field. It is the site of Robert the Bruce’s battle with the McDougalls of Lorn in 1306. After the Battle of Methven Robert and his band of followers had sought refuge in the hills of Breadalbane but McDougall came armed with 1000 men and met them at Dalrigh. Robert advised his men to retreat and legend has it that as they passed Lochan-nan-arm they flung their weapons into the water.
Tyndrum.
Means house on the ridge – the ridge being the watershed between east and west Alba. Clifton was the site of the village attached to the lead mines of Tyndrum and was named after Sir Robert Clifton who began working the mines in the 1740’s. Lead mining continued until the 1860’s and the remains of the old workings are still visible today.