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DUNSTAFFNAGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 684 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DUNSTAFFNAGE , a ruined See also:

castle of See also:Argyllshire, See also:Scotland, 3 M. N.N.E. of See also:Oban. It is situated on a See also:platform of See also:conglomerate See also:rock forming a promontory at the See also:south-See also:west of the entrance to See also:Loch Etive and is surrounded on three sides by the See also:sea. It See also:dates from the 13th See also:century, occupying the site of the earlier stronghold in which was kept the See also:Stone of Destiny See also:prior to its removal to See also:Scone (q.v.) in 843. The castle is a quadrangular structure of See also:great strength, with rounded towers at three of the angles, and has a circumference of about 400 ft. The walls are 6o ft. high and to ft. thick, affording a safe See also:promenade, which commands a splendid view. See also:Brass See also:cannon recovered from wrecked vessels of the See also:Spanish See also:Armada are mounted on the walls. In 1308 See also:Robert See also:Bruce captured the fortress from the See also:original owners, the MacDougalls, and gave it to the Campbells. It was garrisoned at the See also:period of the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745, See also:fell into decay See also:early in the 19th century, and is now the See also:property of the See also:crown, the See also:duke of See also:Argyll being hereditary keeper. The adjoining See also:chapel, in a very ruinous See also:state, was the See also:burial-See also:place of the Campbells of Dunstaffnage. There are other interesting places on Loch Etive, an See also:arm of the sea, measuring 194 m. in length and from s m. to fully 1 m. in width. Near the mouth, where the See also:lake narrows to a strait, are the rapids which See also:Ossian called the Falls of Lora, the ebbing and flowing tides, as they See also:rush over the rocky See also:bar, creating a roaring See also:noise audible at a considerable distance.

In the See also:

parish of Ardchattan, on the See also:north See also:shore, stands the beautiful ruin of St Modan's Priory, founded in the 13th century for Cistercian monks of the See also:order of Vallis Caulium. It is said that Robert Bruce held within its walls the last See also:parliament in which the Gaelic See also:language was used. On the See also:coast of Loch Nell, or Ardmucknish See also:Bay, is the vitrified fort of Beregonium, not to be confounded with Rerigonium (sometimes miscalled Berigonium) on Loch See also:Ryan in Wigtownshire—a See also:town of the Novantae Picts, identified with Innermessan. The confusion has arisen through a textual See also:error in an early edition of See also:Ptolemy's See also:Geography.

End of Article: DUNSTAFFNAGE

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