Balquhidder, Rob Roy MacGregor grave, ScotlandThe Trossachs is an area of lochs and mountains. Rob Roy and his family are buried here. The English tried to stamp out the MacGregor name, forbidding anyone to use it. See http://www.clangregor.org/history-kill. It is said that many MacGregors in the villages, after the name ban, took the name of White, or Black. See http://www.open.org/glennab/macgregorfamilyhistory.
Are we one of those, the Blacks of Grandmother Teressa Black fame? Probably not, but how to tell.
Some went back to MacGregor - meanwhile, they were also called Children of the Mist. See www.lenymede.demon.co.uk/history/rob_roy. There he is. He refused to drop the name: MacGregor Despite Tnem reads the inscription.
His arms are very long in the statue shown at the site. They say his arms hung down to his knees, and that is why he was such a fierce swordsman. More history, the legend, and pictures, are at http://www.incallander.co.uk/rob_roy. The film is often rerun: Rob Roy with Liam Neeson, who is far taller than short Rob Roy here. The filming took place in a similar area, see this map: http://www.scotlandthemovie.com/movies/frobroy.
The grave is at Balquhidder Kirk (Church). Under the crest at the grave is written, "MacGregor despite them." A while back I found on YouTube a short video of the church and this gravesite. Go look.
Getting there:
Take the back road, not the main one, and you will come to an old manor house, where the people serve soup and tea and sandwiches. A real home, trying to make ends meet. The Rob Roy residence itself was a long walk, a dirt road going farther away than I was comfortable doing by ourselves, so we didn't do it this trip. It also was getting late. Plan the time and do it if you get there.
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* See YouTube and Rob Roy's Grave. History at Rob Roy History; Trossachs area, including Balquhidder, at Trossachs.
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