Saddell Castle (7)
A lot of history has happened around here - which, thanks in particular to the work of Landmark Trust's researchers, we know much of!  Just a short distance up the glen, close to where you need to park to walk down here, are the remains of Saddell Abbey, which was founded by Somerled, the great mid-12th-century Norse-Gaelic lord; ruler of Argyll, the Isle of Man and the Isles, whose descendants, the Lords of Isles, ruled the Western Isles until the late 15th century.  Somerled was killed in 1164 at Renfrew, and there is a tradition that he was buried here (other sources say Iona).  Bishop Malachy of Armagh came here in the 1140s looking to found a Cistercian monastery and Somerled granted him the land.  

Somerled's son Raghnall re-endowed the abbey in 1160.  While little of the abbey has survived (most of its stone has been incorporated into the castle buildings), there is a fine collection of West Highland medieval tombstones there.  Whether Somerled was buried here or not, Saddell certainly became an important Macdonald burial ground for important Macdonalds.
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