A Visit to Scotland
A brief travelogue from the previous century
In 1999, I was serving in the U.S. Air Force and stationed at a tiny base in Lincolnshire, England. My parents came to visit in April, and we rented a people mover for a road trip to Scotland.
You can’t see him, but wee baby Seamus is in that photo, as well - Kate was still in her first trimester. Between her morning sickness, and Dad’s motion sickness, some parts of the drive were more memorable than others. Specifically, when we drove along the shores of some of the gorgeous - but very, very twisty - lochs.
We chose Dunstaffnage Castle near Oban as our destination because I had learned that the McCullough clans were allied to the MacDougalls who built this castle. We didn’t have the robust and in-depth Internet resources that we have now (like that link to the Historic Environment Scotland website), so I was doing my best to learn what I could at the local library in Lincolnshire.
Since my research was limited to a couple of paragraphs in a book about Clan history, I knew that the MacDougall Clan had fought against Robert the Bruce and that the castle was passed to the Campbell earls later. The castle was built around 1220 by Duncan MacDougall and then managed by the Campbells from the 1460s.
One would think that 500 years might be enough time for the heat of these conflicts to subside. One would be misled.
After our tour of the grounds and the reading of several placards, we stepped into the small gift shop. (“I love a little shop. So people can…. shop.” ~the Doctor)
The shop was run by a sweet, middle-aged lady whose name tag indicated that her surname was Campbell. She fawned over our wee bairn, and we chatted amiably about our visit and the research I had done. Until she asked how we were related to the castle.
“Oh, my wife’s family was apparently allied with the MacDougall clan.”
Things got quite frosty after that. It was as if we had just revealed a cunning plan to retake the castle for the Crown through the means of snapping photos and trudging up and down wet, wooden steps.
If you have a family history-related trip you’d like to share, but don’t have your own blog, drop me a note and we can discuss working up a guest post.
I’d love to hear your comments - if I know what you’re most interested in, I’ll know what to write about next!
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