Island of Kerrera And Gylen Castle On Visit To The Inner Hebrides Of Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video, with Scottish music, of Gylen Castle on the Island of Kerrera, Scottish Gaelic: Cearara, on ancestry visit to the Inner Hebrides. Gylen Castle is a ruined castle, or tower house, on a promontory overlooking the Firth of Lorne. Built in 1582 by the Clan MacDougall. Gylen was only occupied for a relatively short time. The castle was besieged then burned by the Covenanters under General Leslie in 1647 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was also the place where King Alexander II of Scotland died in 1249. The surname McDougal was first found in Galloway, Gaelic: Gall-ghaidhealaibh, an area of southwestern Scotland, now part of the Council Area of Dumfries and Galloway, that formerly consisted of the counties of Wigtown and Kirkcudbright, where they were descended from Dugall eldest son of Somerled, first Lord of the Isles, and his son Duncan who received the lands of Lorn. The Clan was a bitter foe of Robert the Bruce, who made a narrow escape during one battle with the MacDougals only by discarding his cloak. The brooch of this cloak, now known as the Brooch of Lorn, is a treasured possession of the Chief of the Clan. The Clan faced heavy retaliation and was stripped of their lands once Robert the Bruce secured the Scottish throne. The lands were restored to the Clan upon the death of the king, but passed to the Stewarts in 1388 when the last member of the senior branch of MacDougals died without issue. James McDougal arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship Sir Charles Forbes in 1839; Christina McDougal, aged 20, a seamstress, arrived in South Australia in 1858 aboard the ship Frenchman; Mr. McDougal, a Scottish settler travelled from Greenock by Glasgow aboard the ship Philip Laing arriving in Otago, South Island, New Zealand on 15th April 1848; Archibald McDougal settled in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, in 1813; Mary McDougal arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1835; Allan McDougal, aged 29, arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, America, in 1864. The surname has many spellings including; MacDougall, MacDowall, MacDowell, MacDugald, MacDill, McDougal and many more. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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