Arran: a history

Arran is an archaeological and geological treasure trove of stunning scenic beauty. Its history stretches back to the great stone circles, more than 5,000 years old, whose remnants still decorate the plains of Machrie. Runic inscriptions tell of a Viking occupation lasting centuries. Later, in 1307, King Robert the Bruce began his triumphant comeback from Arran. Subsequently, the island was repeatedly caught up and devastated in the savage dynastic struggles of medieval Scotland. After the 1707 Parliamentary Union, came a new and strange upheaval - unwarlike but equally unsettling: Arran.;Cover; Title page; Copyright page; Dedication page; Contents; List of Illustrations; Introduction and Acknowledgements; Chronology and Currency; 1. Early Times; 2. Human Colonization; 3. The Ancient Monuments (1); 4. The Ancient Monuments (2); 5. The 'Dark Ages'; 6. Myth and Religion; 7. The Early Middle Ages and Arran; 8. Reorganizing the People; 9. Arran in Bruce's Wars; 10. Arran under the Stewart Dynasty; 11. Heads roll: the 'Good Duchess' to the rescue; 12. The Eighteenth Century: Squabbles and Sin; 13. Enclosure, Clearance, Disruption, Famine; 14. Napoleon, the Press Gang, the Smugglers.