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Skipness Castle
Skipness Castle maps
Historic maps of Skipness Castle and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Skipness Castle maps
Skipness Castle area books
Displaying 1 of 2 books about Skipness Castle and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Skipness Castle
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Argyll memories
Happy Days
I was born Elizabeth McNab in Druid House, Kames on the 27/3 /42. My parents, brother and sister and I went every year on holiday and stayed at the Old Smiddy in Millhouse. Mum's cousin Mary McTaggart ran the post office which is only a shell now but she would cook potatoes on an open fire for us, magic, the smell of wood smoke - there is nothing like it, oh the old days, I wish we could bring them back. Alas, I've only memories to pass on. II remember hot days at Ostell Bay, bitten by midges, ah, riding our bikes, going for walks up the woods with Uncle Malcom Currie. I went back 8 years ago on my 60th birthday and bumped into a long lost friend Catriona Cook. Everything had changed, the Old Smiddy, postoffice - MEMORIES?
Childhood Memories
We moved into Tighnabruaich when I was almost 8 yrs old. Our 1st house was on the Ardmarnock Est between Millhouse and Otter Ferry. We stayed there for around a year before moving into Corra Farm on the Ardlamont Est near Ardlamont House.
I used to go to Tigh. Primary School before moving onto Dunoon Grammar School.
I remember Pamela Briggs, Val, Karen + Sidney Moebeck, The Dillons Neil and Tom. Angela Whyte. Frank + Pamela Coutts who lived along the road from me. As did the McCrae brothers Donald + Iain just to name a few. I enjoyed the country life the peace and quiet without all the hustle and bustle of city life.
I've been back quite a few times to the old town and the farm either on my own time or as a tour driver with a party of visitors.
I could get very used to being a country gent.
In the immortal words of the song ''If I could turn back time'' I... Read more
Childhood Memories
My maiden name was Margaret Connelly and I was taken to Tigna from birth for holidays up to the age of 13. My aunt had a wee place just at at the back of Corran Cottage in the village just at the side of the burn. My mother, her sister, two cousins and my Aunt Jenny's sister in law and myself all squeezed in to that wee place. There was no electricity, only oil lamps and cooking was done on the open fire. My Aunt Jenny could play the piano and we often visited a neighbour who had one, it was the happiest time of my life. My daughter Linda and I are frequent visitors and on one occasion Linda found out that the owner would let us have a wee look. It was owned by a local business person and used for storage. We could not believe that it had not changed at all! Looking from the door across the burn, there is a gravesone in the... Read more
Rothesay in Wartime
My father, 'John' Johnson, was a chaplain in the Royal Navy from 1943-46. He was based on HMS Cyclops, the submarine depot ship, in Rothesay harbour The family accompanied him to Rothesay and we lived at 2, Desmond Bank for a time and in other places. My Dad occasionally helped with services at a Presbyterian church in Rothesay. I attended school for the first time in Rothesay with my elder brother Tim.
My memories of the area are dim but I visited last summer and revived some of them. I remember from my childhood some high swings at Kilchattan bay (no longer there) and finding a duck egg while walking in woods at Ascog (later put into a cake by Mum!). I remember a boy taking us to a pond and saying to us 'If ye're not there in two ticks, I'll murder ye!' - still the only thing I can say in a convincing Scottish accent! I remember VE day with the ships lit up in the bay.
Last... Read more
A Sort of Evacuee...
My family have been on Bute for many hundreds of years but I was born in South Wales...Dad was a master Mariner and died in 1935. I have written a description of boyhood on Bute through the War and this is in the Bute Sons and Daughters Genealogical site. We lived at Ardbeg point all through the war and saw the Subs, Midget Subs, Frogmen, Commandos and landing craft together with the damaged ships being brought in with survivors and boats still burning in some cases... It was an exciting time to be a boy on Bute!
Of course, I remember the Trams, miniature Railway at Ettrick Bay etc. There don't seem to be many of us left!
Old Port Bannatyne
This is a favourite view of photographers taken from McIntyre's Boatyard. In the distance you can see St Bruoc's church which burnt down in 1956. In the foreground is a boat hiring station, one of three in the village. This one did not last into the 50's but the other two did. The next one along was McMillan's and there is another one on the far side of the stone pier run by Harry Stewart and Arthur Robertson well into the late 60's. In this era the bay was a well known visiting point for yacht crews, sadly today this has changed but the advent of a new Marina on the site of McIntyre's Boatyard may change all that.
Early 1960s to Present
Early 1960s - to present. I have this picture in my house because in the background on the hill are the tenement type flats I remember as a child. This flat saw 5 generations of holidays in the Port. I go back and visit every year and find it sad to see this building almost a ruin.
