Rob Roy’s Grave

• Location: Balquhidder Parish Church, 8PA, Lochearnhead
• Opening times: Graveyard 24 hours; church daily during daylight hours
• Entry: Free, although donations welcome
• Access: Limited free parking (3 – 4 cars) onsite

‘A famous man is Robin Hood, the English ballad singer’s joy! And Scotland has a thief as good, an outlaw of as daring mood. She has her brave Rob Roy!’

So wrote William Wordsworth in 1803 after a visit to Rob Roy’s grave, in what was clearly one of his off days. Fourteen years later, Sir Walter Scott published Rob Roy, and MacGregor’s shift from minor historical figure to romantic folk hero was complete.  In reality, MacGregor was the head of a protection racket that charged farmers five percent of their annual income to ‘watch over’ their herds. After this ‘business’ failed, he became an out-and-out cattle thief. He eventually settled in Balquhidder when his outlaw days were over and died there in December 1734.

His grave is located just beyond the entrance to the graveyard and directly in front of the Old Church and is immediately recognisable by the low black railing surrounding it. There are three flat tombstones within the enclosure with Rob Roy reputedly interred beneath the middle one, with his widow Mary to his left, and his sons Coll and Robert to his right. These flat stones and their rudimentary carvings date from a time long before Rob Roy. MacGregor’s age at the time of his death is erroneously given as 70, when he was in fact 63. A stone at the head of the enclosure bearing the legend ‘MacGregor Despite Them’ is a recent addition (1981) and reference when James VI outlawed the entire MacGregor clan in 1603, making it a capital offence to bear that surname.

The Old Church, whose ruins lie adjacent to the MacGregor plot, dates from 1631, and replaced the thirteenth century original, and was in turn superseded by the current church, constructed in 1855. Tradition states that Saint Angus first brought Christianity to the area in the late 500s, but exact dates are unknown. A large gravestone which was originally located in the thirteenth century building now stands inside the current church and features a carving of the saint holding a chalice.

Entrance to the graveyard, the Old Church ruin, and the current New Church, is free, although donations to help maintain this charming little site and its buildings are welcome.

Destination or Diversion?

The graveyard and its twin churches make for a charming stop but is no more than a diversion. If the weather is good, a hike up Tom nan Naingeal (‘the hill of fire’) offers commanding views of the area and is recommended. The path up the hill can be found behind the New Church.