The village of Arrochar is nestled in the shadow of the Cobbler, beneath the Arrochar Alps, at the head of Loch Long.
The name Arrochar comes from the Gaelic and Irish corruption of the Latin word aratrum, or plough and carrucate which was a measure of land between 100 and 160 acres, representing the land which could be worked by one plough team in a year.
In Arrochar itself, the head of the loch is marked by Shire Bridge, once the boundary between Argyll & Dunbartonshire. For centuries it was more than just a line boundary on a map. Until the late 19th century, it also marked a cultural boundary with Gaelic spoken on the west side of Loch Long and English spoken on the 'lowland' shore.
It was not until 1249 that Arrochar and Argyll were even considered to be part of Scotland and not Norway. The Vikings, however, did not recognise this distinction and because an agreement between the kings of Scotland and Norway decreed that the Norsemen could rule anything they could sail their boats around, the area came under brief Viking rule in 1263.
The marauding Vikings sailed their long ships up Loch Long and then dragged them across the narrow strip of land to Tarbet on Loch Lomond before sailing back down and raiding Dumbarton making off with 200 boat loads of loot. Their hold was shortlived, however, because they were routed at the Battle of Largs later that year.
Arrochar is the clan seat of the MacFarlanes, famous as cattle thieves but also as heroic defenders of their royal family. However eventually their lands were sold to the Colquhouns, and the clan home Invereach was renamed Arrochar House and is now part of the Claymore Hotel.
Livings have been made on the land, in forestry, and fishing, and even today Arrochar is a largely rural population with many people still working the land or in the forests of Argyll. The railway and the growth of steamer travel in the 1800s began the development of tourism and Arrochar grew to meet the demand of travellers with many bigger houses being built to provide holiday homes for rich industrialists form Glasgow. Mansefield House is one of these houses.
