The villages of Colintraive and Glendaruel are situated on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll and Bute on the west coast of Scotland. The area is known locally as Colglen. The old name of the Glen is Glenduisk, meaning "The Glen of Blackwater". About 1110 a battle was fought between Mekan, King of Norway and son of Magnus Barefoot, and the Gaels, in which the invaders were defeated and the slaughtered thrown into the River Ruail or "Ruel", Glen-da-Ruail (Glen of red blood). The clachan, Glenderwell or Glendaruel was anglicized to the name we know as Glendaruel.

Glendaruel is thought to be one of the glens praised in the Gaelic poem "The Lament of Deirdre", in which reference is made to a Glenndaruadh. It is found in the 15th-century Glenmasan manuscript, which may go back to an original written down in 1238. Deirdre is a tragic heroine in Irish mythology, and in the poem she is lamenting the necessity of leaving Scotland to return to Ireland.

Glendaruel is the inspiration for a number of bagpipe tunes, including The Glendaruel Highlanders, The Sweet Maid of Glendaruel, and The Dream Valley of Glendaruel.