The tune is
named for pipe maker Peter Henderson,.
Peter Henderson is known to
have started his bagpipe making business in Glasgow in
1880, having taken over the premises of Donald MacPhee.
He was also pipe major of the 1st Lanark
Rifle Volunteers, and commemorates the habit of route
marching to summer camp.
Strachur
lies on the east shore of Loch Fyne and continues a
little way inland along the A815, the road that crosses
the Cowal Peninsula via Loch Eck and the end of Holy
Loch to Dunoon. The pass followed by this road has
throughout history formed one of the easiest routes
across Drumalban, the spine of mountains which for long
periods in the early historic era formed a boundary
between the Scots of Dalriada to the west, and the Picts
of Pictland or Pictavia and Britons of Strathclyde to
the east.
The
village was originally called Kilmaglas or Kilmoglash
apparently a corruption of the name of the early church
here, Kilmolash, or "Church
of St Molaise". The name "Strachur" seems to come from
the Gaelic "strath cor" and probably means "twisting
valley": though an alternative interpretation would see
it originate in the Gaelic for "the glen of the heron".
Equally unclear is when the name Strachur began to be
applied, and why Ordnance Survey maps name the village
as Clachan Strachur.
The
inland part of the village is also home to the
attractive Strachur Parish Church strikingly placed
within its oval churchyard on the far side of a small
valley. Much of the structure of the church dates back
to 1789, though many of the details and most of the
interior come from major renovation in 1903. Outside the
church it is worth looking out for the 11 tapering grave
slabs dating back as far as the 1300s that have been set
into the outer wall.
Downhill
from the original village, the main road brings you to
the shore of Loch Fyne. Nearby is Strachur House built
by General John Campbell in the 1780s; though added to
over the years. There are also more houses and a shop
here overlooking Strachur Bay. The bay was where local
farmers and fishermen worked to build their own pier to
allow steamers to service the village.
By the
early 1900s, tourism already played an important role in
the local economy. The "Loch Eck Tour" involved
passengers disembarking from steamers at Dunoon before
travelling by carriage along Loch Eck, then meeting
another steamer for the return journey to Glasgow at
Strachur, or going on to Inveraray to meet a boat there.
These tours still took place as late as the 1960s,
though by then the horse drawn carriages had been
replaced by coaches.
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