Glendaruel
River at Clachan of Glendaruel.
Scotland
Scotland
Glendaruel
Location within Argyll and Bute
OS grid referenceNR 99662 84521
Council area
  • Argyll and Bute
Lieutenancy area
  • Argyll and Bute
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townDUNOON, ARGYLL
Postcode districtPA22
Dialling code01369
UK Parliament
  • Argyll and Bute
Scottish Parliament
  • Argyll and Bute

Glendaruel (Gaelic: Gleann Dà Ruadhail) is a glen in the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.

The main settlement in Glendaruel is the Clachan of Glendaruel.

Features

Kilmodan Church, Argyll

The present Kilmodan Church was built in the Clachan of Glendaruel in 1783. The Clachan of Glendaruel is the current location of Kilmodan Primary School,[1] and the ground of Col-Glen Shinty Club.

The ruined Dunans Castle is also located in Glendaruel,[2] while Glendaruel Wood and Crags and the Ruel Estuary are both included in the List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Mid Argyll and Cowal.

As the nearest Hospital is some miles away in Dunoon, a disused phone box in the village was converted to house a defibrillator. Just weeks before the installation, a tourist in Glendaruel had died from a heart attack.[3]

Decline

The community is home to around 188 people as of 2008 and has been subject to a general decline in the late 20th century continuing into the early 21st century. The closure of the Glendaruel Hotel, a 17th-century coaching inn housing the only local pub, was in particular described as "a body blow." The hotel closed not long after a widely publicized legal case was won by three Polish former employees who had been described as "Polish Slaves" by a former hotel proprietor, who subsequently went on to sell the hotel in 2007, failing to advise the new proprietor of the impending legal case, forcing the new owner into voluntary bankruptcy when his business was ruined by the adverse publicity.[4] Over the past two decades a number of facilities within the community have been lost, notable examples include the post office, general store and tearoom with even Kilmodan Church becoming part-time, holding services only 2 Sundays in a month.[5][6][7][8]

Glendaruel is marked out at government level as a typical example of a 'failing' rural village in an area of 'deprivation'.[9]

School

Kilmodan Primary has been earmarked for closure at various times in recent decades including in 1998 and in 2010 when the school roll stood at just 22 students.[10][11][12][13] As of June 2012 the school had "two teachers, 19 pupils and handful of support staff."[14]

School year2002/032003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/092009/102010/112011/122012/132013/20142014/2015
Total school roll23212227232627212219191714

Notable residents

Cultural depictions

Mythology

Glendaruel is thought to be one of the glens praised in the Gaelic poem "The Lament of Deirdre",[17] 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.

Music

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. The tune of The Glendaruel Highlanders was used for the popular Scottish comic song Campbeltown Loch, as sung by Andy Stewart.

Geography

References

  1. ↑ "Kilmodan Primary School". Argyll & Bute Council. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  2. ↑ "SCOTLAND | Police probe castle fire". BBC News. 14 January 2001. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  3. ↑ "Good call for disused phone box. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  4. ↑ "Warning as Polish staff win case". Glasgow Times.
  5. 1 2 Kirsty McLuckie (15 July 2008). "Pubs are often the canary in the coalmine for small communities – News". The Scotsman. UK. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  6. ↑ "HOTEL BOSS CALLED US 'POLISH SLAVES' Sacked cleaners win 16k pay-out. – Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 15 May 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  7. ↑ "MY POLISH SLAVES; Taunts from hotel boss cost him pounds 16k at tribunal. – Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 15 May 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Gordon Thomson (15 May 2007). "Warning as Polish staff win case". Evening Times. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  9. ↑ "News Archive". Dunoon-observer.com. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  10. ↑ "11 rural primary schools face axe". Herald Scotland. 19 February 1998. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "False economy of school closures". Herald Scotland. 20 March 1998. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  12. ↑ "1998: Mike Russell helps save school. 2010: Same primary faces axe again - News". The Scotsman. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  13. ↑ "Bleak News For Cowal Schools". Dunoon-observer.com. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  14. ↑ "Fruit from the Skills Trees - News". TES. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  15. ↑ DOUGLAS FRASER, Scottish Political Editor (29 May 2007). "Swinney pledges to speed up SNP's reforms". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 10 November 2011. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  16. ↑ "About Mike | Mike Russell MSP for South of Scotland". 13 March 2010. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  17. ↑ "The Lament of Deirdre". Electricscotland.com. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
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