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migovie
04-18-2004, 04:20 AM
to put everything simply and in basic form.......if you are a mactavish/mctavish and now live in New Zealand or Australia your ancestors stem from either Dunardry or Stratherrick. The Mactavish clan was small in number....a mid 1800s census shows the Argylle mactavish totalling around 250 and the Stratherrick 180.....so your family line is relatively easy to trace...even simpler when you realise the Stratherrick Mactavish fled from Argylle around 1400....we have an unbroken line of succession at Garthbeg going back to the arrival of "tavish the great" in 1400 up to Simon Mactavish who applied for arms in 1794 as "simon mactavish gartbeg"...and later became Simon Mactavish Dunardry ....and this title was inherited by his sons...who both died without heirs .
Stratherrick was settled in 1400 by the surviving son of the mactavish chief of dunardry( detailed in mathews doc. on gartbeg and confirmed by simon mactavish grant of arms in 1794)... it is stated a fight broke out between the 2 sons of this chief around 1400....the elder was slain and the survivor ....Tavish Mhor....left with a band of followeres and settled in Stratherrick....
Its obvious his departure pretty much split the mactavish clan in 2 ......and this legendary fight appears to have occured around the same time as the destruction of the legendary Mactavish castle at Dunardry. This event has puzzled me as I find no other clan having legend of this dunardry castle destruction .....and this would be a prized legend to retain within any clan......the backbone of any clans structure was "legends of victory"....why is there no record of this event ?.. the destruction of a castle would be right at the top of any clans important legend and clan story.
Does any neighboring clan have legend of any battle fought in their backyard between the mactavish and some other clan and this battle resulting in the total destruction of the mactavish clans home and castle.( and had this occured the campbell clan would certainly have knowledge/legend as they would be needing to keep aggresive clans from becoming their neighbors.......)
my suggestion is that perhaps this legendary fight between the mactavish chiefs 2 sons was far more than an "angered brawl.".....
Perhaps this fight did really divide the clan in 2 and perhaps this fight destroyed the castle from a dispute within.???.............
we are looking for legend of some victorious clan winning a battle against the mactavish and destroying their home and castle....without this legend surfacing ...it leaves the most likely scenario as being a huge internal struggle within the clan and this would probably be that documented fight between the chiefs 2 sons....and the subsequent documented division of the clan.....this would explain the dunardry mactavish dispersion into surrounding districts in argylle and also the departure of the victorious chiefs son to stratherrick with those clansman who must have 100% believed in him and his motives for the fight.....had this fight been a simple drunken brawl Tavish mhor would be out on his own and certainly no other mactavish clansmen would follow him into the unkown wilds of scotland .
My suggestion is the dunardry mactavish dispersed because their home was now destroyed and tavish mhor departed with the balance of the clan to settle in stratherrick for the same reasons....

clantavish1
12-19-2004, 12:29 AM
This is an interesting hypothesis about the split of the MacTavish clan ancestors, except the Castle at Dunardry was standing for many years after Tavish Mhor departed the clan. The full destruction of the MacTavish castle at "Dunardery" occured in 1809.

Also many MacTavish descendants had left Scotland by 1800 (census you mention).

An aerial Photograph taken by RCHAMS (Royal Commission for Historical and Ancient Monuments of Scotland) at Loch a?Bharain (Lake of the Baron) on 13 November 2001 rendered this:
Site Type: House; Enclosures; Boat Nausts; Ford
Types of Evidence: Aerial Photos / Field Observations / Documentary

The ruins of the ?house? of the Barons of Dunardry are reported N of Loch a'Bharain - Loch of the Baron. A 17th century MacTavish of Dunardry is recorded.

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From Argyllshire - (Dr. Mathews): the - Crinan Canal when passing through Dunardry lock is within two hundred yards of the site on which once stood this castle. (103) Rudal, within whose former limits is the historic Dun-Add, once the capital of the Dalriad Kings of Argyll, is a few miles to the east, the present Rudal mill being on the roadside and nearly opposite Dun-Add, but the Rudal farm is a little more eastly. This farm has always been regarded as the march or boundary between Lorne and Kyntyr. Scannish has probably anglicised its name and owing to this disguise we are unable to state its locality in Cowall.

Footnote 103. The Castle itself has now disappeared. Its ruins were visible till last century when a break having taken place in the Crinan Canal, all loose material in the neighbourhood was hastily collected to fill the gap. The neglected remains of Dun-ArdRigh were ruthlessly fastened on, leading of course to the sweeping away of all architectural remains. There is nothing now to mark even its site, beyond a few fruit trees in the corner of a grassy field which was evidently a postion of what had once been a garden.
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Crinan Canal
--From Canals and Waterways: Roots and Routes of Scotland
1801 The Crinan Canal officially opened but it was not properly complete. The western end had not been built properly and was far too shallow, the canal was also badly built in other places due to cost cutting and it was constructed only to a depth of 10 feet despite Rennie's recommendation of 15 feet. Rennie may also have been partly to blame for some of the problems, as with other canals which he built, he created an incredibly short summit level causing major water supply problems. The summit was only ? of a mile long with a flight of 4 huge locks at one side and 5 locks at the other!

1809 The canal breached resulting in the closure of the route. After more loans from the government the company repaired the damage and rebuilt some of the troublesome sections. They did not extend the summit level however, though they did create reservoirs to keep the canal topped up.
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This then is what happened to the MacTavish Castle at Dunardry. Having not been occupied for many years, it was torn down to fill the breach in the Crinan Canal. You can see its former location to this day at Loch a?Bharain, its footing stones found by Chief Dugald MacTavish of Dunardry, and the site was surveyed by the West of Argyll Archaelogical Service.

SEE URL:
http://www.mactamhais.liquidweb.com/dunardry.html

and see the Aercealogical Report here:
http://www.mactamhais.liquidweb.com/archrep1.html
and here:
http://www.mactamhais.liquidweb.com/archrep2.html

You can view a map of OLD (1654) KNAPDALE (Knapdalia) SCOTLAND marking the location of Dunardry Castle at URL:
http://:www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/map/early/blaeu/102.html+Knapdalia+map&hl=en

Click on the appropriate links on this page to Plus zoom and pan the map. Find Loch Auld na brain (old spelling of Loch a?bharain) and look directly above the Loch to see the ?Dunardery? Castle image.

Regards
Patrick