The Isle of Arran

Pevensey Island Guides

by Robert McLellan

The Isle of Arran (Islands Series)

Genres: Travel

267 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 1976

About the author

Robert McLellan OBE was a Scottish dramatist, poet and writer of the Linmill Stories, working principally in Scots. His plays were generally popular comedies with exceptionally well-realised historical settings, including most notably Toom Byres, Jamie the Saxt, Torwatletie, The Flouers o Edinburgh and The Hypocrite. He also wrote works of dramatic verse such as The Carlin Moth. His Linmill cycle of short stories, collected posthumously in 1990, are amongst the most important examples of Twentieth Century prose in Scots.

Reviews

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great and interesting potted history of Arran. A bit detailed in some places for the overall narrative to be fully absorbable and I would probably be giving it 3* for that if I didn’t love Arran so much and therefore love reading about it! Keen to know what happens between 1975 when it was written and now!

[Ape · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction book to the Isle of Arran, with some fantastic glossy scenic photographs that make me want to hop in the car right now and drive on up there. I've not been to Arran (yet) so I can't comment on whether it covers all of the essential points of interest, but it seems pretty comprehensive, taking chunks of the island at a time and pointing out interesting places, bits of history (back to the stone age and onwards), geology, industry, things to do etc. It may be a little out of date however for some facts - copyrighted at 1995, so telephone numbers, companies etc probably aren't to be relied upon. Also the fact that it mentions at one point that all the distilleries on Arran have closed, which I guess must have been true at the time, but I thought there was one running now? I've drunk Arran Gold (like Baileys but even better!) in the last few years. However, you can hardly slate a book for not knowing what the state of the island will be in the future! There are some suggestions of places to go walking, but I wouldn't think it would be too clever just using this book to go off walking in the hills, and a proper walking guide and/or OS map would be more useful. Also a bit bemused by the page at the end suggesting interesting visitor centres to visit - all of which are on mainland Scotland?! I'm reading about Arran because I want to know about Arran.
As said though, good introduction and lots of gorgeous photos.

[^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ideal companion on two visits to Arran, the most southerly (a day-trip from Glasgow) of the western Scottish islands. Given that there really is not a lot to do on Arran other than walking (very good walking at that); I found this book to be an invaluable companion when it rained!

The contents are refreshingly broad in their range: landscape - natural history - pre-history - Celtic and Viking invasions - feudal overlords - the Clearances - The resort to tourism - the growth of democracy - Arran today (which, of course, is now 'Arran forty years ago'. A bibliography and index are included.

There is a short section on geology (of which the island has some remarkable examples, including the unique 'Hutton Unconformity'; which no geologically-minded visitor or geology undergraduate should omit to view.