"MacGregor Despite Them!" Dear friends, why Balquidder? There are other scottish villages with fine churches - but only Balquidder has the grave of Rob Roy! Robert Roy MacGregor was born in 1671 in Glengyle, a small village at Loch Katrine. His father was Donald MacGregor, his mother Margaret Campbell. This is important, because the MacGregors and the Campbells were enemies for centuries... Roberts gaelic name was "Raibert Ruadh" (the Red Robert, he had red hair). This is the origin of the name "Rob Roy". In 1693 Robert married Mary Helen MacGregor of Comer, Strathyre, some miles away from Balquidder. They had 4 sons. The clan MacGregor was not well established. Once the owner of great territories from Balquidder till the Loch Awe in the west (that included Loch Katrine and big parts of Loch Lomond) they lost their land at the Campbell family, when Robert the Bruce gave the Campbells the barony of Loch Awe, a big part of the MacGregor land. The Campbells grew up to the Earls of Argyll, the biggest landowners in Scotland, and the MacGregors decline. In 1604 the clan was banned by the english king after a battle with their neighbors, clan Colquhoun, when 200 Colquhouns but only 2 MacGregors were killed. From this moment the MacGregor clansmen were outlaws and they were ordered to take new names..... The MacGregors declined to cattle rustlers and deer poachers. This is the world of Robert MacGregor: A cattletrader, a cattle thiev and someone, who dealed with protection of cattle rustlers. Remembering a film scene from the 1995 film "Rob Roy". The cattle rustler Sam Tippett says" Robert Roy Mac Gregor, you are talking as a big clan chief, but you are only a normal cattle rustler - as we all!" When McGregor lost money and could not pay his main creditor, James Graham, 1. Earl of Montrose, his house at Inversnaid at Loch Lomond was burnt down and his land captured. In a feud Robert MacGregor and his clanmembers fought for some years as guerilleros. In 1722 Robert must give up and was arrested till 1727. Then he returned to Balquidder as a scottish hero. Here he died in 1734. The MacGregor clan members were treated as criminals. Many of them were sent as prisoners to Western Virginia. As the clan was re-established in 1774, 823 men who had alived declared themselves as MacGregors. Robert the Red was a legend at his time. English mothers told their children: "Be good, or Rob Roy will catch you!!" The grave includes Robert, his wife Helen and 2 of their sons. The grave is directly in front of the old church, a ruin. People spend money to put it on the grave (you can see it here) and I could see with my own eyes a man who directed his little son to take pictures of his dad at the grave, a long procedure. The tartan at the left side shows the colors of the recent MacGregor clan. The street to Balquidder is very narrow, it is not passable for caravans and keeps tourist busses away. Balquidder has no parking place, is this possible? Yes, it is.... Hope you enjoy the pic and the story. Thanks for your comments for my last pic. Bye till tommorrow, billyboy...