Loch Achray
| Loch Achray | |
|---|---|
looking west to Ben Venue
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| Location | Stirling, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 56°13′N 4°24′W / 56.217°N 4.400°WCoordinates: 56°13′N 4°24′W / 56.217°N 4.400°W |
| Basin countries | United Kingdom |
| Average depth | 11 m (36 ft) |
Loch Achray is a small freshwater loch 11 kilometres west of Callander in Stirling district, Scotland.
The loch lies between Loch Katrine and Loch Venachar in the heart of the Trossachs and has an average depth of 11 metres. The south side of the loch is wooded and well served by woodland tracks and forest roads. The loch is popular with anglers who fish for brown trout. Loch Achray is well known for its sheltered location, giving rise to placid waters offering magnificent reflections of the woodland to the south, the mountains and forests to the north and the majestic crags of Ben Venue to the west.
Loch Achray was for a time the home of James "Beg" Stewart (c1410-1470) of Baldorran, the son of James Mor Stewart (known as "James the Fat"), who fled into exile in Ireland when his father Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany was executed for treason by James I of Scotland in 1425. James the Fat would never return to Scotland, and he was unable to inherit the Albany estates, but James "Beag" Stewart was able to secure a royal pardon and return to Scotland. He is the ancestor of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich on Lochearnside, whose family history is recounted by Sir Walter Scott in A Legend of Montrose.
Stewart had a small hunting lodge on the small island at the west end of Loch Achray, "to which he resorted on any sudden emergency as a place of safety". Alexander Campbell, writing in 1812, tells the following story:
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