[1][2] Appin is located on the Scottish West Coast between Benderloch to the South and the Ballachulish Narrows to the north in modern-day Argyll.

There are numerous sights of interest including Ardsheal's Cave, Castle Stalker, the Clach Ruric, Cnap a-Chaolais, Eilean Munde and Keil churchyard.

[1][2] Tradition tell us that in 1445, while returning to his seat at Dunstaffnage Castle from the great cattle tryst at Crieff, Sir John met and fell in love with the daughter of MacLaren of Ardvech.

The other plotters, which some feel included Colin Campbell, Lord Argyll, Sir John's son-in-law, were primarily represented by Alan MacCoul, the illegitimate grandson of an earlier MacDougall chief.

As the lightly armed wedding party made its way from Dunstaffnage to the small chapel about 180 yards from the castle walls, they were attacked by a superior force led by Alan MacCoul.

With his last breath Sir John married Dugald's mother, legitimising him and making him the de jure Lord of Lorn.

Dugald gathered all the adherents of the Lord of Lorn and with the assistance of the MacLarens laid siege to Dunstaffnage, but to no avail.

[1][2] For the next few years Dugald, who had lost the title of Lord of Lorn through the treachery of his uncle Walter Stewart and the lord of Argyll, but had retained Appin and Lismore, consolidated his power and fortified the hunting lodge of Castle Stalker on the Cormorant's Rock in Loch Laich.

[3] Though losing many men, Dugald virtually destroyed the military strength of the MacFarlanes (a destruction from which they were never to recover) and personally killed Alan MacCoul, his father's murderer.

The battle solidified Dugald's claim to Appin and the surrounding area, which was formally granted to him by King James III on 14 April 1470.

[1][2] In 1497 or 1498 Dugald Stewart of Appin was killed at the Battle of Black Mount fighting against the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch.

[1][2] Charles Stewart of Ardsheal, one of the Prince's commanding officers, hid from the British Red Coats in a cave as they searched up and down the country for those involved.

They suffered appalling casualties when breaking the ranks of Barrell's and Munro's regiments of foot of the Hanoverian army.

[1][2] Over the coming months 3,500 Jacobites were rounded up and imprisoned; of these 120 were immediately executed (mainly clan leaders) and a further 90 died in prison.

It can only be approached from one way – directly up the steep sided burn and is far enough away from Ardsheal House to make it a fairly arduous and demanding climb.

That said, Charles Stewart of Ardsheal was known to have been a large man of great personal strength and a proficient swordsman – one of the best in the highlands.

Although termed a 'murder' by a Campbell/Hanoverian court, the assassination of a land agent responsible for ordering mass evictions would not have been an uncommon occurrence in the 18th century British Isles.

Whoever the shooter may have been, after the chief suspect, Alan Breck Stewart, made his escape, the half-brother of the chief, a cadet named James of the Glens was charged with the murder, tried by a Campbell jury in the Campbell stronghold of Inveraray presided over by MacAilein Mòr himself, and, perhaps not surprisingly, was convicted and hanged on the shore of Loch Leven at Cnap a-Chaolais in Ballachulish.

The incident was made famous by Robert Louis Stevenson, the plot of whose novel Kidnapped incorporated the death of Glenure.

[1][2] The daoine uaisle (Gaelic: noble people), as they were known into the 18th century, are synonymous with the term "Tacksmen" and the modern designation of "cadet".

Normally related in one form or another by birth to the chief, these men controlled areas, or "tacks", within the greater clan lands.

[1][2] The Adherents or "septs" (a modern term) of Appin stem from families that lived in Lorn prior to the Stewarts gaining the Lordship and the clan coalescing.