Lorne, Scotland
Once labelled the "Charing Cross of the Highlands" because of the range of steamer connections with the islands and Argyll coast, Oban is still a busy port for ferries, cruise liners, fishing boats and pleasure craft.
[6] In the Iron Age, the inhabitants of Lorn established a number of hillforts, of which the most substantial was Dun Ormidale, located at Gallanach, south of Oban.
In around AD 500, Loarn mac Eirc (a brother of Fergus Mór) became king of Dál Riata, founding the Cenél Loairn.
In the 9th century, Viking invasions led to the destruction of Dál Riata, and its replacement by the Kingdom of the Isles, which became part of the crown of Norway following Norwegian unification.
Throughout the early 13th century, the Scottish King, Alexander II, had made aggressive attempts to expand his realm into Suðreyjar, despite Edgar's earlier quitclaim.
In 1266, his more peaceable successor ceded his nominal authority over Suðreyjar to the Scottish king (Alexander III) by the Treaty of Perth, in return for a very large sum of money.
Alexander generally acknowledged the semi-independent authority of Somerled's heirs; the former Suðreyjar had become Scottish crown dependencies, rather than parts of Scotland.
When the Bruce defeated John, he declared the MacDougall lands forfeit, and gave them to the MacDonalds and MacRory, with the latter acquiring Lorn (and hence, Mull).
The 1354 quitclaim, which seems to have been an attempt to ensure peace in just such an eventuality, took automatic effect, splitting Mull from Lorn, and making it subject to the Lordship of the Isles.
Upon John's death, the leadership of the MacDougalls passed to Alan, in accordance with Gaelic succession law (in which bastards could inherit, as long as they were acknowledged by their father).
This may have given rise to the traditional folk song, The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward, as pro-MacDougall propaganda (using the romance Roswall and Lillian as its template).
In 1468 (5 years after William Stewart had surrendered the office), Sir Colin was acknowledged as the Lord of Lorne, which became a subsidiary title of the earldom.
Sir Colin's heirs appointed a hereditary captain of their own, rather than holding it directly - a fact which became the subject of a 20th-century court case over residency.
In 1746, following Jacobite insurrections, the Heritable Jurisdictions Act abolished comital authority over Lorn, and Campbell control of the Argyll sheriffdom.
Even in the area around the capitals, the local settlement was a mere village, supporting very few households, and only small scale fishing, trade, shipbuilding, or quarrying.
In the late 19th century, the construction of the Callander and Oban Railway brought a further burst of economic improvement, and helped to alleviate conditions in other parts of Lorn.
