The Lake Dwellings

As well as those bringing peace, however, there came those interested in stealing and killing, and the people on the loch-side had to find means of defending themselves. They built islands in the loch as places of refuge and defence. All the islands in Loch Tay are man-made and, when one considers the depth of the loch,one can only wonder at the enormity of the undertaking. The biggest and, historically, the most important, is the Island of Loch Tay, known locally as Sybihla Island, which is situated a quarter of a mile west of Kenmore Bridge. It was on this Island that Sybihla, Queen of Alexander I of Scotland, died and was buried in 1122. After her eath,the
king gave a charter to the monks of Scone, giving all rights pertaining to the island so that a Church could be built there — “so that the place may be renowned for its service to God”. A Priory was built on the island. This in time became a Nunnery. However, the Nuns were withdrawn from it and when the Campbells of Glenorchy came, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, they took over the buildings on the island and made them into a fortified house.

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