Rossdhu House

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Rossdhu (Gael. ros-dubh, `dark headland'), the seat of Sir James Colquhoun, Bart., in Luss parish, Dumbartonshire, on a small promontory of its own name, on the W side of Loch Lomond, 3 ¼ miles S of Luss village. A handsome edifice, built about 1774, it stands near remains of an older tower, and a roofless chapel used as the family burying-place; and has beautiful wooded grounds, partly extending along the lake's shore, partly ascending Creachan Hill and Tom-na-Cona, and partly including islands in the lake. On 29 Sept. 1875 the Queen ` drove up to the house, and, without getting out of the carriage, received a nosegay from Sir J. Colquhoun's little girl and a basket of fruit.' The estate belonged anciently to the Earls of Lennox; was given, about the beginning of the 12th century, to the Dean of Lennox; and went by marriage, in the reign of Robert Bruce, or the early part of the 14th century, to Sir Robert de Colquhoun, whose nineteenth lineal descendant, Sir James Colquhoun, twelfth Bart. since 1625 (b. 1844; suc. 1873), holds 67, 041 acres in the shire, valued at £12,846 per annum.—Ord. Sur., sh. 38, 1871. See also Inchmurrin; Fruin Water; Lomond, Loch; and Dr Wm. Fraser's The Chiefs of Colquhoun and their Country (2 vols., Edinb. 1869).

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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