•  Aros, Argyll

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In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Aros like this:

Aros, a village, an ancient castle, a rivulet, and a bay, on the NE coast of Mull island, Argyllshire. The village stands contiguous to the bay, 7 miles SSE of Tobermory, on the road thence to at once the south-eastern, the southern, and the western parts of the island; overlooks the central part of the Sound of Mull; is the residence of the Duke of Argyll's factor; and has a post office, with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, under Oban, and an inn. ...

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The castle stands on a high basaltic promontory at the side of the bay; was built before the time of Robert Bruce, and inhabited by the Lords of the Isles; was defended, on the land side, by moat and drawbridge; has a spacious esplanade extending to the extremity of the rock, and probably enclosed by a wall; was itself no more than a massive oblong tower, about 40 feet high; and is now reduced to two of its walls and part of a third. The site of it is strong, and the grounds adjacent to it soar into wild cliffs, seamed by fissures and channelled by cascades. The rivulet drains Loch Eriza, a lake about 4 miles long, extending to within 3 miles of Tobermory; and it runs from the lake about 3½ miles south-eastward to the bayat the village. The bay has not much capacity, and is of half-moon outline; yet is made by Sir Walter Scott the rendezvous of the ships of the ` Lord of the Isles, '-

Look where beneath the castle grey,
His fleet unmoors from Aros Bay.'

Aros through time

Aros is now part of Argyll and Bute district. Click here for graphs and data of how Argyll and Bute has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Aros itself, go to Units and Statistics.

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