The old name of the Glen is Glenduisk, meaning “The Glen of Blackwater”. About 1110 a battle was fought between Mekan, King of Norway (son of Magnus Barefoot) and the Gaels. The invaders were defeated and the slaughtered were thrown into the River Ruail, hence Glen-da-Ruail meaning Glen of Red Blood. The name of the clachan was anglicised to Glendaruel.

A prominent landmark in Glendaruel is Dunans Castle and bridge. The last major addition to the building was made in 1864 when a new wing was added and the house became “a castle”. Prior to this in 1815, the present bridge over the River Ruel was designed and built by Thomas Telford for the Fletcher family to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon by the British Army at Waterloo. The castle was burned down in January 2001, but a renovaton project is now underway.

An excavation carried out by Cowal Archaeological Society, at Achategan, on the slope of the hill across the road from the Clachan, revealed a series of occupations of the site going back as far as the Neolithic period, about 5000 years ago.

To the rear of Glendaruel Caravan Park can be found gates which are replicas of the gates of the city of Lucknow. A former resident of the house, long since destroyed by fire, Sir Colin Campbell, led the relief of Lucknow.

Kilmodan Church in the Clachan of Glendaruel
Built in 1783, this Church is the third on the same site but with a different alignment and it is thought that there have been churches on this site since the 10th or 12th century when the church was moved from further up the hill by St Modan’s Well.

St. Modan, to whom the church is dedicated, was an early Celtic saint who lived about the time of St. Columba. His original chapel is said to have been on the hillside to the East of the present church, but the site has not so far been located. There are the ruins of a small building which some archaeologists believe to be St Modan’s original chapel.

The 17th century stone on the exterior of the south wall bearing the coat of arms and the initials SDC is said to have come from the previous church and probably commemorates either Sir Dugald Campbell, the first baronet of Auchenbreck who died in 1643, or his namesake, the third baronet, who died in 1661.

John MacLaurin, minister of Kilmodan from 1689-1698, super-intended the printing of the first complete Gaelic psalter in 1694. His son, Colin MacLaurin, the famous mathematician, was born in 1698 in the old manse, still to be seen behind the present one. In 1725, he became Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University. He died in 1746 having published much on mathematical and scientific subjects.

Kilmodan Church has an interesting layout containing 3 galleries, the precentor’s chair and table and interlocking communion tables. It is of a T-plan, particularly suited to preaching and peculiar to Scotland. There are interesting plaques concerning John McLaurin and memorials to those who served in the two World Wars. The church yard contains interesting flat stones and a Lapidarium thought to be the burial ground of the Campbells of Auchenbrech, Glendaruel which now contains carved stones from the 13th – 15th Century.