Rob Roy's Grave Balquhidder
Rob Roy MacGregor's grave in the churchyard at Balquhidder in the Stirlingshire Highlands is one of the most visited heritage sites in the Scottish Highlands, the last resting place of the famous Highland outlaw, cattle drover, Jacobite supporter and folk hero whose life has been celebrated in novels, films and plays since Sir Walter Scott made him the subject of his 1817 novel Rob Roy and cemented his place in the mythology of Highland Scotland. The grave, with its simple iron-railed enclosure containing several MacGregor family graves, stands in the peaceful churchyard of the ruined old church of Balquhidder in a setting of great beauty above Loch Voil. Rob Roy MacGregor was born in 1671 and died in 1734 after a turbulent life of cattle dealing, money lending, military service with the government and against it, outlawry following the ruin of his business dealings with the Duke of Montrose and the various episodes of adventure and escape that made him a legend in his own lifetime. His transformation from a complicated and sometimes morally ambiguous historical figure into the romantic Highland hero of Scott's novel and subsequent popular culture reflects the process by which Scottish Highland culture was reinterpreted for Romantic sensibilities in the early nineteenth century. The Balquhidder churchyard contains graves from both the original medieval church and the subsequent building, and the ruined walls of the older structure frame the MacGregor graves in a composition of considerable charm. The Glen Voil road providing access to the more remote glens beyond and the walks along the lochside from Balquhidder village provide excellent opportunities to experience the Highland landscape that Rob Roy inhabited.