Although Arran has been a holiday island for 150 years, it still has an air of mystery. With its soaring peaks and shady glens, stories of the wee people are many and varied. 

Approaching Arran by sea looks like you are arriving in a magic kingdom, with its soaring mountains and even a magic castle perched on the corner of the bay at Brodick. No wonder fairy myths and legends abound. Here are some of them

Looking towards the sea from The String Road - fairyland?

ARRAN ELVES

by Jack House

Around here (Glen Sheraig), as in most parts of Arran, there is a deal of fairy lore. Arran has fairies of its own. Here are three kinds of fairy - the brownies, the bocans and the bleaters.

The brownies are the traditional "little folk" and in many farmhouses a dish of milk is left out at night for them to sup. The bocans are big, tough, nasty fairies and do harm to people. The bleaters come drifting into your houses at night and sit by the fire and weep. They are the Arran equivalent of zombies.

Not long ago, a holidaymaker who was boarding at a farm in Glen Sheraig was warned by his host not to go out walking late at night. The visitor paid no attention to this warning and about 2am, when he found he wasn't sleeping well, he decided to go for a walk up the String Road. he rose and dressed and climbed the hill. When he reached the first bridge on the other side he looked down at the burn beneath. In the shade of the trees he saw a man standing so he shouted a greeting. The figure raised its arms as if it held a bow and arrow and suddenly the visitor felt such a violent pain in his left leg that he fainted.

When he regained consciousness, it was broad daylight. His leg was still sore but he could see no mark on it. He hobbled back to the farm in Glen Sheraig and confessed to the farmer what had happened. "Ah yes" nodded the farmer instantly, "that would be an elf-shot"

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THE FAIRY ISLAND

Just off this (south) coast of Arran is supposed to be a fairy island in the style of the one described by J.M. Barrie in Mary Rose. The story is that some fairies decided to leave Arran and go to Ireland. But their fairy boat stopped at this island and they went ashore. They have been there ever since. If your steamer cruises round this coast and you see an island, don't land on any account or you may never be able to leave it again.

About Jack House

Jack House, "Mr. Glasgow", was born in Glasgow in 1901 and was one of Scotland’s best known journalists and historians, a regular contributor to all of Glasgow's evening newspapers, and latterly the Evening Times, which also featured his weekly "Ask Jack" column. He was renowned for his prolific writings on all aspects of Glasgow and his best known work is probably "Square Mile of Murder". Jack House was awarded the St. Mungo Prize in 1988 and died in 1991. The extracts reproduced above are taken from his book "Down the Clyde" first published in 1959.

Lochranza Castle - fairyland?

The Lochranza Fairy legend

Lochranza is associated with a fairy legend. According to the tale a midwife was collecting a harvest from the side of the loch with her neighbours. Suddenly a large yellow frog appeared, and one of her neighbours went to kill it. She stopped her, thinking that the frog seemed to have an air of the otherworld about it.

The next day she was back at the loch side when a young boy appeared from out of nowhere riding a grey mare. He told her that she had saved the queen of the fairies, who had been disguised as the yellow frog. He offered her safe passage to the land of the fairies, and she mounted the horse and rode into the other world.

While in fair Elfland she became a midwife to the fairy queen. 

There are other fairy associations in the area. Further North is Fairy Dell, perhaps once seen as an entrance to the other world. Someone has even made a small seat and placed it by the water for the fairies to rest upon!

(Adapted from "Mysterious Britain Gazetteer")