Loch Lomond

History

People first arrived in the Loch Lomond area around 5000 years ago, during the Neolithic era. They left traces of their presence at places around the loch, including Balmaha, Luss, and Inchlonaig. were built at points in the loch. The crannog known as "The Kitchen", located off the island of Clairinsh, may have later been used as a place for important meetings by Clan Buchanan whose clan seat had been on Clairinsh since 1225: this usage would be in line with other crannogs such as that at Finlaggan on Islay, used by Clan Donald. During the Early Medieval period viking raiders sailed up Loch Long, hauled their longboats over at the narrow neck of land at Tarbet, and sacked several islands in the loch. Loch Lomond became a popular destination for travellers, such that when James Boswell and Samuel Johnson visited the islands of Loch Lomond on the return from their tour of the Western Isles in 1773, the area was already firmly enough established as a destination for Boswell to note that it would be unnecessary to attempt any description. The depression in which Loch Lomond lies was carved out by glaciers during the retreat of the last ice age, during a temporary return to glacial conditions known as the Younger Dryas. Locally this is known as the Loch Lomond Readvance, between 20,000 and 10,000 years ago. to create a narrow, fjord-like finger lake.This area is underlain by ancient Precambrian and Cambrian schists and quartzites, which contributed to the formation of the deep and narrow northern basin, reaching depths of up to 190 metres. Further south the glaciers were able to spread across the softer Lowland sandstone, leading to a wider body of water that is rarely more than 30 m deep. The southern part of the loch features younger Devonian sandstones and…