Shandon

Shandon is a village on the open sea loch of the Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Shandon overlooks the Rosneath Peninsula to the west and is bordered by Glen Fruin (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Freòin) to the east, which is the site of the Battle of Glen Fruin, one of the last clan battles in Scotland, fought on 7 February 1603, in which an estimated 300 warriors on foot from the MacGregor Clan claimed victory over an estimated 600–800 men from the Colquhoun Clan on horse-back. The village of takes its name from the Gaelic name ‘sean dun’, meaning old stronghold, a mediaeval fortification on the hill slope above Balernock. Shandon is 4 miles (6 kilometres) northwest of Helensburgh, 9 miles (14 kilometres) west of Loch Lomond and 33 miles (53 kilometres) northwest of Glasgow city centre. An affluent small community, it developed alongside other similar settlements in the area in the 19th century, from a hamlet to a fashionable residential area for wealthy Glasgow merchants and several mansion houses still remain. The village lies along the hillside and consists of private residential dwellings. Shandon Castle and Faslane Castle, dating from the Medieval age once occupied prominent positions in the area.