Kilmahog is a hamlet situated half a mile to the west of Callander

Callander

Callander is a burgh in the region of Stirling, Scotland, situated on the River Teith. The town is located in the former county of Perthshire and is a popular tourist stop to and from the Highlands....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

Geography

Kilmahog lies on the Garbh Uisge

Garbh Uisge

Garbh Uisge is a short river of approximately 7 km in the Trossachs of Scotland just north-west Callander. It is the outflow of Loch Lubnaig and joins with Eas Gobhain west of Callander to form the River Teith...

, also known as the "River Leny", at the junction of the Trossachs

Trossachs

The Trossachs itself is a small woodland glen in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It lies between Ben A'an to the north and Ben Venue to the south, with Loch Katrine to the west and Loch Achray to the east. However, the name is used generally to refer to the wider area of wooded glens and...

 and Lochearnhead

Lochearnhead

Lochearnhead is a village on the A84 Stirling to Crianlarich road at the foot of Glen Ogle, north of the Highland Boundary Fault...

 roads. The village today consists of a few houses and two woollen mill retail facilities (the Trossachs Woollen Mill and the Kilmahog Woollen Mill,) with farm land to the north and forestry to the south. There is a local pub, near the site of the old chapel, called The Lade Inn, and the Scottish Real Ale shop, aiming to stock all bottled Scottish ales. The "lade" is a man-made diversion from the river that was used to power the watermills.

Samson's Putting Stone sits precariously on Bochastle hill. Local tradition has it that this stone came to be here as a result of a putting competition between a family of giants. The winner of the competition was Samson who lived on Ben Ledi

Ben Ledi

Ben Ledi is a mountain in Perthshire, Scotland. It is 879 m high, and is classified as a Corbett. By road it lies about eight kilometres north-west of Callander, near the village of Kilmahog...

. A modern interpretation is that the stone was carried by glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

s from the Glen Dochart

Glen Dochart

Glen Dochart in Perthshire, Scottish Highlands is a glen which runs from Crianlarich eastwards to Killin, following the course of the River Dochart as it flows through Loch Dochart and Loch Iubhair. It is met by Glen Ogle at Lix Toll....

 region and left here when the ice retreated.

History

Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 ramparts

Defensive wall

A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...

 can clearly be seen in the fields to the east of the former railway. The former Callander and Oban Railway

Callander and Oban Railway

The Callander and Oban Railway company was formed in 1864 with the objective of linking Callander, Scotland to the west coast port of Oban over challenging terrain, particularly at Glen Ogle and the Pass of Brander at Loch Awe. Callander had been reached in 1858 by the Dunblane, Doune and Callander...

 line passed through Kilmahog; this is now part of the National Cycle Network

National Cycle Network

The National Cycle Network is a network of cycle routes in the United Kingdom.The National Cycle Network was created by the charity Sustrans , and aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. In 2005 it was used for over 230 million trips.Many routes hope to minimise contact with motor...

 (route 7) and the Rob Roy Way

Rob Roy Way

The Rob Roy Way is a Scottish long distance footpath that runs from Drymen to Pitlochry. The path was created in 2002 and runs for . The route crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, a geological fault where the Highlands meet the Lowlands...

. The village sits at the Northern point of a loop known as the Trossachs

Trossachs

The Trossachs itself is a small woodland glen in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It lies between Ben A'an to the north and Ben Venue to the south, with Loch Katrine to the west and Loch Achray to the east. However, the name is used generally to refer to the wider area of wooded glens and...

 Bird of Prey

Bird of prey

Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....

 Trail.

Kilmahog used to be the site of St. Chug's chapel, after which it is named. All that remains of the chapel now is a small burial ground with stones dating back to the late 17th century. It was the site of an early 19th century toll house and later a tweed mill.

Use in fiction

• Kilmahog was used as the inspiration
  Inspiration
  Inspiration or Inspire may refer to:* Artistic inspiration, sudden creativity in artistic production* Biblical inspiration, the doctrine in Judeo-Christian theology concerned with the divine origin of the Bible...
  
   for the main setting in the fictional novel
  Novel
  A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
  
   "Under the Mountain" by Sophie Cooke
  Sophie Cooke
  Sophie Cooke is a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet, and travel writer. Speaking in an interview with Aesthetica magazine in 2009, Cooke has said that her work is primarily concerned with questions of truth. She has developed the notion of truth as a depreciable asset...
  
  .