Lochranza itself lays along both sides of the loch it is named after, though the main focus of activity is on the south western side. The mouth of the loch on this side is home to the ferry slipway, and as you progress along the shore from here you pass a string of cottages, hotels and guest houses and the village hall. Beyond the head of the loch is the field centre, St Bride's Church, a caravan and camping site, and the distillery. The north east side of the loch is home to a narrow road backed by cottages, while Lochranza Golf Club occupies the land at the very head of the loch itself.
Amongst the hazards you might expect on a golf course are others you might not. The area around Lochranza is home to a large population of red deer, and these can often be seen grazing on the golf course itself. The mountainous surroundings also make this an ideal location for golden eagles, while the shore of Loch Ranza is the place to look for the seals that are often on view, and the otters that can sometimes be glimpsed by the more observant.
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Lochranza Castle enjoys a superb location on a spit of land projecting out into Loch Ranza from its south west side. As a result it provides a focal point for much of the village of Lochranza as it wraps around the loch, and features in many views of different parts of the village.
The castle you see today looks to be a fairly typical L-plan tower house with a single small entrance facing west towards the land access from the village along the spit. Internally the ruin has three distinct parts. The main block of the castle was divided in two, with the south end providing a single large room on each of three floors. The north end provided rather smaller rooms on its four levels. At first floor level the floor in the south end of the castle has long gone, but this would have been the castle's great hall, while the first floor of the north end was home to the kitchen. The third main element of the castle is its tower, attached to the west side of the south end and originally standing five storey’s high.
Today it is possible to access the ground and part of the first floor of the north end of the castle and the ground floor of the south end.
A major recent development in Lochranza was the formal opening by the Queen in 1997 of the Visitor Centre for the Isle of Arran Distillery. The distillery itself had begun production in 1995 and was the first (legal!) distillery on Arran for 160 years. It can be found in purpose built premises at the southern end of the village. There is a visitor centre, tours of the distillery can be taken, and a restaurant.
Lochranze is also the pick up point for the Claonaig – Lochranza car ferry, which will take you across to the Mull of Kintyre. The Ro-Ro ferry, which holds approximately 10 cars and 100 passengers takes about 30 minutes to cross to Claonaig.
Catacol is a tiny village approximately 2 miles south of Lochranza.
Catacol's main feature is the row of cottages called the 'Twelve Apostles'. They were built to house those people cleared from the surrounding countryside, when much of the interior of the island was set aside for deer. The theory was these former farmers would turn to fishing, and with this in mind, each of the twelve cottages had a differently shaped first floor windows. This would allow the woman of the house to signal to her husband by placing a candle in the window while he was out fishing in the Firth of Clyde. The husband would know who was being signalled by the shape of the window. In reality, most of the dispossessed moved away to other parts of the island in protest against their eviction. Some of the cottages are now self catering establishments and holiday homes.
The views here are across the Kilbrannan Sound to the Kintyre Peninsula, and settlement is slight and scattered. The peaceful and picturesque clachan of Pirnmill is the nearest thing this shoreline has to a village.
Most place names on Arran can be traced back to Gaelic or Norse origins. Pirnmill is a little different. It is named after a pirn mill established here in about 1780 to make use of the power of the fast flowing Allt Gobhlatch as it makes its way steeply from the mountains to the sea. A pirn mill was a mill that made wooden bobbins for the cotton industry, and the mill that was established here was built by J & P Clarks of Paisley, a company that later became part of the Coates Group. For sixty years the mill busied itself producing bobbins for the cotton industry until, in 1840, the exhaustion of all the woodland within economic carrying range of the mill led to is closure.
The Old Mill
Pirnmill Stores and Restaurant.
Pirnmill Village from the south.
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