IT is a home fit for a lord – and experts believe this is what the medieval residence of the Lords of the Isles would have looked like.
Cultured and powerful, this is where the MacDonald family entertained guests and administered their lands, which stretched from the Hebrides into mainland Scotland and Ulster.
But the Islay seat of power was sacked in the 1490s as King James IV worked to lessen the influence of the family which traditionally held the Lordship of the Isles.
Many of the buildings were destroyed and the site began to fall into obscurity.
Now St Andrews University experts have used cutting edge archaeology to revisit the property in its 15th century heyday, when, according to Dr Bess Rhodes, the Lords and their followers lived in comfort, “pampering their dogs with decorative collars, and enjoying music, imported wine and board games”.
The images, which shows the twin islands of Eilean Mor and Eilean na Comhairle and their surroundings on Loch Finlaggan, are based on discoveries made by the Finlaggan Archaeological Project. They also reveal a lack of defensive features, which the team believes illustrates how secure the MacDonalds felt in their powerbase.
Rhodes said: “Finlaggan was an amazing place to recreate digitally.
“Even today the islands of Eilean Mor and Eilean na Comhairle are beautiful places, and in the Middle Ages they were the site of a remarkable complex of buildings which blended local traditions with wider European trends.”
Dr Ray Lafferty, secretary of the Finlaggan Trust, said: “Despite its impact on the shaping of Scottish culture, Finlaggan and the Lordship remains little known to many.
“With this virtual reality reconstruction, we hope to give some sense of the site at the zenith of its power, when MacDonald rule stretched from the Glens of Antrim in Ireland to Buchan in the northeast of Scotland,” he added.
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