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Rosneath (Ros Neimhidh in Gaelic) is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It sits on the western shore of the Gare Loch near to the tip of the Rosneath peninsula which projects south to the Firth of Clyde between the Gare Loch and Loch Long to the west, and about 2 miles (3 km) from the village of Kilcreggan which is sited on the southern end of the peninsula, on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The Gare Loch narrows at Rosneath to under half a mile (around 600 metres) at a place known as the Rhu Narrows after the village of Rhu on the eastern shore of the loch.
As of the 2001 census, its population was 931. Rosneath lies approximately 44 miles from Glasgow by road. It is situated on the B833, a shoreside minor thoroughfare that serves the peninsula.
The Rosneath area has been settled from at least 600 A.D. onwards, when St. Modan, a travelling missionary, founded a church there. The name Rosneath may have its roots in this era; it is derived from the Gaelic Rossnachoich, meaning "Virgin's Headland." Another account indicates that it may come from Ross-neoth, or unwooded headland.
Later, the area was heavily fortified, with Rosneath's own castling joining those of nearby Faslane and Shandon, all of which are long since gone. Rosneath village did not yet fully exist by this time; instead, Rosneath parish was home to many free-standing dwellings, the occupants of which were for the vast bulk of the area's history employed in agriculture and fishing. Frequent shipping services to Glasgow, Greenock and beyond were vital for the local economy until recently.
Rosneath castle was ruined and rebuilt many times; the final rebuilding came in 1803, three years after the previous building burnt down. Located further uphill from previous versions, it belonged to the Duke of Argyll whose family retained it until Princess Louise died in 1939. In stark contrast to the earlier castles, it was in the Romanesque style.
From 1941 to 1945, Rosneath was home to an important naval base, thanks to its location in the well-sheltered natural harbour of the Gare Loch. The Americans used Rosneath Castle as a base of operations. The castle was later demolished in 1963.
The Rosneath peninsula was formerly in the traditional County of Dunbarton until local government reorganisation moved it into the Argyll and Bute council area in 1996.
The founder of the first Rangers FC team, Moses McNeil, lived at Clynder, just outside Rosneath. He was buried at the Old Churchyard of Rosneath in 1938. His death went unnoticed at the time by the press and media and he had nothing to leave in his will. Rangers FC and the local community intends to recognise the spot with an appropriate monument.
St Modan was the son of an Irish chieftain. He became a monk and built a chapel at Dryburgh, Scotland, in 522 which he used as a base for several years. This later became the site of a monastery: Dryburgh Abbey.
He actively proselyted on behalf of the Celtic church in the Falkirk and Stirling areas, and along the Forth, continuing until he was elected abbot, a post which he accepted reluctantly. After a number of years he resigned and became a hermit, settling in the Dumbarton area, where he eventually died. His relics were enshrined at Saint Modan's church, Rosneath.
Saint Gilda’s (c. 494 or 516 – c. 570) was a prominent member of the Celtic Christian church in Britain, whose renowned learning and literary style earned him the designation Gildas Sapiens (Gildas the Wise). He was ordained in the Church, and in his works favored the monastic ideal. Fragments of letters he wrote reveal that he composed a Rule for monastic life that was a little less austere than the Rule written by his contemporary, Saint David, and set suitable penances for its breach.
There are two Lives of Gildas: the earlier written by a monk of Rhuys in Brittany, possibly in the 9th century, the second written by Caradog of Llancarfan, a friend and contemporary of Geoffrey of Monmouth, composed in the middle of the 12th century. Caradog does not mention any connection with Brittany. Hence some scholars think that Gildas of Britain and Gildas of Rhuys were distinct personages. However on other details the two Lives complement each other.
Gildas's work is important for reasons beyond the historical information he provides. It is clear that at the time when he was writing there was an effective (and British) Christian church. Gildas uses Latin to address his points to the rulers he excoriates; and he regards Britons, at least to some degree, as Roman citizens, despite the collapse of central imperial authority. By 597, when St Augustine arrived in Kent, what is now England was almost completely pagan, and the illiterate new rulers did not think of themselves as Roman citizens. Dating Gildas's words more exactly would hence provide a little more certainty about the timeline of the transition from post-Roman Britain to the rule of the Anglo-Saxons; a certainty that is would be the more valuable as precise dates and reliable facts are extremely scarce for this period.
January 29th. St. Gildas.
One of the most famous of all early Celtic missionary-monks, he was born in about 500 probably in the Clyde Valley in Scotland and died in Brittany in about 570. He was a married man, but after being left a widower he joined the monastic community at Llanilltud (Llantwit, in Glamorgan). He was spiritual guide to a number of visiting monks, including some from Ireland; he also visited Ireland and kept up correspondence with remote monasteries. In about 540 he wrote a famous work of religious-political history, later used by the Venerable Bede, which showed how corruption by native British officials in state and church left the way open for the Anglo-Saxon invasions [a parallel to the theological history of ancient Israel, where the collapse of the monarchy and the fall of Jerusalem was attributed to religious infidelity]. He spent some time as a hermit in the Bristol Channel, and ended as a monk on an island off the Morbihan coast of southern Brittany, a spot known by his name to this day.