IN this week's Eye on Millig, Leslie Maxwell looks at how a little bit of Helensburgh history ended up inspiring an annual sporting tournament in an eastern USA state.

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A LITTLE part of Glen Fruin can now be found at a golf club near Chicago.

Earlier this year Eye on Millig reported on the Merit Club’s plan to create its own monument to the 1603 Battle of Glen Fruin on the course at Libertyville, Illinois, 45 miles north of Chicago.

For 14 years members had taken part in an annual club tournament called ‘The Battle of Glen Fruin’, created by member Mark Jensen after reading about the battle.

On the tenth anniversary of the event in 2015, a party of 48 members of the club travelled to play it over the Loch Lomond course at Luss.

This summer the club got in touch with Helensburgh Heritage Trust for help in creating a replica of the Fruin monument erected in 1968 at the west end of the glen, looking east over the area where the famous battle took place on February 7, 1603.

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John Vernasco said that he was working with landscape architects to build the monument with rocks and stones from the Chicago area, and wanted it to be of a similar size.

Heritage Trust treasurer Stewart Noble was able to tell him that the boulder was 32 inches high at the front and 19 inches at the back, the diameter at the top 25 inches, and its circumference at the base 79 inches.

The club’s aim was that their own version should be ready for this year’s tournament at the start of October. They succeeded - and it certainly looks the part.

John tells me: “The 15th edition of the Battle of Glen Fruin was fought here at the Merit Club on Friday and Saturday, October 2 and 3, and the MacGregors prevailed for the second year in a row!”

They split up the club into two teams based on the two clans, Clan Colquhoun and Clan MacGregor, in what is the premier event of the club year. One of the traditions was The March of the Pipers up the 18th fairway on the evening of the gala opening reception dinner.

Some changes had to be made to the agenda because of the precautions taken due to the pandemic, with only one piper instead of the intended pipe band travelling from Scotland.

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“It was another memorable event,” John said. “What made it so enjoyable to all was not just the competitive golf played but the Glen Fruin rock monument dedication ceremony. The membership loved it!

“This was the first year we created a programme guide and I think you’ll appreciate how we represented the Glen Fruin rock monument in the guide. It was important to have all the members understand what we were trying to replicate.

“We were able to create something close to the actual monument in Scotland, placing it beside the teeing area of the first hole.

“All the rocks, including the large boulder on the top, were found on the Merit Club property.

“The large boulder was near a bridge on hole three and the base rock was found in a field just north of the hole eight tee area. This made the founder of our club, Bert Getz Snr., very happy.

“The etching was done by Troost Monument, a business that does etching for cemetery markers.

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“We made a change to the wording on the rock in order to reflect the original Battle of Glen Fruin that took place on our golf club in 2006. I hope the Trust is not offended by our decision to vary the wording.”

Also in place is a copy of the explanatory information plaque designed by Sarah Cromer and written by Stewart Noble which was added to the glen monument when it was refurbished by the Trust in recent years.

John added: “We had 100 members participating, a record turnout. Everyone was very impressed with the monument and excited to have this as a major part of future battles and a celebration destination for the winners.

“The red rock beside the monument is placed there by the winning team signifying to everyone playing the golf course for the next year that the MacGregors were victorious.”

The Fruin memorial was built by two English soldiers after local artist Gregor Ian Smith, who lived in the glen and had campaigned for several years for the memorial, sought the help of the Army Training Camp at Garelochhead.

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On top of a huge boulder brought there by glacial action, they placed a smooth-faced granite boulder from the bed of the River Fruin. A local stonemason created an appropriate inscription.

In fairness to the raiding clan - the MacGregors - James Kirkpatrick, a timber merchant, decided that the cairn must include stones from their territory.

So he travelled to Balquhidder in Perthshire and brought them back to be cemented in place.

The battle took place between the Colquhouns and the MacGregors, who had been raiding the Colquhoun lands, on a flat piece of ground near Auchingaich and left up to 200 dead.

The number of Colquhoun dead was very much greater than MacGregor dead, and the MacGregors were subsequently severely punished for their actions.

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* Email your suggestions for historical Helensburgh and Lomond topics that could be covered in future Eye on Millig articles to milligeye@btinternet.com.