Ardura
File:Road looking towards Strathcoil from Ardura - geograph.org.uk - 1803755.jpg
{{Coord|56|24|30.8|N|5|45|11.5|W|display=title}}
Ardura is a small settlement and rural estate on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. It is south-west of Lochdon. Areas nearby include Ardachoil Farm and Inverlussa.
The river Lussa runs through Ardura emptying in the northern part of Loch Spelve.{{cite web | title=Loch Spelve – UKS7992312 | url=https://www2.sepa.org.uk/shellfish/pdf/14.pdf | access-date=2025-03-03 |publisher=SEPA}}
Cruach Ardura is a hill in the south-west of Ardura (217m elvation).{{cite web | title=Cruach Ardura | website=UK mountain Guide | date=2016-10-11 | url=https://www.themountainguide.co.uk/scotland/cruach-ardura.htm | access-date=2025-03-03}}{{cite web | title=Argyll and Bute, Highest Mountains in Scotland, Mull | website=Mud and Routes | date=2019-01-13 | url=https://www.mudandroutes.com/summit/cruach-ardura/ | access-date=2025-03-03}}
History
File:Ardura monument to Poet MacPhail, Mull.jpg
Strathcoil was an historic township in the area that originally had at least three buildings in the late 19th century but all are now ruined.{{cite web | title=Mull, Strathcoil | website=Canmore | date=1998-07-27 | url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/22416/mull-strathcoil | access-date=2025-03-03}}
In the 18th and 19th centuries, oak woodlands were planted to the south of Ardura.{{cite web | title=Mull, Cruach Ardura | website=Canmore | date=2019-09-26 | url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/239569/mull-cruach-ardura | access-date=2025-03-03}} Tanbark and charcoal were produced for a furnace at Lorna.
In 1929, a stone momument was unveiled to the Gaelic poet Dugald MacPhail (1818-87) at the Strathcoil road junction in Ardura that connects with Lochbuie.{{cite web | title=Mull, Ardura Lodge | website=Canmore | date=2019-09-26 | url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/141806/mull-ardura-lodge | access-date=2025-03-03}}{{cite web | title=MacPhail Monument from The Gazetteer for Scotland | website=Gazetteer for Scotland | url=https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst19807.html | access-date=2025-03-03}} The statue was unviled by Mrs Murray Guthrie, a female banker and chairman of the Parish Council at the time. It can still be seen. Dugald lived at the now ruined Strathcoil settlement in Ardura and wrote several Gaelic songs and poems including An t-Eilean Muileach (The Isle of Mull).{{cite web | title=(150) | website=National Library of Scotland | url=https://digital.nls.uk/early-gaelic-book-collections/archive/76500985?mode=transcription |access-date=2025-03-03}}
Buildings
File:Ardura, a farm at Strathcoil - geograph.org.uk - 4532552.jpg
Ardura lodge is a hunting lodge on the Ardura Estate.{{cite web | title=Mull, Ardura Lodge | website=Canmore | date=2019-09-26 | url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/141806/mull-ardura-lodge | access-date=2025-03-03}}
There is a farm at Ardura.
Community facilities
There is a community forest park at Ardura that is managed by residents of the Mull and Iona Community Trust.{{cite web | title=Ardura Community Forest | website=Mull and Iona Community Trust | url=https://www.mict.co.uk/projects-services/ardura/ | access-date=2025-03-03}}{{cite web | title=Ardura Community Forest | website=Forest Stewardship Council UK | url=https://uk.fsc.org/ecosystem-services/ardura-community-forest | access-date=2025-03-03}}{{cite web | title=Ardura Community Forest | website=Scottish Land Commission | url=https://www.landcommission.gov.scot/our-work/good-practice/community-benefit/ardura-community-forest | access-date=2025-03-03}} It was purchased and restored by the trust with the aid of grants in 2019.{{cite web | title=Restoring nature at Ardura Community Forest | website=Highlands & Islands Environment Foundation | date=2024-11-15 | url=https://hief.scot/grants/restoring-nature-at-ardura-community-forest-mull-iona-community-trust/ | access-date=2025-03-03}} The oldest known tree in the forest is a holly tree dated to 1733 and much of the woodland contains ancient oaks.