Although the road from Stirling to Oban passes along the north shores of Loch Awe, up until the latter part of the 19th century there were practically no human habitations between Dalmally and Taynuilt. The arrival of a railway made the loch less inaccessible and people started to settle in the area. Walter Douglas Campbell, younger brother of the First Lord Blythswood, bought from the Marquis of Breadalbane the Island of Innischonam, on which he built for himself a stately mansion-house. There he settled with his sister Helen and his mother. Local tradition has it that the elder Mrs. Campbell found the long drive to the parish church in Dalmally too much for her, and that her son accordingly decided to build her a church nearby. That church is St. Conan's Kirk.