 A Covenanter army under Sir David Leslie arrived on Islay in 1647, and besieged the royalist garrison at Dunnyvaig, laying waste to the island.It was not until 1677 that the Campbells felt sufficiently at ease to construct Islay House at Bridgend to be their principal, and unfortified, island residence.At the beginning of the 18th century much of the population of Argyll was to be found dispersed in small clachans of farming families and only two villages of any size, Killarow near Bridgend and Lagavulin, existed on Islay at the time.