Tighanleys

Most of House of the Glimmering Light is set at Tighanleys, a boarding school in winter and hotel in the summer months, located on the edge of Loch Etive, near Oban in Scotland. The House is described as "an ancient house, tall and grey, with crow-stepped gables and high narrow windows. It had begun life as a fortress; on one side its walls went down almost sheer into the Loch, and these grim, stout ramparts still stood, although later additions and alterations in the front of the house had given the whole a mellowed and softer air." The house can still be glimpsed from the road today. According to Alison Lindsay, the house is named Dunfiunary on a map published in 1904 and is actually much smaller than Tighanleys, with many rooms, including a secret room, being added to suit the plot. Like the Carmichaels' house in the Susan stories, Tighanleys has a character of its own and adds a special quality to the story. Indeed, the story is named after the house. In Chapter 6, we are told that Tighanleys means House of the Glimmering Light.
Alison Lindsay described her day at Connel in her article entitled Connel Ferry and the House of the Glimmering Light, published in in Folly Magazine, Volume 18.
A map of the area showing the location of Tighanleys is shown below. Click on it for a larger view.