Isle of Skye
The Isle of Skye, commonly known as Skye (/skaɪ/; Scottish Gaelic: An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or Eilean a' Cheò), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although it has been suggested that the Gaelic Sgitheanach describes a winged shape there is no definitive agreement as to the name's origins. The island has been occupied since the Mesolithic period, and its history includes a time of Norse rule and a long period of domination by Clan MacLeod and Clan Donald. The 18th century Jacobite risings led to the breaking up of the clan system and subsequent Clearances that replaced entire communities with sheep farms, some of which also involved forced emigrations to distant lands. Resident numbers declined from over 20,000 in the early 19th century to just under 9,000 by the closing decade of the 20th century. Skye's population increased by 4 per cent between 1991 and 2001. About a third of the residents were Gaelic speakers in 2001, and although their numbers are in decline, this aspect of island culture remains important.
The main industries are tourism, agriculture, fishing and forestry. Skye is part of the Highland Council local government area. The island's largest settlement is Portree, which is also its capital, known for its picturesque harbour. There are links to various nearby islands by ferry and, since 1995, to the mainland by a road bridge. The climate is mild, wet and windy. The abundant wildlife includes the golden eagle, red deer and Atlantic salmon. The local flora are dominated by heather moor, and there are nationally important invertebrate populations on the surrounding sea bed. Skye has provided the locations for various novels and feature films and is celebrated in poetry and song.
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History
Prehistory
A Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site dating to the 7th millennium BC at An Corran in Staffin is one of the oldest archaeological sites in Scotland. Its occupation is probably linked to that of the rock shelter at Sand, Applecross, on the mainland coast of Wester Ross where tools made of a mudstone from An Corran have been found. Surveys of the area between the two shores of the Inner Sound and Sound of Raasay have revealed 33 sites with potentially Mesolithic deposits. Finds of bloodstone microliths on the foreshore at Orbost on the west coast of the island near Dunvegan also suggest Mesolithic occupation. These tools probably originate from the nearby island of Rùm.
Rubha an Dùnain, an uninhabited peninsula to the south of the Cuillin, has a variety of archaeological sites dating from the Neolithic onwards. There is a 2nd or 3rd millennium BC chambered cairn, an Iron Age promontory fort and the remains of another prehistoric settlement dating from the Bronze Age nearby. Loch na h-Airde on the peninsula is linked to the sea by an artificial "Viking" canal that may date from the later period of Norse settlement.[50][51] Dun Ringill is a ruined Iron Age hill fort on the Strathaird peninsula, which was further fortified in the Middle Ages and may have become the seat of Clan MacKinnon.
Early history
The late Iron Age inhabitants of the northern and western Hebrides were probably Pictish, although the historical record is sparse. Three Pictish symbol stones have been found on Skye and a fourth on Raasay. More is known of the kingdom of Dál Riata to the south; Adomnán's life of Columba, written shortly before 697, portrays the saint visiting Skye (where he baptised a pagan leader using an interpreter) and Adomnán himself is thought to have been familiar with the island.[56] The Irish annals record a number of events on Skye in the later 7th and early 8th centuries – mainly concerning the struggles between rival dynasties that formed the background to the Old Irish language romance Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin.
The Norse held sway throughout the Hebrides from the 9th century until after the Treaty of Perth in 1266. However, apart from placenames, little remains of their presence on Skye in the written or archaeological record. Apart from the name "Skye" itself, all pre-Norse placenames seem to have been obliterated by the Scandinavian settlers. Viking heritage is claimed by Clan MacLeod and Norse tradition is celebrated in the winter fire festival at Dunvegan, during which a replica Viking long boat is set alight.
Clans and Scottish rule
The most powerful clans on Skye in the post–Norse period were Clan MacLeod, originally based in Trotternish, and Clan Macdonald of Sleat. Following the disintegration of the Lordship of the Isles, Clan Mackinnon also emerged as an independent clan, whose substantial landholdings in Skye were centred on Strathaird. Clan MacNeacail also have a long association with Trotternish, and in the 16th century many of the MacInnes clan moved to Sleat. The MacDonalds of South Uist were bitter rivals of the MacLeods, and an attempt by the former to murder church-goers at Trumpan in retaliation for a previous massacre on Eigg, resulted in the Battle of the Spoiling Dyke of 1578.
After the failure of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, Flora MacDonald became famous for rescuing Prince Charles Edward Stuart from the Hanoverian troops. Although she was born on South Uist her story is strongly associated with their escape via Skye and she is buried at Kilmuir in Trotternish. Samuel Johnson and James Boswell's visit to Skye in 1773 and their meeting with Flora MacDonald in Kilmuir is recorded in Boswell's The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Boswell wrote, "To see Dr Samuel Johnson, the great champion of the English Tories, salute Miss Flora MacDonald in the isle of Sky, [sic] was a striking sight; for though somewhat congenial in their notions, it was very improbable they should meet here". Johnson's words that Flora MacDonald was "A name that will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour" are written on her gravestone. After this rebellion the clan system was broken up and Skye became a series of landed estates.
Skye has a rich heritage of ancient monuments from this period. Dunvegan Castle has been the seat of Clan MacLeod since the 13th century. It contains the Fairy Flag and is reputed to have been inhabited by a single family for longer than any other house in Scotland. The 18th-century Armadale Castle, once home of Clan Donald of Sleat, was abandoned as a residence in 1925 but now hosts the Clan Donald Centre. Nearby are the ruins of two more MacDonald strongholds, Knock Castle, and Dunscaith Castle (called "Fortress of Shadows"), the legendary home of warrior woman, martial arts instructor (and, according to some sources, Queen) Scáthach. Caisteal Maol, a fortress built in the late 15th century near Kyleakin and once a seat of Clan MacKinnon, is another ruin.
Clearances
In the late 18th century the harvesting of kelp became a significant activity but from 1822 on cheap imports led to a collapse of this industry throughout the Hebrides. During the 19th century, the inhabitants of Skye were also devastated by famine and Clearances. Thirty thousand people were evicted between 1840 and 1880 alone, many of them forced to emigrate to the New World. For example, the settlement of Lorgill on the west coast of Duirinish was cleared on 4 August 1830. Every crofter under the age of seventy was removed and placed on board the Midlothian on threat of imprisonment, with those over that age being sent to the poorhouse. The "Battle of the Braes" involved a demonstration against a lack of access to land and the serving of eviction notices. The incident involved numerous crofters and about 50 police officers. This event was instrumental in the creation of the Napier Commission, which reported in 1884 on the situation in the Highlands. Disturbances continued until the passing of the 1886 Crofters' Act and on one occasion 400 marines were deployed on Skye to maintain order. The ruins of cleared villages can still be seen at Lorgill, Boreraig and Suisnish in Strath Swordale, and Tusdale on Minginish.
Scottish Clans
The MacLeods of Dunvegan
Clann MhicLeòid | Clan MacLeod of Dunvegan
Arms of MacLeod
The history of the MacLeods of Dunvegan can be traced back to a 13th century ancestor called Leòd (meaning “ugly” in old Norse) who, until recently, was traditionally believed to have descended from the Norse King Olav the Black, ruler of the Isle of Man and the Hebrides. Recent claims, however, attest that Leod was not the younger son of Olaf the Black but a distant cousin of Magnus, King of Mann, from a female bloodline.
Whichever is the true claim, Leod nevertheless was a Norseman and his two descendants, Tormod (Norman) and Torcal (Torquill), were founding fathers of the two existing clan branches. They are, respectively: the MacLeods of Dunvegan, Harris and Glenelg (Sìol Thormoid) whose chief is MacLeod of MacLeod, based at Dunvegan; and the MacLeods of Lewis (Sìol Thorcaill) whose chief is MacLeod of Lewes, but whose lands and titles were lost to the MacKenzies in the 17th century.
Fame & Infamy
Iain Ciar MacLeod, 4th chief
Iain Ciar and his wife were a particularly infamous couple. He was described as a “tyrannical and bloodthirsty despot” who was not only hated by his enemy but also his own clansmen. His wife apparently had her two daughters buried alive in the castle dungeons for trying to escape the clan.
Alasdair Crotach, Alexander the Humpbacked, 8th chief
“The Crotach” is lauded as the MacLeods’ greatest chief. Said to have been mutilated by a strike with a MacDonald battle axe during the Battle of Bloody Bay off Mull, this belligerent warlord who was feared by many had an aesthetic side to his nature. He embraced culture: he positively encouraged dancing, poetry and music. He formed a piping college on Skye and installed the MacCrimmons as pipers to the MacLeod chiefs, a relationship that still lasts today. He built the castle’s Fairy Tower and entertained King James V to a mountain feast on Healabhal Beag, one of the MacLeod’s tables overlooking Orbost. ‘The Crotach’ spent the latter part of his final years living as a monk on Harris and died there in 1547.
Norman MacLeod 23rd chief
In 1739, Norman MacLeod of Dunvegan and Sir Alexander MadDonald of Sleat and others were accused of being involved in the kidnapping of 96 of their kinsmen, men, women and children with a view to selling them into slavery at £3 per head. The plot was led by Waternish tacksman Sir Norman Macleod of Berneray who managed to herd his victims onto a ship bound for the Americas. A storm wrecked the vessel off the coast of Northern Ireland and the reluctant passengers were all rescued.
John MacLeod of MacLeod, 29th chief
In 2000, John MacLeod attempted to sell-off the Black Cuillin for £10million in order, he said, to restore the dilapidated roof of Dunvegan Castle. At the same time, he also put forward plans to build a 60-80 bedroom hotel and leisure complex near the village. The intended sale of Scotland’s most iconic mountain range caused public outrage and fuelled a heated debate about Scotland’s ownership. When the plans fell through and the Cuillin taken off the market, MacLeod was forced back to the table for funding ideas. A subsequent bid to the National Lottery for £25 million with a promise to hand over the Cuillin and Dunvegan Castle to the public also failed. Further controversy followed his death in 2007 when he left £15million in his will.
Spoiling for a Fight
Until the Lordship of the Isles was forfeited to King James IV of Scotland in 1493, both MacLeod branches were loyal to MacDonald Lord of the Isles, and kinsmen from both families fought side-by-side at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 for the Bruce cause; the Battle of Harlaw (1411) for the Chief of Clan Donald; and at the Battle of Bloody Bay in 1481 for John of Islay. After the loss of the Lord of the Isles’ title and lands, however, Scotland fell into a period of crisis and anarchy and the two major family branches — the MacLeods of Dunvegan and MacDonalds of Sleat — became locked in a violent feud that would last for over a century.
The enmity was bitter, the fighting barbaric, and both clans committed terrible atrocities towards each other’s kinsmen in a bid to regain and extend their powers over the Island. The fighting laid waste to farmland and the collateral damage to communities was high with reports of the civilian population being reduced to eating horses, pets “and other filthie beasts".
In addition to the battle sites during the Wars of the One-Eyed Woman (see section on MacDonalds of Sleat), there are many places on Skye which mark the historical hostilities between these two vying clans. One such place is Trumpan Church, now a ruin, on the Waternish Peninsula.
In 1577, after a MacLeod raiding party landed on Eigg, the island’s population of MacDonalds fled to a cave in the south of the island. With a view to flushing them out, the MacLeods blocked the cave entrance with heather and vegetation and set it alight. Instead of becoming prisoners, however, all 395 MacDonalds were suffocated to death. Enraged by the slaughter, the following year, the MacDonalds of neighbouring Uist landed eight birlinn war galleys at Ardmore Bay. While the MacLeods were all gathered inside nearby Trumpan church for their Sunday worship, the marauding MacDonalds barred the doors and set alight to the church, killing all but one – a young girl. The girl apparently managed to escape through a window, run the 10 miles to Dunvegan Castle and raise the alarm. Unfortunately for the MacDonald party, a low tide had grounded their escape vessels, leaving time for the MacLeods to catch them. A battle ensued, during which MacLeod raised the fairy flag and slaughtered his enemies to every man. The bodies of the fallen MacDonalds were lined up behind a turf dyke which was collapsed over the top of them. This bloody moment in history is widely known as the Battle of the Spoiling Dyke.
These are how the stories go and historians have cast doubt on their historical accuracy. It is true that so violent was the feud it claimed many lives on both sides and in the end the king himself intervened and forced the two fighting families into a treaty of peace.
It was not only their neighbours the MacLeods picked a fight with. Internal disputes too often ended in bloodshed. During the ’45 Jacobite Uprising, Clan MacLeod’s main branch supported the British Government. Clan MacLeod of Raasay, however, were strong Jacobite sympathisers who fought for the House of Stuart at the Battle of Culloden and helped to hide and transport the exiled Prince to safety. The repercussions were swift and ferocious and, after the Culloden defeat, Raasay was pillaged and burned, not only by the Royal Navy’s “cruel” Captain John Fergusson, but the island’s inhabitants were allegedly harried by the MacLeods (under chief Norman “the Wicked Man”) who is said to have embarked on daily sprees of violence.
Man, Myth & Magic
Visitors to Skye’s popular hotspots will notice there are a fair amount of sites around the Island attributed to the supernatural. One legend says the Old Man of Storr is the petrified remains of an unfortunate man and his wife who, whilst being chased by a band of giants down the mountain, took a glance backwards at their pursuers and were turned to stone. Another explanation says this natural obelisk was chiselled by a brownie whose mortal friend had died of a broken heart after the death of his wife. The remote Loch Coruisk, at the foot of the Black Cuillin, is said to be the home of the kelpies, while legend has it the Cuillin range was sculpted by a violent sword battle between two giants. Some believe the magical Fairy Pools near Glen Brittle and the Fairy Glen near Uig get their names from “the little people” who dwell there.
Am Bratach Sith, the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan, is possibly Skye’s most famous symbol of myth and magic. The silk flag, which is on display at Dunvegan Castle and dates back to the 4th Century AD, is the MacLeods’ most treasured relic. A common legend associated with the flag involves a MacLeod chieftain who fell in love with a fairy princess. Her worried father, the king of the fairies, eventually succumbed to her pleas to marry the young man. The king granted her the wish on the condition that, after a year and a day, she would return to the fairy realm forever.
A year and a day passed and the fairy princess, who was now a mother, made her grieving husband promise to look after their son and never allow him to cry. They parted at the castle’s Fairy Bridge, never to meet again. Months later, during a feast, the nursemaid in charge of the boy left his room to observe the festivities. Alone in his cot, the child began to cry and, when the nursemaid returned, she witnessed a beautiful young woman wrapping the infant in a cloth and singing softly to him before disappearing.
When the boy grew up, he remembered his mother’s visit and repeated her words to his father: that the talisman cloth could be unfurled three times and used as an advantage during times of danger.
The Fairy Flag was successfully raised during the Battle of the Spoiling Dyke against the MacDonalds and during a devastating cattle plague. It has yet to be used a third time.
Dunvegan Castle & Estate
On top of a basalt outcrop on the shores of Loch Dunvegan stands one of northern Scotland’s oldest occupied castles. Home to 30 generations of MacLeods, spanning over 800 years, Dunvegan Castle has endured centuries of building, demolition and rebuilding which has forged its rich architectural history.
After James VI’s Statute of Iona in 1609, Highland warlords were compelled to contribute to agricultural productivity. Drink and feasting was restricted and imports cut. Lavish spending, building costs, famine and political ambition resulted in debt and, over the years, forced the MacLeod chieftains from their ancestral seat to seek a more provident fortune across the globe. The castle is partially inhabited by the current clan chief, Hugh Magnus MacLeod, who is based in London.
After centuries of war and social, political and economic change, the Clan MacLeod Society was formed in 1891. A few decades later, kinsmen finally began to return home under the gentle persuasion of Chief Dame Flora who encouraged her clansfolk to embrace their ancestral lineage. This culminated in the first MacLeod Parliament in 1956. Clan gatherings have been held at Dunvegan ever since and family members from across the Globe descend to the castle every four years to celebrate their history and family bonds. The next Clan Gathering (the 18th Parliament) takes place between 21 to 28 July 2018.
The Dunvegan Estate lies across 42,000 acres with the family seat at Dunvegan Castle in the north west of Skye. Several Special Areas of Conservation and Sites of Special Scientific Interest lie across the land, including the Black Cuillin mountains and the head of Loch Dunvegan. MacLeod lands also include the Fairy Pools near Glenbrittle and the MacLeod Tables. The Estate also has close historical links with the island of St Kilda.
The castle and grounds are open to the public from Easter to October and the current custodian is Jeroen Roskam. Visitors to the castle will witness an historical journey through MacLeod history and an impressive collection of art and artefacts associated with one of Scotland’s most enduring family lines.
Heraldry
Clann MhicLeòid
Clan Seat
Dunvegan Castle, Isle of Skye
Motto
Hold Fast
Crest
A bull’s head cabossed sable, horned Or, between two flags gules, staved at the first
Badge
Juniper
The MacDonalds of Sleat
Clann Dòmhnaill Na Dòmhnallaich | Clan MacDonalds of Sleat
Per Mare Per Terras — by land by sea — is the motto of arguably one of the oldest, largest and most powerful Scottish families in history.
Arms of Macdonald
Although the story of Clan Donald began long before the immemorial timeline, their history can be traced from the 12th century BC through a warlord named Somhairle MacGillebride MacGilladamnan (Somerled): head of the ancient Race of Conn and lineal heir of the Dál Riata, the Kingdom of the Scots. Half Viking and half Celtic Irish, Somerled held the unique position as overlord of the Kingdoms of Scotland and Norway which later emerged into the Regulus, or Lordship, of the Isles. Through marriage to the King of Man (Olaf the Red)’s, daughter, cunning and belligerence, Somerled seized the Kingdom of the Isles from his brother-in-law in 1156 and expelled the Norsemen from the Western Isles.
A simple rudder was one of the main reasons for Somerled’s successful command of Scotland’s north-western seaboard. He favoured the Hebridean Galley, a clinker-built vessel based on the Viking longboat, powered by oars and sails. What made this galley different from the longboat was the addition of a stern rudder which rendered the craft fast and manoeuvrable, perfect for raiding and transporting goods and men. These boats were instrumental in the MacDonalds command of the Hebrides until the coming of the mounted gun in the late 16th century.
Now Rìgh Innse Gall, King of the Isles, Somerled directed his maritime power from his base at Finlaggan on Islay. From there he kept the sea lanes clear between the Irish Sea and Europe and protected his warbands by setting up a chain of supply harbours guarded by forts across his 25,000-mile kingdom of islands and lochs.
Sons of Somerled
After his fall in the Battle of Renfrew in 1164 against King Malcolm IV’s forces, the great sea-lord Somerled was succeeded by an unknown number of sons and a daughter, and what was left of his vast kingdom was divided between the three sons of his marriage to Ragnhildis, Olaf the Red’s daughter: Ruaidhrí Mac Raghnaill (MacRuari, now part of Clanranald and Glengarry), Dughall (MacDoughall) and Raghnuill, of Clan Donald. Somerled’s daughter, Bethoc, became prioress of Iona Nunnery.
Raghnuill, or Ranald, inherited his father’s title as King of the Isles and it is his son, Dòmhnaill Mac Raghnuill (Donald, Son of Ranald), who is the eponymous progenitor of Clan Donald.
Aonghus Mór Mac Dòmhnaill, son of Raghnuill, was born circa 1248 and is generally regarded as the first of the MacDonalds. Under his watch, the Norwegian sovereignty of the Isles fell to the successful and violent invasion by the Scottish king, Alexander III, to bring the Hebrides into the realm of Scotland. Aonghas was forced to swear fealty to him or forfeit his Clan Somhairle inheritance.
Aonghas was succeeded by his son, Alasdair Óg Mac Domhnaill (born circa 1260). By this time, the three Somhairle families (Clan Dubhghaill, Clan Ruairhri and Clan Domhnaill) were in bitter dispute. When King Alexander III died, aged 44, from a fall from his horse in 1286, Scotland was plunged into crisis and family blood ties were severed.
Alexander III left no successors and Scotland’s powerful houses sought to take advantage of the empty throne. In the following years, two interregnums were presided over by the Guardians of Scotland while House Balliol and House Bruce, along with 12 other hopefuls, joined the race for the crown in what came to be known as The Great Cause. While Clan Dubhghaill were sympathetic to Balliol’s claim, Clan Domnhaill were strong supporters of the Bruce cause. When Alasdair was killed by the MacDougalls, he was succeeded by younger brother, Aonghus Óg of Islay (born 1314), who helped the newly crowned King Robert 1, The Bruce, fight and win Scottish independence in the Battle of Bannockburn. In return Aonghus was not only granted the honorary position on the right wing of the king’s army but was also given the lands held by his cousins the Dubhgaills under the condition that the Kingdom of the Isles would bend its knees to Robert’s feudal Scotland to become the Lordship of the Isles. That title continued for 224 years until it was declared forfeit by James IV.
Aonghus’ son Eòin Mac Dòmhnuill (John of Islay) was born circa 1380. Known as the “Good King of Islay”, John’s alliance to Robert II of Scotland secured his title as Lord of the Isles and expanded the MacDonalds’ lands to Morvern, Garmoran, Lochaber, Kintyre and Knapdale. His son, Dòmhnall of Islay (born circa 1422 and grandson of Robert II), fought for the Earldom of Ross against the Earl of Mar at the Battle of Harlaw (Cath Gairbheach) in 1411, one of the hardest-fought battles to have ever taken place in Scotland.
Alexander of Islay, Earl of Ross, was Dòmhnall’s second son and his successor was his illegitimate son Hugh of Sleat (1436), the first of the Macdonalds of Sleat branch.
The MacDonalds of Sleat
The story of Clan Donald of Sleat began with Ùisdean, or Hugh, the third son of Alexander of Islay and Somerled’s sixth great grandson. Ùisdean’s successors sculpted their history with murder, war and infighting as well as violent feuds with neighbouring families, namely the MacLeods of Dunvegan and the MacLeans of Duart.
Over the centuries, the MacDonalds established themselves as a strong and highly revered fighting force throughout the British isles and their presence helped to tip the balance in favour of their allies in many battles during the Jacobite Uprisings, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Wars, the Great War and World War II.
But not all MacDonalds over the centuries spoiled for a fight. Many favoured a civilian lifestyle and took to the aesthetic arts to become poets and musicians. Some became important statesmen, learned scholars, churchmen and humanitarians. Like their first forefather Somerled, poverty, famine, the Clearances, courage and intrepidness forced many to take to the waves and spread the family line across the globe to become one of the largest Scottish clans in the world.
Moments in History
Land in Hand
According to ancient legend, Somerled’s grandson Donald won the lands on Skye in a very unusual way. Sailing towards the Trotternish peninsula in his galley, Donald engaged in a contest with rival clans to win the enemy’s land. Whoever’s hand touched the shore first would own the land in perpetuity. The canny Donald, eager to win the coveted prize, is said to have taken out his dirk, sliced off his own hand and hurled it onto the shore near Bornesketaig, securing the land for his descendants.
Bitter Rivalry
The blood of the fallen MacDonalds of Sleat and MacLeods of Dunvegan has painted centuries of Skye’s history red.
During the late 16th century, as an offering of peace to end the long feud between the two clans, MacLeod chieftain, Rory Mòr, offered his sister’s hand in marriage to Donald Gorm.
This was a “handfast” arrangement meaning that, should the intended betrothed not bear a male heir in the first year and a day of living together, then the contract would no longer be valid. A year and a day came and went with no heir in sight and poor Margaret appears to have lost an eye during that time. Donald Gorm sent her back to her brother at Dunvegan Castle tied backwards to a one-eyed horse, with a one-eyed servant and even managed to find a one-eyed dog to add to the entourage. So incensed by the brazen insult, Rory took up arms once again against the MacDonalds and the ensuing battles came to be known as the Wars of the One-Eyed woman.
During these wars, Donald Gorm invaded Trotternish, at that time held by the MacLeods, in an effort to extend his lands in the north. The Battle of Trouternes is aptly named the Battle of Achadh na Fala (field of blood). The fight took place on the banks of the Snizort River at Skeabost, which bordered the territories of the two rival clans. It was said the victorious Donald Gorm cut off the heads of the fallen MacLeods and threw them into the water. As they bobbed out to sea, the heads got caught in the yair at the river’s mouth and to this day that place is known as Coirre-nan-Ceann, “the Yair of the Heads".
After his success over Trotternish, MacDonald took up home in Duntulm Castle but could not rest until he had a decisive victory.
The Battle of Coire Na Creiche took place in 1601 on the slopes of the Black Cuillin ridge, the site of Skye’s famous Fairy Pools. This would be the last Scottish clan battle ever to be fought on the Island. MacDonald defeated and captured Alasdair MacLeod and 30 of his clansmen but his success came at a high price. The fighting raged throughout the day and night and it is said the river, Allt Coir a ‘Mhadaidh, ran red with the blood of both kinsmen.
In fact, the battle had been so violent that the Privy Council decided to step in between the rivals and forced them to negotiate terms of peace. The two families never took up arms against each other again and it was also ruled that Margaret MacLeod was to take “such civil action against Donald Gorme as she might be advised to do".
High spirits at Duntulm
For centuries, Duntulm Castle, “the once dwelling of a king”, served as the seat of Clan Donald. This imposing fortress, now a ruin, lies to the north of Staffin perched on a cliff between a sheer drop into the Sound of Sleat on one side and a deep chasm on the landward side. It was home to The Clan since the days of Donald Gorm but was abandoned in 1732, when Sir Alexander MacDonald built a new house at Monkstadt. The family allegedly fled their ancestral home because of a ghost.
Duntulm, with its history of violence, is said to be haunted by many restless souls.
Donald Gorm: The ghost of this belligerent chief can sometimes be heard challenging his invisible enemies to fight.
Hugh MacDonald: Hugh was cousin to Donald Gorm and his ambition to appropriate Donald’s lands through murder came to an abrupt and terrible end when his letter to an assassin fell into the intended victim’s hands. The plot thwarted, Hugh fled to Dun an Sticir in North Uist but was captured and thrown into Duntulm dungeon. Donald Gorm exacted his revenge by leaving Hugh to die in his black prison, tormented with only a plate of salty beef and an empty water pitcher to keep him company. The thirsty Hugh went mad before he died and his ghostly piercing wails can still surprise visitors to the ruins.
The nursemaid: The seannachies tell the sad tale of the nursemaid who was charged with looking after the son of Donald Gorm. On her watch, the child allegedly fell from the window onto the rocks far below. The laird, in his fury and grief, ordered the nursemaid to be cast adrift on the Atlantic in a boat full of holes. Shortly after the deed was done, one of the castle’s staff saw a white cloth hanging from the rocks and inside it, the baby was found safe and well.
One-eyed Margaret: Another regular ghostly apparition to stalk the castle ruins is that of the hapless one-eyed Margaret MacLeod.
Over the Sea to Skye
Not all MacDonald’s were staunch supporters of the Jacobite cause. During the ’45 Rising, the exiled prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart, landed on Eriskay in 1745, raised the Stewart standard at Glenfinnan and called the Jacobites to arms. His aim: to reclaim the Scottish throne. Many of the MacDonald septs rallied to his call, but not Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat, who was a staunch supporter of King George II. Unbeknown to Alexander, his wife Margaret’s loyalties were to the opposing side. It was Margaret’s niece and many other Sleat MacDonalds and Scottish clansmen who would eventually become famous for saving the life of Bonnie Prince Charlie and enabling his safe passage back to France.
When Bonnie Prince Charlie fled from his defeat at Culloden in April 1746, the Government put a bounty on his head at £30,000. Fleeing across the Scottish moors and mountains, with Government troops in close pursuit, the young prince eventually came to the western shores where he boarded a boat to Skye disguised as Flora MacDonald’s handmaiden, Betty Burke. Thanks to the help of loyal supporters, the defeated prince eventually managed to sail to France from Loch nan Uamh in Lochaber.
The Clan Today
War, the wrong alliances, poverty, lavish lifestyles, emigration and forfeiture gradually narrowed the borders of Somerled’s mighty sea kingdom and, in 1971, the last lands of The Clan chiefs were put on the market.
The ruined shell of Armadale Castle represents the last stronghold of the MacDonalds of Sleat and the mansion house, together with its 20,000 acres of land were bought by the Clan Donald Lands Trust as a heritage site for MacDonalds across the globe.
The diaspora of MacDonalds over the years led to many emigrant communities being set up in the New World and, in the early 1700s, whole communities are said to have boarded ships bound for Auistralia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. North Carolina was one of the favoured destinations for Skye settlers, as well as Georgia and New York. Thriving Gaelic communities also began in Canada, in particular the Glendale Settlement on Prince Edward Island and the Cape North Area of Cape Breton, and today still maintain their strong ties to the homeland.
In 2002, the Museum of the Isles was opened at Armadale and holds a wealth of information on the family name that lies at the very heart of Gaeldom.
Heraldry
Clann Dòmhnaill, Na Dòmhnallaich
Motto
Per Mare per Terras (Air muir's tir, Gaelic) (By Land by Sea, English)
Crest
Quarterly, 1st, argent, a lion rampant gules, armed and langued azure; 2nd; Or, a hand in armour fessways holding a cross-crosslet fitchee gules; 3rd, Or, a lymphad sails furled and oars in action sable, Flagged gules; 4th, vert, a salmon naiant in fess proper, over all on an escutcheon en surtout, Or, an eagle displayed gules surmounted of a lymphad sails furled, oars in action sable (as Chief of the Name and Arms of Macdonald).
Translation
1st quarter, silver, a lion rearing red, tongue, claws and teeth bright blue; 2nd quarter, gold, a hand in armour horizontal holding a small burning cross red; 3rd quarter, Gold a one-masted galley sails furled and oars in action black, flag red; 4th quarter, green a salmon swimming horizontal in its natural state; placed over all quarters on a shield, Gold an eagle with wings spread red overlaid by a one-masted galley sails furled, oars in action black (as Chief of the Name and Arms MacDonald).
Badge
Fraoch Gorm or Common Heath.
Tartans
MacDonald of the Isles, MacDonald of Sleat.
Chief
Godfrey James Macdonald, 8th Baron Macdonald, Chief of the Name and Arms of Macdonald, High Chief of Clan Donald and 24th hereditary Chief of Clan Donald.
The Nicolsons of Scorrybreac
Clan MacNeacail | The Nicolsons of Scorrybreac
Arms of Nicolson
On a tiny island at the head of Loch Snizort Beag in the north of Skye lies “one of the most fascinating historical sites in Scotland.”
Surrounded by the waters of the Snizort River, Eilean Chaluim Chille or Saint Columba’s Isle, was once the principal seat of the Bishops of the Isles and the site of the Cathedral of the Isles, the centre of Hebridean Christianity for over 400 years until its destruction during the Scottish Reformation.
Scattered across Eilean Chaluim Chille are the mortal remains of the ancient Hebridean bishops; former members of local families; and the recumbent effigies of Crusader knights, displaying the weapons and armour of their medieval military might.
For over 800 years, this little island has also provided the tomb for 28 chieftains of one of the oldest Celtic Clans in Scotland who found their final resting place beneath the ruined chapel house called Aite Adhlaic Mhic Neacail, or Nicolson’s Aisle.
Like many of the Hebridean clans, the MacNeacails are thought to have come from Norse and Celtic stock. Originally from the Isle of Lewis, scant early records show the first chief John Mak Nakyl, or John Son of Nicail, fighting for control of the Hebrides alongside the descendants of Somerled against the Norwegian King of Mann. The MacNeacails supported the Scottish campaign for Independence of 1315 when they aided Edward Bruce, brother of Robert the Bruce, against the English during the invasion of Ireland.
At around the same time, a MacNeacail heiress married Torquil MacLeod and the MacNeacail’s ancient lands on Lewis were absorbed into the Lewis MacLeod estate. The male descendants, however, set up home at Scorrybreac House above Portree on the Island’s Trotternish Peninsula and this remained the clan's heartland until 1825 when the Clan Chief, Malcolm Nicolson, sold the lands to the Clan MacDonald and emigrated to Tasmania. During the Highland Clearances, many Nicolsons followed suit, leaving their ancestral home to pursue a life in the New World.
The current clan chief is John MacNeacail of MacNeacail and Scorrybreac, who lives in Ballina, New South Wales, Australia.
In 1987 the international Clan MacNeacail Federation bought the 130-acres of Scorrybreac ground (administered and maintained by Urras Clann MhicNeacail) and established a circuitous nature trail and a number of paths around Ben Chracaig, called the Scorrybreac Trails.
The return of the clan to their ancestral heartland has allowed members of this ancient extended family to maintain its strong links to Skye through clan gatherings and there remains a strong community of Nicolsons in Portree.
Heraldry
Clan MacNeacail
Crest
A Hawk’s head erased Gules
Motto
Sgorr-a-Bhreac
Slogan
Meminisse sed providere (Remember but look ahead)
Plant badge
Juniper
Towns and Villages
Central
Trotternish
- Staffin
- Flodigarry
- Uig
Duirinish
- Dunvegan
- Glendale
- Waternish
- Edinbane
Strath
- Broadford
- Elgol
- Torrin
- Kyleakin
- Kylerhea
Sleat
- Armadale
- Isle Ornsay
- Tarskavaig
Minginish
- Carbost
Lochalsh
- Kyle of Lochalsh
Places on Skye
- The Cuillin
- Skye Bridge
- Fairy Glen
- Fairy Pools
- The Quiraing (photo)
- Talisker Bay
- Sligachan
- Old Man of Storr
- Loch Fada
- Elgol
- Nest Point
- Boust Hill
- Loch Cill Chriosd
- Uig Bay
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