Folklore of the Scottish Highlands (5 page)

When yet more tenants were evicted James Stewart took up their cause and the situation became volatile. On 11 May 1752 Campbell left for Fort William in order to carry out evictions on the Lochiel estate (even though Lochiel was his cousin) and this done, on the 14th he left for Appin in order to carry out further evictions. He never reached Appin. He was killed by two bullets from a gun; these pierced him in the chest and he died half an hour later. One Allan Breck Stewart was famously accused of the murder (see Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped’ and ‘Catriona’) but fled to France, where he continued to declare his innocence. James Stewart, because of his frequent threats and protestations of hatred for the Red Fox, was hanged for the murder on 8 November, although he was innocent. The real perpetrator of the deed seems to have been one Donald Stewart, who was selected by a number of Jacobite aristocracy as the best shot. He was given a gun which was the best of all the arms they had. When Donald Stewart heard that James Stewart was to be hanged, he wished to give himself up but was persuaded by his fellows not to do so, for that would only lead to both being hanged.

Another account states that Allan Breck, instead of declaring his innocence, had himself confessed to murdering the Red Fox in order to draw attention away from the real perpetrator, but that had made no difference to the case against James Stewart.

One of the most famous clan legends which is based on a real event is that of the Eigg massacre. In 1577, some 350 MacDonalds — men, women and children — were allegedly suffocated in a cave in the island of Eigg by the MacLeods; the brutality of this outrage shocked even the tough Highlanders, accustomed as they were to violence and bloodthirsty death, and the story has remained in the oral tradition of the islanders. Bones were found in the cave as recently as 1800, while contemporary accounts testify to the truth of this incident.

The terrible massacre of the MacDonalds of Glencoe — a narrow glen running down between the mountains from Rannoch Moor to Loch Leven, Argyllshire — initiated by the Campbells on the orders of William III, still fills the reader with horror at the nature of the treachery which gave rise to this order (
11
). Briefly, these are the events which preceded the infamous occurrence. King William III, who had great difficulty in imposing his law upon certain of the Highland clans, issued a writ pardoning all who submitted to his jurisdiction before 1 January 1692. The MacDonald of Glencoe, who had not yet complied, journeyed to Fort William on 31 December 1691, in order to make his submission. However, one Sir John Dalrymple, later Earl of Stair, who was an enemy of the MacDonalds, prevented information of MacDonald’s submission from reaching the sheriff, and moreover, obtained an order which would lead to the massacre of the Glencoe MacDonalds. The Campbells, who hated the MacDonalds, were employed to commit an act of the most heinous treachery upon the unsuspecting clansmen. The Campbells, together with some 120 men, descended on Glencoe in a friendly fashion and were given generous hospitality and lodging by the open-handed MacDonalds. When the Campbells received word that the passes through which the MacDonalds might escape were secured, they fell upon the MacDonalds in the dead of night, slaughtering the men and leaving the women and children to die of exposure. This barbarous event was abhorrent even to other Highland clans, accustomed as they were to hostility and bloodshed, and led to lasting antipathy between the MacDonalds and the Campbells. Even today, traces of this old enmity survive in Scotland and wherever Scots have colonised.

11
Dirk (
biodhe
), seventeenth-century; two-handed claymore, sixteenth-century. After S. Maxwell 1983, 9, 11

Another example of treachery on the part of the royalists is evidenced by the fact that the clansmen of Urquhart and Glenmoriston, who had fought against the government (been ‘out’, as the expression went) and surrendered on the promise of protection, were betrayed. The promise was broken; the men were taken and imprisoned within the Gaelic Church, Inverness, and were then sent to London by sea and transported to Barbados and the Carolinas, having been denied trial of any kind.

There are many stories extant about the more famous clan battles, some of which have given rise to proverbial sayings. One of these concerns the Battle of the North Inch of Perth which took place at the end of the fourteenth century. The MacIntoshes were a powerful clan and were known as the Clan Chattan. In the fourteenth century they owned the greater part of Badenoch; their crest was the cat, their motto ‘Touch not the Cat Gloveless’. A feud developed between them and the Clan Kay; the Earls of Crawford and Moray, by commission, attempted to reconcile them, but failed. They then proposed that 30 men from either clan should meet in the North Inch and decide the quarrel by the sword in the presence of the king, Robert III and all the nobles. In 1396, when they met on the appointed day, one of the Clan Chattan was absent. A smith from Perth, known as Henry Gow, or Hal o’ the Wynd, offered to take his place for the sum of seven shillings and sixpence. It was a fierce battle. Twenty-nine of the Clan Kay were killed; the thirtieth man escaped by swimming across the Tay. Nineteen of the Clan Chattan perished. Their victory was due to the phenomenal strength and courage of the Perth smith (always a craftsman held in high esteem in the Celtic regions); as a result a local proverb came into being:‘He did very well for his own hand, as Henry Gow did’. His descendants became known as
Sliochd á Ghobhair Chruim
, ‘the Progeny of the Stooping Smith’, and they were incorporated into Clan Chattan.

Another important Highland clan was that of the Grants. This consisted of several separate septs whose identity was distinguished, as are the larger of the other clans, by the name of the lands over which they held sway; for example, the Grants of Glenmoriston, the Grants of Freuchie, the Grants of Strathspey — from whom I am directly descended, my maiden name having been Anne Grant. My earliest memories are of my father, Alexander Grant, urging me on with any task which I found distasteful or simply boring, and exhorting me to persist with the rousing words of the clan slogan, ‘Stand Fast Craigellachie!’ (
12
). Related as they may have been by blood and kinship, that did not necessarily ensure peaceful living. Petty feuds and battles occasioned by jealousy over the superior dwellings and possessions of the stronger of the septs ensured that they were never really at peace for long. One example of this debilitating state of affairs is described in a long and somewhat complex story set in the mid-sixteenth century. As the legend has it, the feud originated when Grant of Ballindalloch tried to deprive young Patrick Grant of Glenmoriston (
13
) of his right to the Glenmoriston inheritance. John Roy Grant of Carron somewhat altruistically intervened on Patrick’s behalf, and the ensuing quarrel which developed into a bitter battle brought about the death of Ballindalloch. This caused a festering resentment which increased with time. In 1615 a son of Grant of Carron was treacherously attacked by one of the Ballindalloch Grants during a fair held at Elgin. Carron’s brother James, enraged by this barbarous act, retaliated by killing the assailant outright. James Grant was subsequently charged with murder but managed to escape and became an outlaw, inconveniencing both those who dwelt in the wider area of Strathspey, and the House of Ballindalloch in particular. James Grant proved to be an elusive quarry and much bloodshed resulted from attempts to capture him.

12
Piper to the Laird of Grant, 1714. After R. Cannon 1983, 18

13
Shinty player, Grant of Glenmoriston, 1847. After H.D. MacLennan 1983, 267

Grant of Ballindalloch bitterly hated James Grant of Carron and was much inflamed when he heard of John Grant of Carron and some of his followers cutting timber at Abernethy. Grant of Ballindalloch managed to kill John Grant, which outraged James Grant of Carron whose depredations thereafter greatly increased. At length James was captured and succeeded in escaping in 1632, and returned to his savage ways. Grant of Ballindalloch made every effort to recapture him but was unfortunate enough to fall into a cunning trap which had been laid for him by James. Nevertheless, against all probability, he managed to regain his freedom and continued to pursue James. A number of his followers were killed but success eluded him and James was never recaptured. Eventually James obtained a full pardon and died peacefully in his bed in 1639.

A further legend of Grant of Ballindalloch concerns the building of his castle there. He attempted to site his stronghold in a prominent position, high above the River Aven (now Avon), which runs into the River Spey. This was in order to keep a watchful eye on the activities of his bitter enemies, the Grants of Tullochcarron. But though building had begun, the next day there was nothing to be seen on the site. For three nights the same thing happened. Ballindalloch went to the building site, only to find it in the same state as it had been at the beginning of the work. He was much annoyed and when his men gave him an account of the supernatural and fearsome happenings that had occurred during the night, he determined to keep watch himself. This he proceeded to do the following night. For the first few hours all was quiet. Then a fearful wind rose from the distant summit of Ben Rinnes, throwing him and his henchman down from the site, and the building into the River Aven. The men landed in a holly bush from which they could not extricate themselves. Next followed terrifying peals of unearthly laughter and a voice instructed Grant to build his castle on the site of the Cow-haugh, which was situated down between the Aven and the Spey. The shaken laird followed these instructions and no further problems occurred.

Another Grant story, one of many which space does not allow to be included in the present book, concerns the last Grant of Tullochcarron. He was the laird of his property and had no offspring, only a nephew, Lachlan Dhu, on whom he lavished great affection and planned to make the boy his heir. But Lachlan had an evil nature and Tullochcarron, despairing of him, decided to take a wife and, having done so, she bore him a son, Duncan Bane, who was everything Tullochcarron could have hoped for. Lachlan, being a crafty boy, appeared to change his nature and treated the child with loving affection; secretly he was plotting his destruction. Having reached the age of 17, Duncan Bane had fallen in love with Anna Gordon, a girl of great beauty, but lacking in riches. Duncan was careful to tell no one of their love. Meanwhile, Tullochcarron was planning an advantageous marriage for his son. Lachlan declared his love for the beautiful Anna, who told Duncan but swore him to secrecy. Duncan was very angry and began to suspect that Lachlan’s friendliness was insincere. Having decided to kill both Duncan and his father, Tullochcarron, Lachlan went to Tullochcarron’s long-standing enemy, Ballindalloch. He requested Ballindalloch’s support in his treacherous plan to kill Duncan and his father, in return for which he would be Ballindalloch’s vassal and guarantee the friendship of the lands of Tullochcarron in the future. Ballindalloch was non-committal, but he was in fact profoundly shocked and immediately wrote to Tullochcarron in order to warn him of this plot.