Battle of Drumnacoub (between 1427 and 1433)
This battle was an internal feud among the men of Clan MacKay but also involved some Sutherland men. A disastrous battle, it led to the loss of many senior members of the clan and most of the belligerents on both sides.
The origins of the battle begin with an ongoing feud between the MacKays and their neighbours the Sutherland Clan. In 1370 the MacKay chief had been murdered by the Sutherlands in Dingwall. This had led to considerable acrimony between both clans as you can imagine and finally in 1426 Angus Du MacKay and his son Neil marched into Sutherland lands to take revenge. They met the Sutherland clan at Harpisdale.
The battle was more or less fought to a stalemate with no clear winner and considerable slaughter on either side. News of the conflict reached James I in Edinburgh. James wasn’t exactly having the easiest of times and frustrated by yet another inter-clan war he rode north to Inverness and demanded that the clan leaders submit to him. Angus duly complied and volunteered his son as a hostage to guarantee his clan’s good behaviour. Neil was taken to the Bass rock. an island prison in the outer Firth of Forth. During his imprisonment he was given the nickname ‘Vass’ a phonetic spelling of ‘Bass’
While this was going on three cousins of Angus Du: the brothers Thomas Mackay, Morgan Mackay, and Neil Neilson Mackay had a dispute with the Laird of Freswick – a man by the name of Mowat. Thomas pursued him to the chapel of St Duffus in the town of Tain. Mowat claimed sanctuary at the chapel but Thomas killed him anyway and burned down the chapel for good measure. As anyone who has followed the fortunes of Robert the Bruce will know murdering someone in a house of worship was a serious breach of etiquette and burning it down was even worse, so once again James I was forced to intervene so he denounced and outlawed Thomas, promising his land and possessions as a reward for his capture dead or alive.
Angus Moray (of Clan Sutherland) apprehended Thomas and handed him over to the law, however there was clear suspicion that Thomas’ own brothers; Morgan and Neil Neilson had assisted Angus Murray for a share of the spoils. Thomas was carted off to Inverness and executed and this apparent betrayal within the clan (made even worse by conspiring with a Sutherland) split the clan.
The Earl of Sutherland – seeing a good opportunity to break the power of the MacKay clan further supported Morgan and Neil Neilson by offering his own daughters in marriage (though they had already married Moray’s daughters). As well as helping them make a bid for the MacKay lands.
Back in Caithness Angus Du and his illegitimate son John Aberach Mackay were in a tight spot. Angus was by now an old man and had no will to fight, preferring to make some sort of settlement with his cousins. He offered all his land apart from Strathnaver but they refused the deal, intending to take all of MacKay lands for themselves. At this point Angus’ illegitimate second son John Aberach Mackay stepped in to advise the elderly chief and offered to defend the MacKay lands or die trying.
Some time between 1427 and 1433 (exact dates are unclear) the two sides met at Drumnacoub (Druim na coub, Drum-ne-coub) a few miles from the coastal village of Tongue on the North East coast.
The battle was a long and terrible one with both sides suffering heavy losses, by the end of the day Neil Mackay, Morgan Mackay and Angus Moray were all dead, John Aberach Mackay was severely wounded (possibly loosing an arm) and lay critical on the battlefield and very few from around 3,000 men (around 1,500 on either side by some estimates) were left standing.
Angus Du in despair asked to be carried to the battlefield to search for his son John but an opportunistic Sutherland archer spotted him and killed him with a well aimed arrow.
Shortly after the battle the remaining MacKay clan had to consider who would succeed as chief. Many supported John despite his illegitimacy but as fortune would have it Neil ‘Vass’ MacKay escaped from imprisonment at the Bass rock and made his way back north (it turned out the governor was married to a MacKay and she possibly helped him break out). John deferred to the legitimate heir and Neil was made chief. John was given lands around Lochnaver.
Neil pursued the Sutherlands who had supported the potential usurpers and a year later took revenge at the Battle of Sandside Chase. The widow of Neil Neilson and his son were given fairly rough treatment at the hands of those loyal to Angus Du’s side and for their own safety the moved to Olrig in Caithness. John dropped the name MacKay and became known as John Bain, progenitor of the Bain Family.
I am a desendent within the Sutherland Clan. I am trying to trace my relatives back to Scotland and see where three brothers split up the family and they all started spelling their last names differently from the others. We have “Sutherland” “Southerland” and “Sotherland” which makes it a little difficult tracing everyone within the family. I’ve gotten back to the 1600’s just in America alone.
Are there any places in Scotland that research Family names back further than I have? I’ve also found our Family Tartan from a company in Scotland but I sent the sample of the pattern to a place that also makes Kilts here and they can not find the name of the material. So I guess I’ll have to order a Kilt from Scotland.
Thanks for any help you may find
Lawrence Bernard (My mothers father was a Sutherland).
Lawrence. Scotland’s People (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) is the official website of the public records of Scotland at Register House. this is the ONLY place where original records of BMD’s etc are kept. Also our Resources page has lots of other useful links: http://www.scotclans.com/tracing-your-scottish-ancestry/resources/
My great grandfather was Thomas Sutherland and his wife was Annie Geddes. Our line connects with Allen Walter Sutherland and Robert Sutherland. The information I have goes back to the late 1700’s, early 1800’s. One the Geddes line, we connect with the Grahams, Stewarts and Lyles. My great Aunt, Allene Sutherland, went to Scotland and may have it going further back. Have you checked with Ancestry.com and connected with what is available from the resources of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah?You can access information from the families that migrated to Utah in the 1860’s through Ancestry.com. I would like to obtain more information to piece where ours leave off in the 1800’s with the 1600’s and further, if possible. Julie Kraus.
Julie – Th LDS to not have direct access to original BDM information from Scotland. you can find this information on sites like Ancestry but it’s only information that has been uploaded and added by users. The original sources as far as Scottish records go is still Register House in Scotland (Scotland’s People website) LDS/Ancestry is fine for information on people who have left Scotland.
The story going round is that Ancestry contacted the register office in Scotland and asked them to give the all their BDM indexes etc for free – Register house told them politely what they could do with that request 😉
I am a Bain descendant, however the Bains do not have a tartan (there is a newly designed one for the Bains of Caithness, but I am not of those from Caithness but rather descended from the Bains of Tulloch/Dingwall). Additionally, and as this article describes, the Bains are actually Mackays (and my lineage goes through the Mackays as well). Any idea on etiquette regarding the wearing of a Mackay tartan by a Bain, especially since there is no tartan for the Bains (outside of those of the Caithness variety). Or any idea where I could find this kind of specific information on the selection of tartan donning? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.