Yesterday was the birthday of a great Gael. One of the greatest in fact. Poet, story teller and Gaelic cultural warrior Somhairle MacGill-Eain (Sorely MacLean) was born on Raasay on October 26th in 1911. Somhairle died in 1996. Had the Gaelic people, culture and kingdom not been overtaken and marginalized (i.e. stolen) by Anglo aggression, ethnic cleansing and forced […]
If you picture troops involved in a 14th Century clan battle, fairies are the last thing you would expect to find among the ranks. However according to legend, a fairy is said to have appeared at the Battle of Traigh Ghruinneart, fought between Clan MacDonald and Clan MacLean in 1598. Although it wasn’t the kind […]
With a new season of Game of Thrones on TV screens avid fans will be enthralled at the twists and turns of this epic tale. However as I recently discovered while staying on Islay, the inspiration behind many of the series’ most bloody moments come from the stories of our own Scottish Clans. The Island […]
Dougie Vipond meets contemporary clan chiefs to see how the clan system operates in a modern Scotland. Clan MacLean
The Beatons of Mull, the famous ‘Ollamnh Muileach’, were a family of doctors, whose origins can be traced back to Béthune in France, and are said to have been very talented with a rather unique medical ability. They family were hereditary physicians first to the Lords of the Isles, and then to the MacLeans of […]
I came across a great story to read in full follow this link. Legend / oral history has it that the clan Maclain of Lochbuie chief had a son called Ewan ‘with the small head’. concerned that they wouldn’t inherit the clans castle and it’s lands on the chiefs death Ewan continuously hassled his father. […]
