#colquhoun

My family’s tartan pattern, created and registered in 2022.

February 7th 1603 saw the Battle of Glen Fruin the battle that led to a ban on MacGregors.

This Clan battle was fought primarily between Clan Gregor and Clan Colquhoun, the latter being associated with the area around Luss. A nearby cairn in a field was long thought to mark the burial place of the Colquhouns who had died in the battle, but it turned out instead to be of Bronze Age date.

Like all good, or bad fights there are two versions to the story, there are also two dates, nothing unusual in my posts! The other date is the 8th, so we aren't out by much, I've plumped for the 7th.

Fought near Loch Lomond the Battle left at least 140 men dead and led to an unparalleled campaign of punishment against the MacGregors with the name banned in Scotland for a total of 150 years. The battle was supposedly fought on a large flat piece of ground near Auchingaich with the members of the poorer Clan Gregor pitched against their wealthy and influential Colquhoun neighbours. The two clans had history. Clan Gregor, which was stripped of much of its land by Robert the Bruce , frequently raided their neighbour’s property. Tradition dictates that the battle was sparked after two MacGregor men were refused shelter on Colquhoun land and resorted to sleeping in an outhouse and slaughtering a sheep. Walter Scott wrote about it in the introduction to his novel Rob Roy.

  After being discovered by the Laird of Luss, they were sentenced to death with their kinsmen mobilising in furious response. However, some believe this version of events has been fancified over the years with no evidence that the executions occurred. Scott hasn't helped in his book which says  "two of the Macgregors being benighted, asked shelter in a house belonging to a dependent of the Colquhouns, and were refused. They then retired to an outhouse, took a wedder from the fold, killed it, and supped off the carcase, for which they offered payment to the owner. The Laird of Luss, however, unwilling to be propitiated by the offer made to his tenant, seized the offenders, and by the summary process which feudal barons had at their command, caused them to be condemned and executed. The Macgregors verify this account of the feud by appealing to the proverb current among them execrating the hour (mult dhu an earbail ghil), that the black wedder with the white tail was ever lambed".A wedder is an old Heilan term for a castrated sheep.

Others have argued that the Battle of Glen Fruin began with just another MacGregor raid. Similar plundering expeditions were launched in the weeks before with two Colquhoun men allegedly killed at Glenfinlas a couple of months before. The difference was that on this day 1603, the Colquhouns were ready to protect themselves with permission granted by James VI to pursue their foes. The Colquhoun ranks were swelled by men from Dumbarton and Cardross, with the clan marching into the glen with as many as 500 men on foot and 300 on horseback.

Clan Gregor had around 350 men ready to fight  and showed no mercy for their foes. The MacGregors launched a downhill surprise attack on the Colquhouns, which drove them back in the direction they had come, namely the Auchengeich Glen. Unfortunately for the Colquhouns the second part of the MacGregor force was lying in wait for them there. Just as there are doubts over the numbers in the two opposing forces, so there are also doubts as to how many were killed. A fairly commonly accepted figure is that 140 of the Colquhouns and their allies were killed, although some accounts have put the number as high as 200. Eighty horses, 600 hundred cows and 800 hundred sheep were taken in the aftermath of the battle with houses and corn-yards burned. Following the bloodshed, James VI, in a bid to dismantle the clan, forced MacGregors - and Gregors - to drop their name or risk punishment by death, I posted about this a few days ago.

  A royal warrant was signed by James VI on February 24, 1603, accusing the MacGregors of attacking members of Clan Colquhoun at Glen Fruin “without pitie or compassion” or regard for young or old.  Their deeds were “barbarous and horrible” with this “wicked and unhappy” race to be “exterminat and ruttit out”.

  Less than two months later, around April 3rd, James VI ruled the name MacGregor should be “altogether abolished” and that all people of the clan should renounce their name and take another, under the pain of death. Aliases, including Grant, Stewart and Ramsay were used. Rob Roy MacGregor himself is known to have taken his mother's surname, Campbell when this happened.

  Around a year later, Alastair of Glenstrae and 11 leading clan figures were hung at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, with the leader hoisted above his men before being drawn and quartered The MacGregor name was restored in 1661 by Charles II but disallowed once more in 1693 by William of Orange.

It was not till 1784 that the MacGregors were allowed to resume their own name, and were restored to all the rights and privileges

Lord Jesus may your light shine our way, as once it guided the steps of the magi: that we too may be led into your presence and worship you, the Child of Mary, the Word of the Father, the King of nations, the Saviour of mankind; to whom be glory for ever.

The Castle On my quest to discover more about my family’s origins I am on a journey to Scotland. I had to go see it for myself: Closeburn Castle. Located 1.3 miles southeast of Closeburn, the castle is one of the oldest continually inhabited houses in Scotland. This ancient yet entirely intact structure is located in an area of that same name. Nearby is the village of Kirkpatrick-Fleming and the…

Ithell Colquhoun (Indian-British, 1906 – 1988)

The Tree of Veins, 1940-41

Watercolour and gouache, 18 x 25,5 cm

Ithell Colquhoun (Indian-British, 1906 – 1988)

Alcove I, 1946