Knock Castle

Knock Castle is also known as Caisteal Camus,  it is 3.5 miles north of Armadale on the Isle of Skye.  It was held by the MacLeods in the fifteenth century, but later passed to the MacDonalds.  Knock Castle became the key stronghold for the Lords of the Isles - The MacDonalds.  Some say that if it wasn’t for the carelessness of the warden who held it for the MacLeods and allowed himself to be suprised, the MacDonalds would have never set foot in Skye.  When the Lords of the Isles eventually left Knock Castle for Dunscaith it became the fortress of the Barons of Sleat and stood seige from the MacLeods at the end of the fifteenth century.  On this occassion it was defended, and most bravely, by a woman, ‘Mary of the Castle’.  The story of how she came to be in charge is a mystery, but most of the MacDonald women were competent fighters so this is not completely out of the ordinary.  Stories of Mary’s courage and skill are still told to this day.  It was under the shelter of her shield that the clan had time to gather and to arm.

Castle Maol

Kylekin is a small promontory that juts out of the east end of Skye and is crowned by the ruins of Castle Maol. The main wall of the ruin is an impressive eleven feet thick, but ended up defeated by the great storm of 1948. On Febuary 1st 1948, the main wall of Castle Maol cracked from top to bottom. But the castle still stands.

It was originally built by ‘Saucy Mary’, a Norwegian princess, wife of a MacDonald of the time, who used the castle to extract toll from every ship that passed through the Kyles. It is said she had a chain across from the castle to the mainland shore. This would have been some chain! Later, Castle Maol came into the possession of the MacKinnons of Strath.

Castle Maol

The ruins of Castle Strome sit in the picturesque headland which once formed part of the ancient earldom of Ross. It became the focus of Clan fighting due to it’s strategic location between the lands of the MacDonalds of Glengarry and the MacKenzies of Kintail.

The castle was built in the early 15th Century and during the next two centuries the land surpassed too and fro between the rival clans according to the royal favour of the time, this intensified the bitterness between the MacDonalds and the MacKenzies and eventually spelt disaster for Strome Castle.

The year 1602 saw the castle under seige by the MacKenzies once again. After a long offensive the MacDonalds imprisoned in the castle for so long made two unfortunate blunders. According to an contemporay account some ’silly women’ from the MacDonald Clan left the castle in order to draw water from the well, however they were so fearfull and the light was so bad they made the disaterous mistake of pouring the water into the gun powder vat instead of the water barrel.

When the MacDonald men discovered this blunder they cursed the women loudly, but this made matters worst. A MacKenzie prisoner overheard the commotion in the castle and managed to escape back to his own camp telling his Clan Chief what had happened. Which promted a final attack.

The MacDonalds knew they were facing a sure defeat, their only option was to surrender and to save their lives. Agreeing to this the MacKenzie Clan watched the MacDonalds leave they then blew up the castle. Strome Castle has remained in ruins to this day.

“A well tempered man, in body shapely, of a fair piercing eye, of middle stature and of quick discernment.”

Somerled is the first known historic figure of the medeival Hebrides. He was celebrated as a purely Celtic hero, but like all good heroes, his story is a gloss of myth and legend.

His name in Norse means summer hunter - but his father had a Gaelic name - Gillebride.
Tradition accounts of Sommerled’s genealogy take him back to the Irish king, Conn of 100 battles.
This was typical of the middle ages when who your ancestors were was as important as who you were. What is probable is that he was of the kindred of the Ui Maic Uias of Oriel. On his mother’s side he may have been Norse. He was a fusion of the Gaelic and Norse worlds.

For all that he is such a major figure in Hebridean history, we know relatively little about him. We know that he fought the Norse in two battles in 1156 and 1158 and drove them from Argyll and then from the islands. We know that he married the daughter of Olaf, the King of Man. We also know that he died in 1164 at Renfrew. Even his death is shrouded in mystery. Some say that he died in battle, others that he died treacherously by the assassin’s hand.

His legacy was two fold - the kingdom he established and the dynasty he founded. His kingdom held a unique position between the overlordship of the King of Scots and the King of Norway. Poised between the two, it grew into one of the greatest examples of medieval Celtic culture - the Lordship of the Isles.

His dynasty came to befocused in the descendants of his grandson Donald, who gave his name to Clan Donald. They ruled the Lordship for three and a half centuries.

Somerled left three sons - Dugall, Ranald and Angus. His kingdom was divided between them. On the death of Angus, his lands of Bute and Arran were taken over by Ranald, who already held Kintyre and Islay. Gradually through marriage, take over, and judicious politics, it was Clan Donald, the descendants of Donald son of Ranald, who became overlords of Somerled’s kingdom.

The current church of Kilmore stands in an idyllic position on the coast of Skye with great views over the water towards the main land. The history of this church is in fact the history of three churches.

The now Parish church stands on a site sanctifed by successive places of worship since the dawn of Christian evangelism of the Western Isles of Scotland. Previous to this it was even a place of Pagan or Druid sancuary.

The first church was built by the chief of the Logans of Druimdeurfait, Ross-shire, he was called Crotach Mac Gille Gorm, a hunch-backed son of the blue lad-servant. The church lasted till early in the seventeenth century, around 1631.

This church was destroyed when a clan battle was fought in a neighbouring field between the MacIntyres (then in posession of this corner of Sleat, though MacDonald territory) and a foraging band of MacLeods. The MacLeods won the battle, where-upon the MacIntyres took refuge in the church; the MacLeods ruthlessly set fire to the church. The roof burnt quickly as it was thatched with heather. Everyone inside was killed and the church was destroyed.

The more recent church was said to have been built around 1631, but not completed till 1691, owing to troublesome times. According to Iain Lom, the noted Lochaber bard, the church was eventually errected by Sir MacDonald of Sleat and the Isles, but unfortunately he died before it was finished. Iain Lom says:
“To the church of Sleat-of-the-waves,
It’s cost you defrayed to build,
Though you didn’t wait (survive) to slate it.

The church lasted for nearly two hundred years the ruins can be seen in the grounds of the present church.

The present church now stands adjacent to the second. The minister of the parish, Rev. John Forbes, discovered an old cup in a heap of rubbish beneath the old pulpit; it was duly cleaned and mounted on a brass bracket and has been used for baptisms ever since.

The Annat Skull

There’s a superstition in Applecross/Torridon area of Scotland that relates to the Annat skull in which water sipped from the skull of a female suicide is a supposed cure for epilepsy. The poor woman (C. M. Robertson) is thought to have been the daughter in law of the Garve Wizzard who is said to have lured passersby to their death in the Black Water river in order that he might steal their possessions. The skull became a controversial subject in 1900 when it was alleged to still be in use in Torridon. The Rev. Duncan Dewar, a minister of 24 years standing, felt compelled to respond publicaly that ‘no such’ skull ever existed in the parish of Applecross’. Dewar may be correct in limiting his observation to his own parish but Rev. Kenneth MacDonald, of the Free Church around the same time, attests to it’s use in Torridon.

Adapted from “Applecross and it’s Hinterland  - A Historical Miscellany” by Iain MacLennan