Growing up here in Perth, I always knew about the Battle of the Clans, but the reasons that it
happened always seemed elusive. Then a chap from Pittsburgh, USA asked to visit the grave of his
ancestral clan chief, and that's when it clicked. If you want to know about the Battle of the Clans,
why it happened, and how it still affects people to this day, then this is the video for you. If you're
interested in the people, places and events in Scottish history, then subscribe to the channel
by clicking at the bottom right hand side of the screen. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
Since I was a bairn, I knew that here on the North Inch in Perth in 1396, there was a battle
between two clans, with 30 men chosen from each, to decide a feud that King Robert the Third of Scotland
had been too weak to settle himself. I was led to believe that the two clans were Clan Chattan
and Clan Kay, but nobody seemed entirely sure, and they certainly didn't know the reason for this
feud that led to a fight to the death. As I grew up, I learned on the day, Clan Chattan were missing a
man, some said through fear, others through sickness. When their opponents refused to reduce their
number, Clan Chattan found a man, Henry the Blacksmith, who lived in one of the narrow alleyways or wynds
on the other side of where those buildings stand in Barossa Crescent today. In return for a payment,
and a guarantee to look after his daughter should he die, Henry the Smith or Hal o' the Wynd
took to the field out here. Apparently he was a beast, and it was due no small part to him
that the day ended with Clan Chattan as the victors. Only 11 of them survived, but every one
of their opponents were slaughtered, save for one man who ran to the river and swam the Tay.
Apparently Hal o' the Wynd, Henry the Smith, was offered a home further north with the Chattan
folks, and that's what formed the Smith or Gow sept of that clan, but on the other side Clan Kay were
only one of the possibilities for combatants against Clan Chattan on that day. Walter Scott's
novel 'The Fair Maid of Perth' that makes it Clan Kay, but that's a novel, it's not a history book.
When people call me an historian, I have to stop them and say, no, I'm just a bawbag (ballbag) with
a smartphone and a tripod. So Walter Scott was just a bawbag with an ink pot and a quill pen,
and a law degree and a big hoose (house) in the Borders. Obviously I wonder if I'll get a statue?
Anyway, the point is, that the historical records are mixed. Robert Mackay of Thurso, the historian of
Clan Mackay, he covered the battle in his 1829 book 'History of the House and Clan of Mackay'
and he said, it wisnae (wasn't) us, and I believe him. What nobody doubts is that Clan Chattan was involved.
Now Clan Chattan wasn't a clan in the traditional sense, it was more of like a confederation of clans.
Now I knew that, but I'll be honest, I didn't know much more about them, and then this guy
from Pittsburgh called Shaw, wanted me to show him around when he came to Scotland.
Now you might think that I wanted to say Pittsburgh because you dinnae ken (don't know) anything. Watch
my video on General John Forbes to understand why it should be called Pittsburgh. Anyway this guy
knew his stuff, oh he wisnae (wasn't) tossing his first caber at a Highland Games, oh no, he'd been here before,
and he wanted me to take him to the grave of one of the great clan Chiefs of Shaw. I'll be honest,
I'd never heard of the guy. The most famous Shaw that I knew was Farquhar Shaw. Now if you've never
heard of him, you should watch my video 'The Black Watch Soldier'. Now there's a story, I'll
leave a link at the end of this video, so there's no excuse for you not to watch it. The point is
that I thought I'd better find out about Clan Shaw, and that's where it started to get interesting.
I don't know if you've heard of the Macduffs of Fife? The Mac
Duffs, the children of the Dubh, the Celtic King. Well one of the Macduffs was a guy called Shaw.
He came north with one of the Canmore Kings to suppress Moray and he got himself a plum job as
keeper of the royal castle at Inverness, an important man. You know in Irish Gaelic the Prime Minister,
the leader, is called an Taoiseach? It's a bit like in Gaelic an toiseach means at first, the beginning.
Well this guy Shaw's descendants were called Mac an Toiseach, you might say Macintosh.
Anyway, they built their power round Inverness and down here to Rothiemurchas in the Cairngorms.
A few generations later, the Sixth Chief of Clan Macintosh married the only daughter
of the Chief of Clan Chattan. They had lands around Glenloy and Loch Arkaig.
Imagine the road from Fort William round to Kyle of Lochalsh and Skye, just past the Commando
Monument. Spean Bridge, Invergarry, you know where I'm on .. Lochaber no more!
Now, some of you might be thinking, hold on that's Cameron country is it not? That's the Clan Cameron
Museum over there, and that is true. You see the happy couple lived there on Clan Chattan lands
at first, then they moved back over here to Mackintoshy Rothiemurchas in the Cairngorms.
Well, when they moved, the Camerons started to muscle in on that Chattan land over at Loch Arkaig. Grrr
Now the couple had two sons, and by the time the eldest had grown to be clan leader, things
had escalated in a full-blown land feud between the Chattan slash Macintoshes and the Camerons.
Their second son, John Angus, he was the guy that went off and started Clan Shaw from whom
my American friend was descended.
Before long, the Chattans became more of a confederation of clans
with not just Macintoshes and Shaws, but also Macphersons, Macbeans, Macphails,
Davidsons, Farquharsons, and then much later the Tom Cobley Clan led by their uncle.
The Clan Chattan federation was led by the Chief of Clan Macintosh.
The feud with the Camerons had raged on, including the Battle of Drumlui in 1337 and at the Battle of
Invernahavon in 1370. On the side of the Chattans was the biggest, toughest, most fearsome Highland
warrior to take the field in many a long year. On a Sunday he was called MacGillechrist Mhic Iain,
but his pals called them Seath Mor. This was the man our Americans were coming to see.
When Clan Chattan took to Perth's North Inch, not only were they aided by Hal o' the Wynd,
they were led by Seath Mor, and the battle wasn't against Clan Kay from a way up in distant Sutherland,
but their interminable enemies Clan Cameron.
One of the few men to survive along with Hal o' the Wynd was Seath Mor. Of course eventually
even invincible Highland warriors go to that great cattle raid in the sky, and thankfully I now know
where to bring my American visitors. Now you might be wondering why the iron grid over the grave,
well on the grave are five cylindrical stones, a bit like large cheeses. Some say that there was one
for every one of the Clan Chattan men that died at Perth, and that some have been stolen, however
when you hear what happens when one's stolen, that may seem unlikely. They say that in the early
19th Century there was a walker, an English guy, he was in the area and he took one of the stones and
threw it into the Spey. The next day locals found that the stone had been placed back in the tomb,
but the walker was found dead in the river. In the 1940s, a journalist contemptuously lifted a stone
above his head, just to prove that it held no power. Later that day he was killed in a car accident.
In 1978, a guy called Leslie Walker just touched a stone and he came down with a six-week mystery
fever. His friend who actually rearranged the stones died of a cerebral haemorrhage the next day.
Even a third friend, who was just with them was hospitalised with stomach pain.
This grate is to protect the public from the Bodach an Duin (spirit of the Doune) that protects Seath Mor, and if you
go too far into the forest, Seath Mor himself, Chief of Clan Shaw, may appear to challenge you to battle.
The gripping story of Farquhar Shaw in the Black Watch
is here. Tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda.