Updated 16.1.17 1

Here is the latest list of what Clans are marching on what days for The Touch of Tartan.

There will be a series of Clan Parades that will take place each night of the Tattoo. This will be a major event within the Clan-themed events that will be happening throughout this year, backed by the Scottish Clan Event Fund.

There are 25 performances of the Edinburgh Tattoo. Tickets have been put aside for the clans to buy for each performance to make sure that as many tartan-clad clansmen, women and children attend as possible.  Each Clan has seats allocated at the Tattoo.

For more information please contact  info@clanchiefs.org.uk

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Rallying the Clans together. Chiefs of Clans Bruce, Leslie, Macnab and Carmichael on Salisbury Crags with Edinburgh Castle below.

Clan chiefs have been sending out rallying calls to their Clansmen and Clanswomen all over the world to come and join them at the Edinburgh Tattoo this August.  Rather than setting a fire on-top of a hill – this time they’re using the internet.

Back in 2009 many of us remember the epic Clan March up Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to the Castle, Clans walking behind their banners and many with their Clan Chiefs, being cheered on by thousands of onlookers.  This was the largest Clan display by far seen in Scotland, Over 125 Scottish Clans took part in the parade . Since then Clans have had their individual gatherings and clusters of Highland games but nothing touching what happened in 2009.

Jamie Macnab – Chief of Clan Macnab said in an interview for The Times  .”It was absolutely phenomenal… I don’t think anyone who took part that weekend will ever forget it.”

Clan Douglas at the Clan Parade in 2009

So now in 2017 the Clans will be marching again – this time to the Tattoo. It will be a series of Clan Parades that will take place each night of the Tattoo. This will be a major event within the Clan-themed Events that will be happening throughout this year, backed by the Scottish Clan Event Fund.

There are 25 performances of the Edinburgh Tattoo. Tickets have been put aside for the clans to buy for each performance to make sure that as many tartan-clad clansmen, women and children attend as possible.

The Edinburgh Tattoo

The Tattoo’s Chief,  Brigadier David Allfrey approached the Standing Council last August to gain support for his ‘Splash of Tartan’ theme for the Tattoo. This opportunity provides an excellent platform to promote Ancestral Tourism to International audiences. 2017 is Visit Scotland’s year of History, Heritage & Archaeology. The Clans will be playing a large part.

Clan Chiefs have been contacted and have signed up, now it’s all about mustering up support to get people to follow  them up the Royal Mile. Currently 53 Clan Chiefs have signed up, so each night there will be 2 Clans in the parade. Some Clans have already got 100 people signed up.

Jamie Macnab explains that this is a great opportunity to reposition the views within Scotland of Clan Heritage.  Here especially it can be seen as a bit twee – a shortbread version of Scotland, one that is just for tourists not for the people that live here.   Jamie adds:
” My hope is that our involvement in the Tattoo will get some home-based engagement and Scots will don their tartan and go, ‘Right, I’m putting my kilt on and going on my clan night.’ I mean, I think this is the first time the Tattoo has ever done anything like this so hopefully it will generate some interest.”

Clan events have always attracted people from oversees. the Convenor of the Standing Council, Sir Malcolm MacGregor has been over in the US trying to drum up support for this event.

Visit Scotland’s research has shown that history and heritage is the second most popular reason cited by visitors coming to Scotland from overseas. First was landscape and scenery.

So if you’re interested in joining your Clan – please contact your Clan Society and join in, let’s make this a great event!

For full list of clans and dates please see: http://www.scotclans.com/list-of-clans-and-dates-for-tattoo-clan-parade/

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Macnab Pistols

The Macnab Crest

The Macnab Crest

They have been adapted in contemporary times with the addition of a belt hook – as that was how pistols were worn with Scottish dress.

The pistols must have belonged to a wealthy Macnab who was entitled to use the coat of arms
– maybe Francis Macnab 12th chief, in his early days ( he would have been about 36 when they were made ) – but they are not the pistols he is carrying in his portrait by Raeburn.

Could this be the same?

Interestingly, a close look at the portrait shows that Francis is not carrying a pair of pistols, as one would expect, but two quite different ones. The one on his shoulder belt is a classic Scottish ramshorn butt pistol , but in his right hand he is carrying a small screw barrelled pocket pistol. Both of these weapons would have been made decades before the picture was painted about 1813. In the National Gallery of Scotland commentary on the portrait, they note ” at the right cuff of the coat MacNab’s fist emerges holding a tiny pistol “.

The pistols illustrated came from Blair Atholl castle, but their archives contain no information on when or from where, they acquired them.

One possible source is from the sale of the contents of Kinnell House in 1935 and the owner would be very grateful for any information on that sale, who were the Auctioneers, or about the contents of the house before the sale.”

If anyone out there knows anything about these pistols – we’d love to hear from you.

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The Falls of Dochart

Monty Python’s Michael Palin is featured in the book, discussing the Falls of Dochart in Killin. Killin is the ancestral home to Clan Macnab, with many of the clan’s chiefs buried on the island situated in the falls – Innis Bhuidhe.

You can read Palin’s piece below, and for more information on the burial island you can read my report from the Macnab chief’s memorial which was held in 2013.

Michael Palin

It’s hard to know where to begin. Scotland is so richly endowed with great landscapes, breathtaking views and fine cities that picking out a favourite place seems unfair to all the others. But if I had to narrow my focus and forget the Forth-Clyde canal walk in Glasgow, the Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay and the King’s House Hotel in Glencoe, I’d settle for the Falls of Dochart in Killin. They’re dramatic without being fierce and the way the water twists and tumbles over the rocks is pleasing rather than awesome. They’re accessible too. You can get close to them. Thrilling for a child, I should think, and not intimidating to an oldie like me. I’d call them the friendly falls.

So much of what is beautiful about Scotland has water at the heart of it, whether it’s the rivers and streams, or the lochs and Sounds and Firths into which they flow. One of the great delights of a visit to the Falls of Dochart is their location. From whichever direction you approach the landscape is magnificent. From the west the valley of the Dochart leads you towards the Falls, with Ben More the sentinel to the south, rising over 1,100 metres. Coming at them from the east the road runs, for 14 glorious miles, beside the silver finger of Loch Tay with the dark flanks of the Ben Lawers range rising over 1,200 metres on the far side. Powerful, mysterious, hugely impressive highland scenery.

I think though that a favourite place has to be something more than just an aesthetic choice. There have to be personal elements. And so there are with me and the Falls of Dochart. In my mid-teens I’d met a girl on holiday in Suffolk, and we’d got on very well and the next year we’d met up again by the chilly grey North Sea and our holiday romance blossomed again. The year after that she wasn’t there and I was, for a while, very sad, as I never expected to see her again. Two years later, through the letter-box, came one of those significant communications that can change the course of a lifetime, like unexpectedly good exam results or a successful job application. In my case it was a postcard with a picture of the Falls of Dochart on the front.

On the back was a message from the girl I’d never expected to see again. She was on holiday up in the Highlands and had heard via a friend that I had got into Oxford University. This was followed by some snide reference to the fact that they must have lowered their standards, which, as humour had always been at the heart of our relationship, I found deeply reassuring. 
Reunited by the Falls of Dochart, we later met up and the holiday romance has developed into a 46-
year marriage.

Was it predestination or just plain good fortune that led me to another relationship that was to shape my life, and which was to bring me to see the Falls of Dochart for myself? Whilst at Oxford I met and started to write with a Welshman from Esher in Surrey called Terry Jones. A few years later, by way of The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set, he and I teamed up with three fellow writers and performers from Cambridge, called Idle, Cleese and Chapman. Joined by an American animator named Gilliam, we became Monty Python’s Flying Circus. After a few years of television we wrote and produced our first film, Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Among many other things it featured a killer rabbit that lived in the terrifying Cave of Caerbannog.

The film was almost entirely shot in Scotland and the home of the killer rabbit was on the hillside overlooking Loch Tay. Which is how, on 6 May 1974, on an afternoon free of filming, I first saw the Falls Of Dochart for myself. I was with John Cleese and we sat on the rocks with the water spilling around us and talked about the future of Python and John’s urge to be free of his obligations to the group. When the time came to go, my hired car wouldn’t start and John helped me push it up the hill to Killin’s only garage.

In 2005, Terry Jones and myself returned to Scotland to film a short video of our search for the Holy Grail locations which was to be included in a new DVD release. By now, just over 30 years after John had expressed his frustrations with the group, the Holy Grail had been a huge international success and transformed the outlook for 
Python. We had stayed together, on and off, for two more films, the 
Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.

Before Terry and I went on our quest to rediscover the location of the Cave of Caerbannog I insisted that we stop at the Falls. I stepped carefully out onto a rock in the middle of the river, sat down, took my shoes off and dangled my feet in the cool fast-flowing waters of the Dochart. I thought about my life and how this place had come to mean so much to me.

Seven years has gone by since then. John Cleese has just got 
married, for the fourth time, Terry Jones and I are meeting for a drink tomorrow and my wife has just rung to check on our three-year -old grandson who has come down with what he calls chicken 
pops. And a few hundred miles north the river will be bubbling and swirling down the Falls of 
Dochart.

© Michael Palin from My Favourite Place, which is being distributed throughout Scotland as part of Book Week Scotland

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The Macnab, by Sir Henry Raeburn (1802)

The striking and imposing character glaring down from Sir Henry Raeburn’s celebrated portrait The Macnab seems to be the perfect figure of an eighteenth century highland chief. This giant of a man stands dressed in the uniform of Lieutenant Colonel of the Breadalbane Fencibles – a green jacket with silver braid, a red tartan vest, a kilt in Macnab tartan, tartan stockings, a badger-head sporran and a bonnet of tall black and white feathers on his head. Armed with a dirk, broadsword and pistol, the chief stands pictured against the backdrop of a lonely highland pass, right hand poised at his pistol.

The man in the portrait is Francis Macnab (1734-1816), landowner and 16th chief of Clan Macnab. Known to those around him as Francis More (Big Francis), he was a giant of a man, measuring six foot three in height and of immense strength. Over his 82 years, Francis drank, gambled and womanised his way through what was left of the Macnab fortunes and estate, fathering at least 32 children and eventually passing away hugely in debt (£35,000 in the red to be precise). While Francis is most well-known as the subject of Raeburn’s portrait, a reputation for excessively eccentric and uninhibited ways have ensured that he remains remembered as one of Scotland’s most notorious chiefs.

BORN INTO A REBELLION
Francis was born in 1734 to John Macnab (15th chief) and Jean Buchanan, where they lived just outside of Killin in Kinnell House – the heart of Clan Macnab territory. At the time Kinnell House was the seat of the clan following the destruction of Eilean Ran Castle by Cromwellian forces in 1654. Francis would have been 11 years old at the time of the 1745 Jacobite Rising, and it seems as though the clan, like many at the time, were divided in their loyalties.

John Macnab was an ardent Hanoverian supporter and Major in the British Army. His military history has been rather muddled over time, with some reports suggesting he served in the Hanoverian Army during the Rising. His brother Archibald Macnab had an impressive military career, which included serving as a captain in the Loudoun Highlanders during the Rising. He was captured and taken prisoner by the Jacobites during the Battle of Prestonpans.

Despite the chief’s loyalties, some Macnab clansmen were listed as Jacobite supporters, serving with the Duke of Perth. On Francis’ maternal side of the family the leanings were well and truly Jacobite – Jean Buchannan’s brother was Francis Buchanan of Arnprior, a notable Jacobite supporter who was beheaded at Carlisle in October 1746. Prince Charles gifted to him a ruby ring which is on display in the National Museum in Edinburgh, and his sword (also a gift from Charles) is in possession of the current Chief. His lands at Arnprior were confiscated following the Rising, but eventually restored to his sister.

INHERITED DEBT
The Macnab inherited the chieftainship in 1778 at the age of 44 and lived the life of an old-fashioned feudal chief, admired and reverenced by all around him. For his entire life, the Macnab battled against the rising levels of an inherited debt that had financially crippled past generations of Macnabs. His father had provided a large amount of debt as a result of lengthy and unsuccessful litigation against his powerful cousin and neighbour, the Earl of Bredalbane. The Macnab’s extravagant lifestyle sure didn’t relieve any of the financial pressure – even inheriting his mother’s lands at Arnprior and the successful foundation of the Dreadnought Hotel in Callander could not support the weight of his excesses.

One particular evening, a bailiff who had come to serve a writ was seen approaching Kinnell House. The Macnab hid and gave orders that the bailiff be told the Laird would return in the morning, and in the meantime was to be lavishly entertained with as much whisky as he could handle overnight. When the bailiff awoke in the morning with an immense hangover, he looked at the window of Kinnell House and saw what looked like a city-clad gentlemen hanging by his neck from the branch of a great wych elm hear the house. When he asked Macnab’s housekeeper what the grisly sight was, she replied “Oh, that’s just a wee bit Baillie boy who angered the Laird. Now will you no’ tell us whit your ain business is, sir, for the Macnab is due back soon.” The bailiff fled shortly after, not daring to serve the writ, and the dummy was taken down from the tree.

Innis Bhuide – Burial Island of the Chiefs of Macnab)

AN APPETITE FOR WHISKY AND WOMEN
The Macnab was also notable as a substantial producer and consumer of whisky. Heron, who toured Perthshire in 1792, wrote: “The Macnab produced the best whisky to be found in Scotland.” He is also said to have established his own illicit distillery in Killin, drinking the whisky produced there from a nine gallon jug called ‘The Bachelor’. He had an immense dislike of the government, who involved itself in what he regarded as his affairs, and had a particular hatred of excisemen in search of illegal whisky produced by his clansmen.

The Macnab never married but certainly kept busy during his lifetime, fathering at least 32 illegitimate offspring. One particular legend tells of a day he saw two boys fighting in the main street of Killin. Upon asking them why, one of the boys replied: “I said I was the Chief’s son, and he said he was as well.” Francis winked at the boys’ mothers as he replied: “Ah boys, dinnae fight over that, ye both are.” It is also said that the Macnab once proposed to a woman by offering as enticement the chance to have her final resting place in the most beautiful burial ground in Scotland, Innis Bhuide (the burial island of the Chiefs of Macnab). There is even a tablet in memory of one of his numerous progeny who acquitted themselves nobly on the battlefield, located on the wall of the burial enclosure on the island.

Plenty of other tales exist that are testament to the Macnab’s larger than life character. He once greeted a visitor to Killin from Edinburgh with: “The Highlands are no place for a man with breeches on!” And on a visit to a London cockpit, he was contemptuous of the quality of cocks he saw fight, declaring that he could bring down a Scots bird that would easily beat any put against it. He accepted heavy bets that he could not prove his point. The MacNab – he refused to acknowledge anyone who called him Mr MacNab – returned carrying a golden eagle on his arm.

The Macnab was also present at a banquet held for George IV in Edinburgh, where he was allegedly banned from subsequent festivities for defending the right of MacDonnell of Glen Garry to place his arms in sight while the guests were dining. It was said that the Macnab threatened the safety of the King, if Glen Garry was harmed.

THE MACNAB’S LEGACY
In 1812, with no legitimate hier, the Macnab made a disposition of the clan lands to his nephew Archibald Macnab (1778-1860). The mounting debts had forced the necessity to mortgage most of the property at Killin, although it wasn’t until the Macnab died at Callander in 1814 that Archibald realised just how encumbered the estate was. He made desperate efforts to extricate the estate, but in 1823 a writ of forclosure was issued. Archibald disappeared, fleeing to London then Canada, where eventually he received a grant of 81,000 acres in the Valley of the Ottawa River. 85 Macnabs joined him in 1825, however Archibald had promised more than he could provide, as the early years of establishing the estate were filled with immense difficulties and discomfort.

Archibald’s goal was to recover his ancestral lands at Killin (including Kinnell House and Innis Bhuide), however in 1828 the lands were sold to the fourth Earl of Breadalbane, the principal creditor of the debt. The contents of Kinnell House were included in the sale, where they were kept as objects of interest to visitors to the house until they were auctioned off in 1935. In 1838 an inquiry was launched into excessive rents being charged at the Macnab settlement in Ottawa. Archibald was made to refund the money and was left a ruined man, leaving Canada for good in 1853. After some time spent in Orkney and London, he died in relative obscurity in France in 1860.

Sarah Anne, the eldest of Archibald’s children, was recognised as the eighteenth chief. She died unmarried in Italy in 1894, ending the line of the old chiefs, and beginning much discussion and argument within the clan as to who should succeed. Today Raeburn’s portrait of Francis Macnab hangs on permanent display in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, ensuring the legacy the Macnab’s extravagant life lives on.

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I’d like to continue by reproducing Alaistair Moffat’s reading given at St Giles. It was an excellent account of the battle and the aftermath.

—

FLODDEN ADDRESS. – ALISTAIR MOFFAT

When dawn broke on the morning of 10th September, 1513, the landscape of hell was revealed. On the gently undulating northern ridges of Branxton Hill more than 10,000 men lay dead or dying. In the midst of the carnage were the naked, plundered bodies of King James IV of Scotland, his half-brother, Alexander Stewart, Archbishop of St Andrews, George Hepburn, Bishop of the Isles, two abbots, nine great earls of Scotland, fourteen lords of parliament, innumerable knights and noblemen of lesser degree and many thousands of farmers, ploughmen, weavers and burgesses. It was the appalling aftermath of the battle of Flodden, the greatest military disaster in Scotland’s history.

In the grey light of that terrible dawn, sentries posted around the captured Scottish cannon could make out where the brunt of battle had been joined. Below them, at the foot of the slope ran the trickle of a nameless burn now choked with slaughter, a wrack of mangled bodies, broken pikeshafts, shattered shields and everywhere blood and the sickening stench of death, vomit and voided bowels. Not all of the bodies were yet corpses. Through a long dark night the battlefield had not been a silent graveyard. Trapped under lifeless comrades, crippled, hamstrung or horribly mutilated, fatally wounded men still breathed. Bladed weapons rarely kill outright and they were often used to bludgeon men to their knees or into unconsciousness. In the churned mud of the battlefield some men will have lost their footing, fallen and been hacked at before they could get up. Many bled to death, maimed, lacerated by vicious cuts, screaming, fainting and screaming once more in their death agonies. Some will have been put out of their misery by parties of English soldiers scouring the field by torchlight for plunder, stripping the bodies, ransacking them for valuables. But other men will have lingered on in

unspeakable pain, praying to their God, passing in and out of consciousness, slowly bleeding to death. The fury of the battle on Flodden field may have been stilled and awash with death and defeat. But all was not yet over. In an instant the plunderers and scavengers looked up and the sentries by the cannon stood to, frantically peering through the morning light. They could hear the rumbling thunder of hoofbeats – and then, suddenly, riders erupted over Barelees Rig. With 800 horsemen at his back, Lord Alexander Home galloped hard across the horrors of the battlefield and up the slopes of Branxton Hill. They had not come back to Flodden to rejoin a lost battle but to rescue their captured ordnance. And they very nearly succeeded. After a sharp skirmish, the English gunners managed to load and get off a volley at Home’s squadron, and they scattered.

And so it ended. As the Border horsemen wheeled round and raced out of range, the remnants of the shattered Scottish army were limping across the Tweed at Coldstream. There was no organised pursuit. The victorious English army had taken heavy casualties and the Earl of Surrey and his captains were exhausted. In any event, their bloody work was done. The floors o’ the Forest were a’ wede awa, Flodden was a national disaster, a harbinger of lawlessness in the shape of the Border Reivers, the beginning of a long period of political uncertainty and the last medieval battle in the history of Britain. The last time a king was to die leading his army.

It was also an epic. As two huge armies mustered and marched into history, extraordinary scenes had been witnessed. At Ellemford, high in the Lammermuirs above Duns, where sheep now graze on the flanks of the hills, where buzzards hang in the updrafts and an elegant bridge crosses the Whiteadder, King James IV and his army camped. Huge guns were trundled down the hill trails, dragged by oxen, and by 21st August 1513, almost 30,000 men had massed in this beautiful, now lonely valley. Two days later, the largest force ever to leave Scotland crossed the Tweed at the fords below Coldstream. They had declared war, they had entered the realm of the Tudors, of the ferociously ambitious and bull-like Henry VIII.

Meanwhile Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, and the Bishop of Durham carried the standard of St Cuthbert before their battle-hardened troops. In front of the high altar of the great cathedral, Howard had watched the bishop bless the flag of the Haliwerfolc. The lands of Palatinate, of the Prince-Bishops of Durham, reached to the Tweed and beyond, and in an early definition of Englishness, their people were known as the Holy Man’s Folk, the Haliwerfolc. Ancient allegiances were being roused and summoned.

Between 2nd and 9th September two vast armies circled each other in a small corner of North Northumberland, like heavyweight boxers looking for weaknesses or waiting for wrong moves. After the Earl of Surrey had despatched a herald, the Rouge Croix, it was finally agreed that battle would be joined on 9th September. Supplies for almost 70,000 men, horses and camp followers were running dangerously low

and neither army could remain in the field much longer.

Realising the strength of the Scots’ entrenched position, Surrey led his men to the east, skirting Flodden Edge and staying out of artillery range. On the morning of the appointed day, he crossed the River Till and took up a position to the north of James IV’s army, barring any retreat to Scotland. And then, on a damp afternoon, the greatest battle ever fought between England and Scotland began.

On the left wing of the Scottish host, the Highlanders led by the Earl of Huntly massed in formation with Lord Home’s Borderers, and in the moments before their chiefs roared the claideamh mor, the order to charge, the Gaelic-speaking warriors did something remarkable. They began to summon the army of the dead. They began the sloinneadh, the naming of the names of memory. To bolster his courage, each man began to recite his genealogy. Many waiting to charge could go back 20 generations. As if they were offering up the murmur of prayer, each man remembered why he had come to fight. Is mise mac Iain, mac Ruaridh, mac Domhnuill. I am the son of John, the son of Roderick, the son of Donald. And once their quiet voices stilled, the roar of the claideamh mor rent the air and they broke into the charge. With their broadswords and Lochaber axes, the Highlanders tore into the English ranks, the division led by Edmund Howard, They scattered and a rout was only prevented when Lord Dacre rode to the rescue with his English Borderers. As history rumbled across Branxton Hill, fortune appeared to be smiling on the Scots.

At the same time, James IV was about to make a catastrophic decision, a crucial error of judgement. Instead of occupying an elevated position at the rear of his vast army, he chose to lead from the front. His division raced down Branxton Hill and as they reached the lower slopes and much softer ground, many men began to skid and lose their footing. This unsteadiness made it very difficult for them to control their long, 12 foot pikes. The wet ground made them charge out of formation, only engaging piecemeal with the solidly planted ranks of English billmen, With their shorter, more easily handled bills, they began to slice into James IV’s division. And as the men at the back saw the Scottish pikes go down, they hesitated and many of them ran, believing their king to be killed. By leading from the front, James was immediately submerged in the ruck of the fighting, only able to see what was directly in front of him, in no position to direct his forces. The result was disaster.

The legacy of Flodden was most immediately and keenly felt in the Borders. North of the Tweed the memory of the battle is kept alive in the fabric of the midsummer common ridings. At Selkirk the ceremony of the casting of the colours is unique in Britain and it is based on the return of a soldier known as Fletcher, traditionally believed to have been the only one of sixty from the town to return. In his bloodied hand he held aloft, in a gesture of desolate defiance, a flag captured from the men of Macclesfield in Cheshire. Many Englishmen had fought and fallen at Flodden. And passions still run high. When the Mayor of Macclesfield recently wrote to the Provost of Selkirk asking for the return of the flag, he was told that he would need to come to the Borders and take it.

Flodden is an immense story. Like Culloden in 1746, it signalled the end of a fading, feudal Scotland.  And it also ushered in a century of lawlessness, the criminal society controlled by the appalling Border Reivers. Across Europe, renaissance, enlightenment and the reformation were changing lives, forming new ideas and creating the institutions of the modern world. In the first half of the 16th century, central authority broke down in a leaderless nation, and while swords and spears spoke in Scotland, the law was often silent.

What is to be learned from all of that suffering and slaughter, from all of those ancient enmities? First that they are ancient and must remain firmly in the past. In 2014 Scotland faces a historic choice and whichever way the people of Scotland vote, it must be a signal lesson of Flodden that enmity, even ancient enmity can have no part. And it is to the credit of politicians on all sides of the argument that it has not reared an ugly head. But it might.

And alongside that it mustmbe important to remember, to understand the visceral, bloody realities of whatmwent on on that terrible day 500 years ago. Lest we forget, Flodden should become a place of remembrance and of pilgrimage, a place where the uncomfortable lessons of history can be learned and never forgotten.

Two weeks ago, on one of the countless beautiful evenings of this glorious summer, I drove over to Branxton. As the sun threw long shadows across the gently undulating fields, I tried to imagine the 10th of September, 1513, the distant roar of thousands of men, the screams, the fear and feral closeness of hand-to-hand fighting when

men can smell the breath, smell the sweat of men grunting pushing, hacking, swearing at them, trying to kill them. In a Gaelic phrase, I tried to listen for the music of the thing as it happened. I tried to listen to the slow, sad music of our history. I hope that many in Scotland and England hear it too.

Prior to the sir Malcolm MacGregor (who has admitted that try as he might he can not find a single MacGregor involved in the battle) researched the casualty lists. The following names are clans and families who are known to have fought at Flodden along with notable people who fell in the battle:

From the Highland Clans: 

Campbell, Erskine, Fraser, Gordon, Graham, Guthrie, Haldane, Hay, Keith, Leslie, Lindsay, Macaulay, Macfarlane, Mackay, Maclean, Macnab, Menteith, Moncreiff, Moray, Murray, Ogilvy, Oliphant, Ramsay, Rattray, Ross, Ruthven, Seton, Sinclair, Stewart, Forbes, Forsyth, Grant, MacKenzie, MacNaughton, Ross, Skene, Buchanan Of Leny, MacDonald

The Lowland and Border Clans and Families:

Adair, Abercromby, Adam, Anstruther, Baillie, Baird, Balfour, Barclay, Blackadder, Bonar, Boswell, Carnegie, Cathcart, Cleland, Cockburn, Colville, Craig, Crauford, Crichton, Cunningham, Dunbar, Dundas, Edmonstone Of Duntreath, Elphinstone, Fotheringham, Gray, Grierson, Haig, St.Clair Of Roslin, Henderson, Hepburne, Herries, Home, Hoppringle, Houston, Lauder, Liddel, Lockhart, Lumsden, Lyon, Masterson, Maitland, Maule, Maxtone, Maxwell, Melville, Muirhead, Mure, Napier, Rollo, Sempill, Somerville, Spottiswood, Stewart Of Traquair, Allardice, Ballingall, Kerr, Colville, Crammond, Eliott, Ferguson, Fleming, Foreman (Standard Bearer), Inche, Inglis, Johnstone, Kirkcaldy, Knolis, Logan, Montgomery, Morton, Muir, Nelson Of Madinpap, Otterbrun, Pitcarin, Pringle, Reid, Rorison, Savage, Scott, Seton, Tunstall, Vallanche, Wood Of Raik, Kennedy, Douglas, Hamilton, Livingstone, Wemyss, Wallace, MacLellan, MacCulloch, MacDowall

Chief Or Notable Head Of House/Family

King James IV, Archbishop Of St.Andrews (King’s Son), Earl Of Morton ( Grandson Of James 1), Earl Of Glencairn, Douglas Of Drumlanrig, Sir James Dunbar, Dundas, Lord Elphinstone, Lord Erskine, Earl Of Huntly, Earl Of Montrose, Sir Alexander Guthrie, Haig Of Bemersyde, Haldane Of Gleneagles, Earl Of Errol, Earl Of Bothwell, Sir William Keith, Earl Of Cassilis, Earl Of Rothes, Earl Of Crawford, MacDowal, Earl Of Garthland, MacFarlane Of Arrochar, Hector MacLean Of Duart, Maxwell Lord Of Carlaverock, Sir John Moncreiffe Of That Ilk, Moray Of Abercairney, Ramsay Of Dalhousie, Rattray Of That Ilk, Rollo Of Duncrub, Master Of Ruthven, Lord Sempill, Lord Seton, Earl Of Caithness, Earl Of Atholl, Earl Of Lennox, Lord Darnley, Master Of Angus, Anstruther Of That Ilk, Ballingall Of That Ilk, Master Of Eliott, Lord Forbes, Master Of Lovat, Sir Alexander Gordon Of Lochinvar, Sir Alexander Gordon Of Knockenshene, Grant Of Freuchie, John Henderson Of Fordell, Lord Alexander Home, Sir Patrick Houston Of That Ilk, William Johnstone Of That Ilk, Lord Keith, Lord Lorn, Lyon (Sons Of Lord Glamis), MacKenzie Of Kintail, Sir Alexander MacNaughton Of That Ilk, Andrew Pitcairn Of Pitcairn And 7 Sons, Lord Ross, William Ruthven Of That Ilk, Sir Walter Scott Of Buccleuch, Alexander Skene Of That Ilk, Sir David Wemyss, Earl Of Argyll, Lord Kinnaird, Master Of Cathcart, MacDonald Of Lochalsh.

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The St Giles Service…

Just over 40 clan chiefs  attended the St Giles service. At the end of the service they mustered for a photograph on the steps. To help you identify who was there we have been given a sketch with a key to the names:

1. Sir Walter Riddell of Riddell 2. The Hon. Elizabeth Fairbairn 3. Madam Pauline Hunter of Hunterston 4. Sir David Bannerman of Elsick 5. Lord Polwarth 6. Andrew Wallace Younger of that Ilk 7. Andrew Dewar Durie of Durie CBE 8. Michael Ancram, Marquess of Lothian 9. Andrew MacThomas of Finegand 10. Earl of Dundee 11. David Campbell of Strachur 12. Roderick Macneil of Barra 13. Sir James McGrigor 14. Earl of Eglinton and Winton 15. Professor David Hannay of Kirkdale and of that Ilk 16. Henry Trotter Younger of Charterhall 17. John MacArthur of that Ilk 18. Duncan Paisley of Westerlea 19. Richard Carmichael of Carmichael 20. Earl of Caithness21. Earl of Lauderdale 22. The Hon. Alexander Leslie 23. Earl of Erroll  24. Lord Napier and Ettrick 25. Madam Arabella Kincaid of Kincaid 26. David Cranstoun of that Ilk 27. Jamie Macnab of Macnab 28. Earl of Wemyss and March 29. Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw  30. The Hon. Kate Nicolson 31. Duke of Montrose 32. The Hon. Peregrine Moncreiffe of that Ilk 33. Martin Haldane of Gleneagles 34.  Lord Sempill 35.  Andrew Marjoribanks of that Ilk 36. Donald MacLaren of MacLaren  37.  Duke of Hamilton 38. Field Marshal the Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank 39. Isla St Clair 40. Marquess of Ailsa 41. Madam Margaret Eliott of Redheugh 42. Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor 43. Lord Macdonald of Macdonald 44.  Richard Oliphant of that Ilk

This image will help you identify the chiefs:

The post The Flodden 500 Service at St Giles, Edinburgh. appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

The Dining Room at Candacraig

With a price tag of almost £3 million pounds, Scottish comedian Billy Connolly’s Highland baronial home in Aberdeenshire has been listed on the market. The 12-bedroom property in Strathdon is set in 14 acres of grounds, and includes a walled garden and a croquet lawn. Candacraig was originally home to the Anderson family until it was sold in 1866 to Sir Charles Forbes of Newe.

Candacraig House was built in 1579, however the original is quite different from the mansion that stands today. A painting dated from 1760 shows a simple L-shaped building which was incorporated into later constructions. Most of the present house was built in 1835 by noted Aberdeen architect John Smith, who also worked on Balmoral Castle. Candacraig underwent further reconstruction in 1956, following a destructive fire.

Legend has it that the first Laird of Candacraig, Patrick Anderson, acquired the property after discovering silver under a boulder in Glen Carvie in the 1500′s. After changing hands several times after 1866, the house was purchased by Gordon and Anita Roddick, founders of the Bodyshop. They undertook a comprehensive program of improvement before selling it to Billy Connolly and Pamela Stephenson in 1998. Candacraig attracted much media attention as Hollywood celebrities became regular guests including Ewan MacGregor and Robin Williams.

The sales brochure describes the house as “a traditional Scots baronial mansion house built of harled stone under a slate roof with pepper pot turrets and steep pitched roofs”. The brochure continues: “The house has fine reception rooms, including a magnificent timber-panelled drawing room with a highly decorative plaster ceiling and a panelled library beyond. These two rooms and the dining room are to the front of the house and are reached off a long picture gallery. To the rear of the house are a large family kitchen and an office/utility room. A passageway with historic carved timber panelling leads to a billiard room.

Real Estate agent and Clan Chief Jamie Macnab, of Savills, said: “It is absolutely gorgeous, in the most stunning position and money has been lavished on it over the years.” Last year, Connolly started renting out the property as he was spending less and less time there. For £3,950, groups of up to 11 people could hire the house for one night and have a three-course dinner cooked by the resident chef. Connolly is said to be considering splitting his time between his apartment in New York and Brighton.

There are three castles nearby; the ruin of Kildrummy, besieged in 1306 by the army of Edward I; Glenbuchat, stronghold of “Old Glenbucket”, a renowned Jacobite who led a regiment for Bonnie Prince Charlie in the 1745 rebellion; and Corgarff, a restored 16th century tower house. Corgarff has an impressive history, acting as the scene of a notorious massacre, a hideout for bandits, and a munitions store for supporters of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. Following the rising the it was used as an outpost for soldiers sent to suppress the illegal distilling of whisky.

You can view the impressive real estate brochure by clicking here.

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Inspired by Sir Henry Raeburn’s series of portraits of clan chiefs, photographer Julian Calder said he wanted the portrait to highlight some of the Queen’s traditional if less prominent roles. “We wanted to photograph the Queen as the Queen of Scots and I wanted to do it as a Raeburn painting. He did paintings of Scottish clan chiefs and I thought they were very romantic… We wanted to have her looking at the massed clans on the distant hills.”

The Queen is dressed in the mantle of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, the Scottish counterpart to England’s Order of the Garter. From her shoulders, held by white satin ties, hangs the Collar of the Order made of golden thistles and rue sprigs, from which hangs a tiny St Andrew and his saltire cross. The photographer had initially hoped that the Queen would wear Scotland’s Crown Jewels, known as the Honours Three. However tradition dictates that they can only be removed from Edinburgh by the Duke of Hamilton, who was unavailable. Instead the Crown Jewel cabinet in London was raided, with the Queen opting to wear the emerald-covered Vladimir Tiara. It was once owned by the Grand Duchess Vladimir, aunt of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II, and was smuggled out of Russia during the Revolution

The MacNab – one of a series of portraits of clan leaders that inspired Julian Calder’s picture of the Queen

The portrait also enforces the Scottish connections to the monarchy – Elizabeth II is a direct descendant of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, not of England’s Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, who reluctantly signed Mary’s death warrant. The Queen’s great‑great‑grandmother, Queen Victoria, who bought and loved the Balmoral Estate, said she could never forgive Elizabeth I’s treatment of “my ancestor, poor Mary”. A favoured summer holiday spot for the royals since Victoria, the Queen is popularly supposed to be happier at Balmoral than anywhere else.

Calder and the book’s author Alastair Bruce spent the day beforehand scouting for locations finally opting for a remote stream called Gelder Burn, which runs into the River Dee. “It’s remote, you can seen the heather was out and everything was right about it. Creatively, the curve of the stream could mirror the curve of the cape. The dark green of the trees and the heather all worked as a composition. It had all the ingredients” Calder said.

On the day of the photo shoot, Bruce said rain threatened to disrupt plans which had been weeks in the making. “As the allotted hour approached, the skies cleared and the Queen not only agreed to go outside but also to be photographed at a spot I had picked 25 minutes away. So we drove up to Gelder Burn and passed a family out for a walk who were just astonished to see the Queen passing by in all this regalia. There was no time to set up the shot but it was this magical moment – hardly a breath of wind and no midges.”

Say cheese – On set with the Queen

Keepers celebrates the bewildering range of official titles and appointments that have evolved over more than a thousand years. Those photographed range from the Monarch and the Master of the Rolls to a vicar’s son who is the hereditary Lord High Admiral of the Wash and the Royal Falconer. The portrait is the latest in a series of recent representations of the Queen. The Welsh Rugby Union unveiled a matronly expressionist portrait by Dan Llywelyn Hall earlier this year, and HRH received rave reviews for her role alongside Daniel Craig in the London Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012.

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Macnab Country – The village of Killin and Loch Tay from Stron a’Chlachain. Photo by Andy Hall

Last Friday Amanda and I attended the memorial service for James Charles Macnab of Macnab, 23rd Chief of Clan Macnab. The memorial was held in the Killin Kirk, followed by interment of the ashes of James and his wife Diana on the ancient Macnab burial island of Innis Bhuidhe.

The journey from Edinbugh to Killin took us about two hours by car; passing through quaint Stirlingshire countryside, then the very edges of the Highlands via The Trossochs National Park. I’m rather ashamed to admit that I haven’t been further north than Edinburgh since I arrived in Scotland, so once we were on the road I felt an instant sense of relief when the grey and charcoal stone of Edinburgh gave way to brown and khaki earthy fields. We passed the still, deep waters of Loch Lubnaig, then on through the rocky and unforgiving mountain ranges towards Killin. My ears popped as we drove further up winding roads into the hills; passing mountains with giant cracks in their sides, snow capped peaks and weathered shards of rock poking out of steep slopes. The landscape certainly does remind me of New Zealand, but there’s a much more imposing, dramatic element to it that I have completely fallen head over heels for.

Dochart Falls, Killin

The beautifully wild Dochart Falls greeted us upon arrival in Killin. Situated on the River Dochart, the falls pass through the town, past the island of Innis Bhuidhe then onto Loch Tay. We walked to the kirk at the other end of the town, where inside a sea of mourners were wearing tartans of all different colours and patterns. The minister began the service by mentioning that the kirk was not very old by Scotland’s standards – it was only built the year before the 1745 Rising. The service featured songs and readings by the youngest generation of Macnabs, and a stirring eulogy delivered by the new chief, James William Macnab of Macnab. He recollected his father’s fantastic sense of humour, and his love for the land around Killin. The late chief was a particularly keen shot, and would insist upon hunting in his kilt. On one particular outing the chief jumped into a bush, disturbing a trio of grouse who got caught in his kilt as they tried to flee.

The procession gathers outside Killin Kirk

After the service the attendees gathered outside the kirk for a procession along the main street of Killin towards the burial island. With a piper leading the way the new chief and his brother carried the ashes of their father and mother, followed by family, clansmen and other mourners. As we were walking we noticed black smoke rising further along the road, which turned out to be a barn that had caught fire. As we got closer firefighters told us that we would not be able to get through as there was a risk of explosion, and we would have to turn back. We had turned around when the new chief yelled out to us to follow him through a field around the burning building. In a moment of comedy that I’m sure the late chief would have appreciated, hundreds of mourners (some of us hobbling in heels) were sent marching through a field around the outskirts of Killin.

The procession begins

The procession on Innis Bhuidhe

The Macnab Crypt at the far end of Innis Bhuidhe

The ancient burial island of Innis Bhuidhe was absolutely beautiful. Roughly half the size of a football field, the island is covered in lush woodland with a path leading down the middle towards the ancient crypt where Macnab chiefs are buried. The procession was lead to the crypt by Pipe Major Greig Canning playing the Macnab piobaireachd – The Gathering of the Macnabs. After a short prayer the ashes of the late chief and his wife were laid to rest, and his pennon and cap badge were handed over to the new Macnab of Macnab, announcing the new chief. Following the interment we stopped briefly at the hotel where the wake was being held. We chatted with the new chief, and toasted him with a glass of whisky that I’m sure flowed freely for the rest of the evening.

On our way back to Edinburgh we passed a number of Highland Heritage tour buses going in the other direction. Each bus was emblazoned with a clan name across the front – MacLeod, MacGregor, and Macnab to name a few. How amazing that a few miles back along the road, the modern day versions of those great clans had gathered just a few hours earlier.

You can view our photos from the memorial in an album on Tartan Footprint, and I have also uploaded the Order of Service here. Oh and just in case you’re wondering, I do have more travel in Scotland planned for April!

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Clan Macnab – Let Fear Be Far From All

One of the most fascinating things about Scotland is the way that a country steeped in history and tradition is colliding with the new. This is especially true of Scotland’s clans – distinguished by heraldry tracing back over a thousand years – and how this is manifesting itself in modern life. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting my first chief – Macnab of Macnab, 24th chief of Clan Macnab, and perhaps Scotland’s newest chief. Expecting to meet a dirk-wielding highlander straight from a history book, I instead found myself in an office in Edinburgh’s New Town, chatting to the Director of Country House Sales at Savills Estate Agents.

“It’s quite interesting how people react to my title. People who know about the clans, in particular people from the Highlands, have been saying ‘Congratulations, I’m sure you’ll do a good job’. Which is very bolstering. But to other people, especially in the South, they don’t have a clue what it means. To them it’s just a strange name.”

Jamie Macnab was announced chief of Clan Macnab in January this year upon the passing of his father, James Charles Macnab. Born in 1963 in Edinburgh, a pipe band greeted the infant Jamie and his parents upon return from the maternity hospital to the village of Killin, deep in Macnab territory. A newspaper article at the time referred to him as the ‘Younger, Younger of Macnab’ as his father, then heir, was known as ‘Younger Macnab’. However it was never something that differentiated him from other children in the village. “I was just Jamie, I don’t think anyone ever thought about that. I wasn’t particularly a leader, I had my pals and got on with them in the normal way. But I’ve known all my life that one day I would be clan chief, so I’ve had a lot of time to get used to the idea.”

“We all lead pretty ordinary lives. There’s a range of people who are clan chiefs, from the Duke of Buccleuch, to one of the chiefs who sells goods by hand up and down The Royal Mile, and another is French. So there’s no typical chief.”

Like other Scottish clans, the Macnabs are scattered globally. “There’s not a Macnab in the Killin telephone directory at the moment, we’ve all been very dispersed. But the people who live in Killin do recognise that this is where the Macnabs are from.” The Macnabs were present at The Gathering, the 2009 clan convention and largest recorded meeting of Scottish chiefs. “The Gathering was described as life-changing by a lot of clansmen from Scotland and abroad, and it was for me because there aren’t that many Macnabs in Scotland. My father and I manned the Macnab tent from 9 o’clock in the morning till 10 o’clock at night, and I met the most fantastic collection of people, it was truly inspirational… The fact that they were all so pleased to come to Scotland and pleased to connect with us, it was all very humbling.”

“One clansman said something to me that had a real resonance, and suddenly made it all make sense. Macnabs are not necessarily coming to a clan event to meet me – although that is part of it because I’m the representative of the clan. But it’s more to work out where they fit in. Finding out where you come from leads to quite a strong path of emotion in people, and it would be fantastic if we could help people with their genealogy to knit the family heritage together. All the chiefs lineage is pretty well documented. For me, on my fathers side, I don’t even have to think about who my great, great grandfather is because it’s all in a booklet. But most people don’t have that, so it would be nice to give them a framework to work within.”

He draws attention to how important the clans are to modern-day Scotland. “There are five million people living in Scotland, but worldwide there are thirty million that claim Scottish descent. So for a small country like Scotland with a limited economy, heritage is hugely important to tourism. The chiefs and clans play a part in that to make Scotland relevant in the modern world, because linking with your past is a very powerful thing.” Using the web and social media to connect Macnabs is a high priority on Jamie’s list for the future of Clan Macnab. His father had no concept of the internet, so Jamie wants the Macnab presence to be as visible and approachable online as it has been in person. “Over the last five years there has been a lot of correspondence between Macnabs around the world, and I want to build on this communication. It’s my challenge to try and work out how to pull them all together”.

Jamie is hoping to reestablish the Macnab Clan Society in Scotland, and hopes to meet with the American Clan Macnab Societies. “A lot of Americans are more Scottish than the Scots. It’s probably because they’re geographically removed. If you’re in Scotland you’ve probably got quite a secure thought of your place and where you’ve come from. But when you’re removed from it, it then becomes more important… So I’ll have to get out to the States.”

I asked Jamie if any clan rivalries from the old days still survived, and he proudly showed me his signet ring depicting the severed head of a Neish. Legend goes that the Macnabs and Neishes had a great battle near Loch Earn. The defeated Neishes took refuge on an island in the Loch, managing to ransack all of the Macnab Christmas provisions as they were being transported along the Loch to Killin. Clansman Smooth John Macnab was a huge, terrifying highlander, and one of four brothers. Their father said “If my lads were lads, I’d have my Christmas dinner.” The brothers picked up a boat and carried it over a mountain and back down and onto Loch Earn and rode it over onto the island where Smooth John hammered on the door of the dwelling on the island. Drunk on Macnab wine, the Neishes shouted out “Who’s there?” to which Smooth John replied “Who would you least like it to be?” They replied “Smooth John Mcnab”, to which he said “Smooth John it is”. With one smash of the hilt of his sword he broke through and beheaded everyone inside. There was no food or wine left, but the brothers took a sack of heads back over the hill. When they arrived back in Killin their father asked them if they had any Christmas dinner, to which Smooth John replied “No, but I’ve got some balls for the children to play with” and emptied out all of the heads onto the floor.

A hero of the Macnabs, Smooth John’s antics are centuries removed from modern clan life. “I haven’t had much of that in my lifetime. I’ve played a bit of rugby but that’s about it… When I was at college there was a guy called Ed Neish who knew the story of our two families. He’d had an accident and he had metal plating in his neck, so I was always joking with him that if I’d ever had a need to behead him I would have needed an angle grinder”.

I also wondered how clan life coincides with Jamie’s family life. He explained that they’re a very ordinary, Edinburgh-based professional family. He told me his wife said that it was very worthwhile being married to a clan chief the day that Chanel came knocking looking for chiefs to attend their recent show at Linlithgow Palace. And how does James, Jamie’s son feel about his eventual chieftanship? “His only experience was The Gathering in 2009 when he was 9 years old. He had a sudden realisation – ‘I have to stand up the front so there must be something in this’. I asked him about it again this morning and he just said ‘boring question’. So there’s no real concept at the moment I don’t think. I think it’s something that will gradually soak in on him over a period of time. It’s quite a mysterious thing for him.”

As I left Jamie’s office and walked along Princes Street in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, I thought about how many clan chiefs had walked in the same shadow over the years. My first meeting with a chief gave me a tangible sense of Scotland’s past, and as clans adjust to life in modern times, it seems the way forward is helping people connect to their past in a very 21st century way.

Clan Macnab at the Clan Parade. The Gathering, Edinburgh 2009.

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