A MacLean tale Lady’s Rock and their only bad chief

Amanda Moffet — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:22:46 +0000

Lachlan Cattanach has been titled as the ‘only bad chief of Clan MacLean‘. Just outside the south-east corner of Pennygown chapel, near Salen on the Isle of Mull, there are two carved slabs lying on the ground. Apparantly, these graves are of this chief and one of his wives. The two were reported to have taken part in witchcraft; burning live cats because their squalling was said to have summoned the devil, and he was obliged to follow their commands.For this reason Lachlan Cattanach and his wife were not allowed to be buried within the chapel’s grounds. However, the church, with it’s limitless compassion, allowed them to be buried at crossroads; with the cross design being the next best thing to Holy ground. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as a precaution, all witches were pinned down with a stake to heart to ensure that the community would never again be troubled by their evil. However, all of this is an aside.

Lachlan Cattanach was married to Katherine Campbell, daughter of Archibald Campbell, the 2nd Earl of Argyll. This marriage was a political convenience as it cemented the alliance between the MacLeans and the Campbells, but it was not, however, a success with stories of Katherine trying to poison her husband. As time passed by and she did not provide him with a son and an heir, Lachlan decided to murder her. He came to the conclusion that it would be a lot easier, and a lot less trouble to make his wife’s death look like an accident, rather than carry out some conspicuous act around his estate, so he quietly arranged for his wife to be taken to a tidal reef just south of Lismore lighthouse, with the intention of her drowning at high tide.

Luckily for Katherine, before the water covered the rock some passing fishermen saw her and she was returned to land where she made her way to her family home. Meanwhile Lachlan, thinking his wife dead, had sorrowfully reported the “accident” to the Earl, and although lacking a body, he held a mock funeral, where he showed every sign of sorrow. He was shortly found out, and the Campbells soon took their revenge. In 1523 Lachlan was “dirked in bed” while on a visit to Edinburgh by Katherine’s brother, Sir John Campbell of Cawdor. The rock on which Lady Katherine was marooned can be seen at low tide from Duart and is known as The Lady’s Rock.

These are perhaps the graves of the one “bad” Duart chief and his wife.

Lady Rock off Mull, originally uploaded by Amanda@ScotClans.

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Tragedy Rock – A sad tale from Mull

Amanda Moffet — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:46:44 +0000

This tale is one of the saddest stories on Mull.

At the foot of the 1,000ft cliffs of Gribun stands Clach na Leannan, the Stone of the Courting Couple. The stone is just 50 yards inland from a road where it passes the first farm coming from Salen direction, with a windbliwn elder tree at the gable. This stretch of road on the south side of Lich na Keal can be extremey terrifying, with the overhanging cliffs on one side and a drop into the sea below. There are many occurancs of rock avalanches after heavy rain or a passing sheep dislodging a stone.

In about the year 1700, in the autumn, a young man named John, a local shepherd was betrothed to Rona, daughter of a local blacksmith. The couple had been fortunate in obtaining a small but cosy cot- house that stood on a piece of flat land at the foot of the cliffs of Gribun. Their new home was situated opposite where the wedding was taking place.

The wedding celebrations went on until dawn in the barn of an old farmhouse. A storm had been threatening all day and broke in the night, a great wind came roaring in from the sea accompanied by torrents if rain. As time went on, the neawly-weds slipped out unoriced and hurried over to their little home. With the noise of the storm, pipes and celebrations, no-one heard the dreadful sound in the night when a great outcrop split, and a huge section rolled down, coming to rest on and completely flattening the cot-house with the young couple inside.

There they lie to this day with just a few flowers springing up against the rock in their memory.

It is told on Mull how people remembered the ends of some if the rafters were still to be seen sticking out from the bolder up to 2 centuries later.

tragedy-rock

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A MacLean tale Lady’s Rock and their only bad chief

Tragedy Rock – A sad tale from Mull