Glencoe 17/2/08

"You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the MacDonalds of Glencoe, & put all to the sword under seventy. You are to have a special care that the old fox & his sons do upon no account escape your hands. You are to secure all the avenues that no man escape."

On the morning of 13th February 1692 at 5am the order was carried out and 38 MacDonald men were murdered either in their homes or as they tried to flee the glen. Another 40 women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned.

     

What makes Glencoe so chilling is that it was no inter-clan affair but a deliberate, government sponsored massacre, carried out by regular troops under proper military command, carrying out a national policy.

     

It is this complicity at the highest levels of government that makes Glencoe so notorious, & it is hard to drive through this wild, haunting place even today without the hairs standing up on the back of your neck.

The weather was very good to us albeit a bit chilly, the scenery was stunning and anyone who hasn't been before should definitely take a wee drive up here, I can't recommend it highly enough. The story of Glencoe is a shocking tale of Government instructed murder, nothing more & nothing less and it typifies what went on in Scotland's history under the English. It's a very sorry tale that makes you wonder what these poor people went through on that dreadful morning. If you're ever up in this neck of the woods, please seek out the monument & pay your respects to these tragic souls.

   While we were up at Glencoe we also sought out the memorial to one James Stewart, the last Jacobite martyr, who was hanged after being found guilty by a Campbell jury of murdering the King's messenger, Colin Campbell of Glenure.

If you have read Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped, you'll know the story.

If you haven't, the bare bones are these. Seven years after Bonny Prince Charlie's futile bid for glory and the English throne, when anti-Jacobite legislation was at its most draconian and bagpipes, porridge and the wearing of tartan were outlawed, Campbell of Glenure, known as the Red Fox, travelling on the King's business from Fort William to Inveraray was ambushed and shot at Ballachulish. James Stewart of Appin was arrested, tried and executed. He was almost certainly innocent, but someone had to swing, and his unfortunate corpse was left to swing from a 30ft gibbet beside Loch Linnhe for two years.

When bits fell off the rotting body, they were retrieved and wired back on.

Read James Stewart's story here

For more on Glencoe click here

For More High Resolution Photo's  Click Here