Scottish Clans

In this episode, I read and discuss the story behind the Keppoch Murders from Stuart McHardy’s The Well of the Heads, one of the most haunting episodes in the history of Clan Donald. This account explores the killing of the Keppoch chief and his brother by members of their own kindred, revealing the volatile internal politics of Highland clan society and the deadly consequences of disputed leadership. After reading the story that gives McHardy’s book its name, I close with historical context on the cadet branches of Clan Donald and explain how Coll “of the Cows” MacDonald of Keppoch connects to the lineage involved in the Keppoch Murder narrative. For those interested in Scottish clan history, Highland succession disputes, and the realities behind clan violence, this episode separates legend from documented tradition while situating the event within the broader structure of Clan Donald.
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In this episode, I step away from a simple Highland–Lowland divide and draw on research from Wilson McLeod’s PhD thesis, Divided Gaels: Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland, 1200–1650 to show just how fragmented and uneven Gaelic Scotland really was. Using McLeod’s work, I explore how some Highland regions lay at the cultural core of the Lordship of the Isles, while others sat on its margins or were shaped by entirely different political and social forces—and how parts of the Lowlands retained Gaelic far longer than is usually assumed. The result is a far messier, more regional picture of language, identity, and power than the clean lines we often draw on maps. This episode is an invitation to rethink easy categories and to see Gaelic Scotland as a patchwork of overlapping influences rather than a binary world.
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Clan MacDowall (often rendered MacDougall or MacDowell in later forms) represents one of the most significant Gaelic kindreds of medieval Galloway, rooted in the same west-Gaelic world that shaped the clans of Argyll and the Hebrides. Emerging from the Gall-Ghaidheil milieu—a fusion of Gaelic and Norse influence—the MacDowalls were established as regional lords in Galloway well before the Wars of Independence, holding land and authority through kinship rather than later feudal clan structures. Like many Galloway families, they became entangled in the political struggles of the late 13th and early 14th centuries, and their alignment with the Balliol cause brought lasting consequences after Robert the Bruce’s victory, contributing to the erosion of their power and territorial base. Though often overshadowed in popular clan narratives, the MacDowalls illustrate how deeply Gaelic Galloway was integrated into the wider clan world of medieval Scotland—and how its clans paid a heavy price for backing the losing side in the struggle for the Scottish crown.

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This episode tells the story of Clan McCulloch, a proud Galloway family with deep Celtic ties but a surprising genetic signature. We examine their documented beginnings in 1296, loyalty to the Balliols, violent rivalries (especially the long feud with the Gordons that ended in a public execution), key alliances, and roles in Scottish history. Recent DNA results show the senior Myretoun line belongs to haplogroup R1a-BY32010 – a marker more common in Eastern Europe than typical Scottish Gaelic lines – challenging old origin tales. Though chief-less and with most ancestral estates lost, the McCullochs remain connected through societies, research, and diaspora pride.

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In this episode of Scottish Clans, we delve into Clan MacLellan, a powerhouse of medieval Galloway whose story is one of meteoric rise, bloody feuds, and tragic decline through unyielding loyalty. Emerging in the late 13th century as devotees of St. Fillan (their name from Gaelic MacGilleFhaolain), the MacLellans swiftly claimed lands around Balmaclellan, Raeberry, and Bombie in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Scholar Graeme M. Mackenzie proposes an intriguing shared origin with Clan MacMillan, tracing both to 12th-century Bishop Cormac mac Airbertach – a theory bolstered by adjacent settlements in the Glenkens and early heraldic similarities. From Balliol supporters in the Wars of Independence to staunch royalists against the Black Douglases, the MacLellans earned a fearsome reputation as one of Galloway's toughest clans.
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Origins of the MacLellans by Graeme Mackenzie