Glencoe, in the Highlands of Scotland, is best known for two things, its stunning scenery and the brutal events of 1692.
Glen Coe is a steep sided valley that climbs from the village of Glencoe perched on the edge of Loch Leven at its northern end to the huge empty spaces of Rannoch Moor to the south.
For the many thousands who visit Scotland every year they will find an area surrounded by a number of imposing peaks, one of the most striking is Buachaille Etive Mor (translated from Gaelic, the Great Shepherd of Etive), a great brooding mass that rises to over 3000 feet. By road it’s a further 16 miles to Fort William.
In winter it’s a dangerous, yet exhilarating place for the thousands of climbers and walkers that throng to the area; Glencoe hotels, particularly in the winter, are very busy with Munro baggers (Scottish mountains over 3000 feet.)
The ferocious weather of the winter of 1692 also played its part in an event that remains one of shame in the history of Scotland.
During the latter part of the 17th century there were some Highland clans who were a threat to King William, many also wanted the return of the deposed Stuart king, James VII.
Desperate to control the Highlanders, the King issued an order that all chiefs were to sign an oath of allegiance to him by January 1, 1692. Failure to sign the document would mean punishment to the, “Utmost extremity of the law.”
Many of the clans however were still bound by an oath to ousted King James VII who was now exiled in France.
It was mid-December before James released the clans from their oath and 28 December before the news arrived in the Highlands. It left only three days until the deadline.
Alasdair MacDonald, also known as MacIain, delayed further, he left Glencoe, on 31 December during the winter blizzards, for Fort William, to sign the oath but was turned back with the explanation that the oath had to be taken by a Sheriff. This meant a 60-mile journey through the territory of the hated Campbells to Inveraray.
It would still have been possible to meet the deadline if the Campbells had not delayed him for a day. However after much pleading by the exhausted MacIain, the Sheriff finally accepted his oath.
It seems the fate of the MacDonald clan was already sealed. Twelve days before the massacre a group of soldiers arrived in Glen Coe, they were Campbells. On the pretext that the fort was full, they asked the MacDonalds for shelter, and in the spirit of Highland hospitality they were given food and lodging.
On the night of 13 February the order came to, “Put all to the sword under seventy.” Thirty-eight men women and children were brutally murdered that night.
The Campbells were despised throughout the Highlands for such a foul deed; even today a local hostelry, the Clachaig Inn boasts a sign, “No Campbells.”
