MacMillan

The MacMillans of Lochaber

Micheil MacDonald says that there were MacMillans beside Loch Arkaig in the 12th century, and that later they moved to territory close to Loch Tay : that the name Gilleonan MacMolan appears in a charter for 1263, and that the clan was clearly established by 1360, when Malcolm Mòr MacMillan was granted a charter by the Lord of the Isles, confirming the ownership of land in Knapdale [NR726684], including part of the western peninsular that ends at Knap Point [NR697720].  The text of a couplet surviving from old times goes like this :
                       MacMillan's right to Knap shall be
                              As long as this rock withstands the sea.
Malcolm's grandson, Lachlan MacMillan of Knap, was slain in the great battle of clans at Harlaw in 1411, which was basically a showdown between the Stewarts and the MacDonalds of the Isles.

Fitzroy MacLean says that during the Middle Ages the MacMillans established themselves in Knapdale by marriage to a MacNeill heiress, and that a rock at Knap Point in Loch Suibhne bore the inscription :
MacMillan's right holds good to Knap
So long as wave beats on the rock
In 1615 Campbell of Cawdor, on orders from his chief, the Earl of Argyll, pushed the rock into the sea and the old MacMillan lands have long since been lost to the clan.

Back to Somerled MacMillan :
Gilchrist (The Little Tonsured One) was a monk of the Culdee order in the Celtic Church at Kintrae, Old Spynie and, at the time of the Moray rising in 1132, was forced to leave the district.. He was in all likelihood the same person who actually built a Culdee shrine at Kilmallie or Culmallie in Sutherland, and another at Kilmallie in Lochaber.

In 1296, the English spelling of Kilmallie in Lochaber was Kilmalyn, which is simply an Anglicised form of the Gaelic Cill-Maolain ("Church of the Little Tonsured One"), i.e. the devotee of St John, the beloved Apostle. The ecclesiastical parish of Kilmallie, which originally included part of Ardgour and North Ballachulish, derived its name from Maolan, progenitor of the Clan MacMillan.

About 1160 Malcolm IV is believed to have removed the main family of MacMillans to the barony of Lawers on the north side of Loch Tay, in order to make room for the MacGillechattan family from Caithness. The lands of Glenloy and Loch Arkaig, known later as the Gliiechattan lands, were given to this family.

In 1228 Walter Comyn or Cumming, elder son of William, Earl of Buchan, was granted the expansive districts of Lochaber and Badenoch from the Crown. He left no heir and those lands were given to a younger brother, Richard. The latter was succeeded by his son John, better known as the "Red Comyn". John also had a son called John, who is known in history as the "Black Comyn". This John had a son of the same Christian name who, like his grandfather, was designated the "Red Comyn". He met an untimely death in 1306, when Robert Bruce was responsible for his murrder in the Church of the Minorite Friars, Dumfries...

Tradition has it that the only conditions the Comyns required for holding lands in Lochaber were -- "Sneachd air Beinn Nibheis, fraoch air Druim Fada, agus lìonadh is tràghadh Loch Ial" ("Snow on Ben Nevis, heather on Drumfad, and the ebb and flow of Loch Eil").

A very interesting tale has been preserved which tells how this MacMillan was instrumental in causing the last Comyn to make his speedy departure from Old Inverlochy Castle and his lands in Lochaber....

The story is told that a MacMillan towards the end of of the 13th century killed his step-father in order avenge his father's death in Breadalbane, and leaving his home in Perthshire, went to live at North Ballachulish. This was some time before Bruce became King of Scots. MacMillan was married and had a family, and some of his descendants were to be found in Nether Lochaber until fairly recent times.

John, eldest son of Malcolm Mòr MacMillan of Knap (see first paragraph above), fled to Lochaber with six of his clansmen about the year 1365 after he had, under great provocation, killed Marallach Mòr at Kilchamaig, West Loch Tarbert. They and their sons, together with the descendants of Myles MacMillan in North Ballachulish, were none other than the enigmatical Clan Qwhevil or Kevoil. In 1392 they were 'put to the horn' (outlawed) for their part in the Raid of Angus of the previous year, and in 1396 they proved victors over the Clan Ha (Clann Sheadhgh, or Offspring of Shaw, i.e. the MacKintoshes) at the Barrier Battle on the North Inch, Perth.

The earliest account of the battle is that given by Andrew of Wyntoun, in his "Cronykill"......... [ Here Somerled MacMillan goes into a learned discussion of the identity of the clan which fought the MacKintoshes (Clan Ha) in that celebrated battle, and ends by saying...........] ..... it is feasible to conclude that the Lochaber MacMillans are the Clan Qwhevil who went to represent the de Cambron family at Perth. The one who led the Clan Qwhevil on that occasion was probably Ewen de Cambron, son of Allan mac Ochtery, and nephew of Queen Isabella and King Robert III. [ Allan MacOchtery was married to a daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall, ancestor of the Earls of Perth and Melfort. Another of his daughters, Isabella, or Annabella, was married to Robert III ].

The MacMillans formerly held their lands as vassals of the Lords of the Isles and had their seat at Torra Mòr, Fassifern, on the northern shore of Loch Eil, long before the Camerons were granted a charter for the same lands. Those lands were lost because they had taken sides with the MacKintosh and Donald Dubh Cameron when they tried to break away from the vassalage of the Lords of the Isles. After their defeat at Inverlochy in 1431, the MacDonalds drove them back into Western Lochaber and occupied Loch Eil, Glengarry, and Brae Lochaber. Needless to say, the chief of Clan Chattan used the MacMillans as buffers facing Clan Donald at Murlaggan, Kinloch-Arkaig, and Glenpean, for which service and occasional presents in kind they held their lands.


	The MacMillans of Lochaber Micheil MacDonald says that there were MacMillans beside Loch Arkaig in the 12th century, and that later they moved to territory close to Loch Tay : that the name Gilleonan MacMolan appears in a charter for 1263, and that the clan was clearly established by 1360, when Malcolm Mòr MacMillan was granted a charter by the Lord of the Isles, confirming the ownership of land in Knapdale [NR726684], including part of the western peninsular that ends at Knap Point [NR697720]. The text of a couplet surviving from old times goes like this : MacMillan's right to Knap shall be As long as this rock withstands the sea. Malcolm's grandson, Lachlan MacMillan of Knap, was slain in the great battle of clans at Harlaw in 1411, which was basically a showdown between the Stewarts and the MacDonalds of the Isles. Fitzroy MacLean says that during the Middle Ages the MacMillans established themselves in Knapdale by marriage to a MacNeill heiress, and that a rock at Knap Point in Loch Suibhne bore the inscription : MacMillan's right holds good to Knap So long as wave beats on the rock In 1615 Campbell of Cawdor, on orders from his chief, the Earl of Argyll, pushed the rock into the sea and the old MacMillan lands have long since been lost to the clan. Back to Somerled MacMillan : Gilchrist (The Little Tonsured One) was a monk of the Culdee order in the Celtic Church at Kintrae, Old Spynie and, at the time of the Moray rising in 1132, was forced to leave the district.. He was in all likelihood the same person who actually built a Culdee shrine at Kilmallie or Culmallie in Sutherland, and another at Kilmallie in Lochaber. In 1296, the English spelling of Kilmallie in Lochaber was Kilmalyn, which is simply an Anglicised form of the Gaelic Cill-Maolain ("Church of the Little Tonsured One"), i.e. the devotee of St John, the beloved Apostle. The ecclesiastical parish of Kilmallie, which originally included part of Ardgour and North Ballachulish, derived its name from Maolan, progenitor of the Clan MacMillan. About 1160 Malcolm IV is believed to have removed the main family of MacMillans to the barony of Lawers on the north side of Loch Tay, in order to make room for the MacGillechattan family from Caithness. The lands of Glenloy and Loch Arkaig, known later as the Gliiechattan lands, were given to this family. In 1228 Walter Comyn or Cumming, elder son of William, Earl of Buchan, was granted the expansive districts of Lochaber and Badenoch from the Crown. He left no heir and those lands were given to a younger brother, Richard. The latter was succeeded by his son John, better known as the "Red Comyn". John also had a son called John, who is known in history as the "Black Comyn". This John had a son of the same Christian name who, like his grandfather, was designated the "Red Comyn". He met an untimely death in 1306, when Robert Bruce was responsible for his murrder in the Church of the Minorite Friars, Dumfries... Tradition has it that the only conditions the Comyns required for holding lands in Lochaber were -- "Sneachd air Beinn Nibheis, fraoch air Druim Fada, agus lìonadh is tràghadh Loch Ial" ("Snow on Ben Nevis, heather on Drumfad, and the ebb and flow of Loch Eil"). A very interesting tale has been preserved which tells how this MacMillan was instrumental in causing the last Comyn to make his speedy departure from Old Inverlochy Castle and his lands in Lochaber.... The story is told that a MacMillan towards the end of of the 13th century killed his step-father in order avenge his father's death in Breadalbane, and leaving his home in Perthshire, went to live at North Ballachulish. This was some time before Bruce became King of Scots. MacMillan was married and had a family, and some of his descendants were to be found in Nether Lochaber until fairly recent times. John, eldest son of Malcolm Mòr MacMillan of Knap (see first paragraph above), fled to Lochaber with six of his clansmen about the year 1365 after he had, under great provocation, killed Marallach Mòr at Kilchamaig, West Loch Tarbert. They and their sons, together with the descendants of Myles MacMillan in North Ballachulish, were none other than the enigmatical Clan Qwhevil or Kevoil. In 1392 they were 'put to the horn' (outlawed) for their part in the Raid of Angus of the previous year, and in 1396 they proved victors over the Clan Ha (Clann Sheadhgh, or Offspring of Shaw, i.e. the MacKintoshes) at the Barrier Battle on the North Inch, Perth. The earliest account of the battle is that given by Andrew of Wyntoun, in his "Cronykill"......... [ Here Somerled MacMillan goes into a learned discussion of the identity of the clan which fought the MacKintoshes (Clan Ha) in that celebrated battle, and ends by saying...........] ..... it is feasible to conclude that the Lochaber MacMillans are the Clan Qwhevil who went to represent the de Cambron family at Perth. The one who led the Clan Qwhevil on that occasion was probably Ewen de Cambron, son of Allan mac Ochtery, and nephew of Queen Isabella and King Robert III. [ Allan MacOchtery was married to a daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall, ancestor of the Earls of Perth and Melfort. Another of his daughters, Isabella, or Annabella, was married to Robert III ]. The MacMillans formerly held their lands as vassals of the Lords of the Isles and had their seat at Torra Mòr, Fassifern, on the northern shore of Loch Eil, long before the Camerons were granted a charter for the same lands. Those lands were lost because they had taken sides with the MacKintosh and Donald Dubh Cameron when they tried to break away from the vassalage of the Lords of the Isles. After their defeat at Inverlochy in 1431, the MacDonalds drove them back into Western Lochaber and occupied Loch Eil, Glengarry, and Brae Lochaber. Needless to say, the chief of Clan Chattan used the MacMillans as buffers facing Clan Donald at Murlaggan, Kinloch-Arkaig, and Glenpean, for which service and occasional presents in kind they held their lands.
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