4 – The Eigg Massacre, 1577
The modern day island of Eigg is something of a Scottish utopia. It is a tiny island with a population of just over a hundred, but one which has made headlines in recent years by taking on an eco-friendly lifestyle and cultivating a progressively minded tourist crowd. The people govern themselves and are presented to the world as a model of alternative living. The history of Eigg, however, is home to something far, far darker.
“On the Isle of Eigg there is a cave called the Cave of the MacDonalds. Around four hundred souls were smothered to death in this cave and this is the story behind the event,” reads the account of Calum Maclean, a famed folklorist and ethnologist of the Scottish people.
“Two lads from Dunvegan went to Eigg in search of a wife and when they got the local lads had such a spite for them that they tied them up and sent them adrift in a boat. The boat sailed away and they had been three days at sea before the MacLeods of Dunvegan found them. MacLeod of Dunvegan and his men went to Eigg to get hold of those that had tied the two lads up. When the Eigg folk saw them coming they gathered together and fled to a big cave on top of the island so that when MacLeod of Dunvegan arrived there was no sign of them. They were about to go when one of them saw a man up on the hill and they noticed a snow track and they returned and followed the footprints which led into a cave. MacLeod of Dunvegan demanded that those who had tied up the lads should come out, but they didn’t. They didn’t come out at all. The MacLeods filled up the mouth of the cave with heather and set it alight killing all those inside the cave. That’s how the Eigg Massacre came about.”
The Eigg Massacre was sometimes regarded as apocryphal, but recent discoveries on the ancient island have brought it to light and confirmed that it took place. In March 2017, over 50 human bones were found in Massacre Cave and dated back to the time of the massacre, which took place in the midst of a clan war between the MacLeods and MacDonalds. The Eigg Islanders were MacDonalds and had fought several battles against the MacLeods from over the water at Dunvegan, which were ended by the deaths of nearly all MacDonalds in the cave on Eigg.
Later, the great Scottish writer – populiser of the tartan and kilts Scottishness that has now become de rigeur, but was once seen as rustic and uncouth by many in the Scottish establishment – visited the island of Eigg and was enthralled by the idea of the Massacre and is reported to have brought a skull of a victim back from the cave to his home as a souvenir. He started a fund for those killed to have a Christian burial – the Clan MacLeod had deliberately not afforded them one after the massacre. The MacDonalds from the island of Uist would have their revenge on the MacLeods just a year later they attacked a church on the island of Skye, killing scores. Only one person survived, a small girl who raised the alarm, causing the chief of the MacLeod clan to declare total war on the MacDonalds, killing nearly all of those who took to the field.
