CLAN MACKAY

The chiefs of Clan Mackay held lands in North and West Sutherland for almost 600 years and at the height of their power, occupied more than half the county. Mackay units fought on the government side in the Jacobite uprisings of 1745, which eventually ended in defeat for the rebels of Bonnie Prince Charlie at the battle of Culloden in 1746.

The best known achievements of Clan Mackay have been on the battle field, with ten major battles between 1400 and 1550, with the Sutherland's. After the rebellion of 1745, the government tried to integrate the Highlands with the rest of Scotland. The hereditary jurisdictions of local chiefs were abolished and money was spent by the government and others, on projects intended to improve economic conditions and provide employment.

At this high point, the Clan Mackay suffered the first series of financial disasters. After the reformation, they were ardent supporters of the Protestant cause during which the chief, Sir Donald Mackay, raised a regiment which he took to the Continent to fight in the thirty years war. For this service, he was raised to the Scottish peerage and took the title, Lord Reay. The first Lord Reay had used up most of his personal resources in the Protestant cause and was forced to sell part of his lands to the Earl of Sutherland. The end came in 1829 when the 7th Lord Reay, sold the last of his estates to the same buyer, thus by simple purchases, the Sutherland's realised an ambition which they had failed to achieve in 300 years of warfare.

This period saw a growth of population but the traditional farming methods then practised over wide areas, could not cope with the increased need for food, and there were recurrent famines and widespread emigration.

The reaction of landlords varied. Some went bankrupt trying to feed their tenants, others took in those cleared from other areas, but many evicted the tenants from the poorer farms on their estates, to create new and more profitable sheep farms, the population being re-housed in coastal villages where fishing would provide employment.

These clearances were intended to improve the lot of tenants as well as yield higher rents from the land, but in practice, too little attention was paid to the practical difficulties of the enforced clearances and more to the wishes of the tenants, and much human misery resulted. Between 1790 and 1840, these clearances or evictions took place all over the Highlands until halted by the Crot~ers Holding Act of 1886, but this did not alleviate the conditions that led to depopulation of rural areas.

In this part of the Highlands, people are still mainly direct descendants of the original clansmen and the consequent legacy of bitterness remains to this day. However, it is still appropriate to call this magnificent countryside by its original Gaelic title, "Duthaic Mhic Aaidh", the land of the Mackays.
It is remarkable to find that a majority of the people in the Highlands, particularly in Assynt, were bilingual around the 1920s. Prior to this, Gaelic had held the upper hand but then teachers from the South drove the language from the classroom and punished its use in the playground. As the population declined, the Gaelic speakers became fewer and older. Now that the population is gradually increasing again, adults are taking up the language in evening classes and children are going to Gaelic playgroup.

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