Dunoon Massacre | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Scottish Clan Wars | |||||||
The Lamont Memorial in Dunoon commemorates the massacre | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Clan Campbell | Clan Lamont | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Unknown | Sir James Lamont | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | c. 250 |
The Dunoon massacre was a massacre that took place around Dunoon, Scotland, on 3 June 1646. Men of Clan Campbell massacred men, women and children of the Clan Lamont. [1]
By 1646, the Clan Campbell, neighbours of the Clan Lamont, had steadily encroached the Lamont's lands. After the 1645 Battle of Inverlochy near Fort William, the Clan Lamont took the opportunity to lay waste to the Campbell's territory. The following year, the powerful Clan Campbell army invaded the Clan Lamont lands, taking their castles of Toward on Cowal and Asgog on the banks of Loch Asgog on South West Cowal. At Castle Toward the Campbells asked for hospitality, which was given, according to custom, and then slaughtered the Lamonts in their beds, before throwing bodies down the well to poison the water.
James Lamont surrendered after accepting fair terms for his people, but the Campbells reneged on the terms and took the Lamonts captive. The two castles were set alight and razed, and the prisoners were transported by boat to Dunoon, where the Campbells slaughtered over two hundred of Lamont's men, women and children. Thirty-six men were killed by hanging, while the rest were stabbed to death or buried alive. James Lamont was thrown into a dungeon for five years. This event became known as the Dunoon massacre. [2]
The massacre is commemorated by a memorial in Dunoon, dedicated in 1906 and known as the Clan Lamont Memorial or the Dunoon Massacre Memorial. [3] [4]
Clan Campbell is a Highland Scottish clan, historically one of the largest and most powerful of the Highland clans. The Clan Campbell lands are in Argyll and within their lands lies Ben Cruachan. The chief of the clan became Earl of Argyll and later Duke of Argyll.
Dunoon is the main town on the Cowal Peninsula in the south of Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. It is located on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan. As well as forming part of the council area of Argyll and Bute, Dunoon also has its own community council. Dunoon was a burgh until 1976.
Argyll, sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area now forms part of the larger Argyll and Bute council area.
Cowal is a rugged peninsula in Argyll and Bute, on the west coast of Scotland. It is connected to the mainland to the north, and is bounded by Loch Fyne to the west, by Loch Long and the Firth of Clyde to the east, and by the Kyles of Bute to the south.
Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll or Archibald "the Red" Campbell, was a Scottish nobleman and politician.
Clan Donald, also known as Clan MacDonald or Clan Mc Donald, is a Highland Scottish clan and one of the largest Scottish clans. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of coats of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, recognises under Scottish law the High Chief of Clan Donald. Historically the chiefs of the Clan Donald held the title of Lord of the Isles until 1493 and two of those chiefs also held the title of Earl of Ross until 1476. Queen Mary of Denmark is member of Clan Donald.
Benmore Botanic Garden is a large botanical garden situated in Strath Eachaig at the foot of Beinn Mhòr, on the Cowal Peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. The gardens are on the west side of the A815 road from Dunoon, between the Holy Loch and Loch Eck, and include footbridges across the River Eachaig. It is one of the sites of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Ardentinny is a small village on the western shore of Loch Long, 14 miles (23 km) north of Dunoon on the Cowal Peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands.
The Battle of Dunaverty involved a battle and the siege of Dunaverty Castle in Kintyre, Scotland, in 1647. The events involved the Covenanter Army under the command of General David Leslie on one side and 200–300 Highland troops under the command of Archibald Og of Sanda on the other.
Clan Colquhoun is a Highland Scottish clan.
Clan Lamont is a Highland Scottish clan. The clan is said to descend from Ánrothán Ua Néill, an Irish prince of the O'Neill dynasty, and through him Niall Noigíallach, High King of Ireland. Clan Ewen of Otter, Clan MacNeil of Barra, Clan Lachlan, and Clan Sweeney are also descendants of Ánrothán. Traditional genealogy would therefore include Clan Lamont among the descendants of Conn Cétchathach.
Clan Maclachlan, also known as Clan Lachlan, Clann Lachainn (Argyll), and Clann Lachlainn, is a Highland Scottish clan that historically centred on the lands of Strathlachlan on Loch Fyne, Argyll on the west coast of Scotland. The clan claims descent from Lachlan Mor, who lived on Loch Fyne in the 13th century, and who has left his name upon the countryside he once controlled: places such as Strathlachlan, Castle Lachlan and Lachlan Bay. Tradition gives Lachlan Mor a descent from an Irish prince of the O'Neill dynasty, Ánrothán Ua Néill, son of Áed, son of Flaithbertach Ua Néill, King of Ailech and Cenél nEógain, died 1036. Clan Maclachlan has been associated with other clans, such as Clan Lamont, Clan Ewen of Otter, Clan MacNeil of Barra, and the MacSweens: as all claim descent from Anrothan O'Neill who left Ireland for Kintyre in the 11th century. From this descent the clan claims a further descent from the legendary Niall Noigíallach, High King of Ireland, who lived from the mid 4th century to the early 5th century.
Castle Toward is a nineteenth-century country house on the Cowal Peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland.
Strachur and Strathlachlan are united parishes located on the Cowal Peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. Strachur is a small village on the eastern coast of Loch Fyne.
The Battle of the Western Isles was a series of conflicts in 1585 and 1586 on the islands of Jura, Islay, Mull and Tiree, Scotland as well as the peninsula of Kintyre on the mainland. However, although the historic sources describe this as having taken place in the "Western Isles" which are now known as the Outer Hebrides, all of the aforementioned locations are actually in the Inner Hebrides. It was fought between the Clan Macdonald of Sleat and Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg against the Clan Maclean. In 1585, the Macleans slaughtered a party of the MacDonalds of Sleat when they were mistakenly accused of stealing cattle and the MacDonalds of Sleat and Dunnyveg retaliated. James VI of Scotland intervened but the conflicts continued into 1586. After further intervention an act of Parliament was passed which would levy fines on any clan chiefs who did not maintain peace and good order among their vassals.
The Campbell of Auchinbreck family was founded by Duncan Campbell in Glassary, Argyll, Scotland. He was the son of Lord Duncan Campbell, first Lord Campbell of the Clan Campbell, by his second wife Margaret, daughter of Sir John Stewart of Blackhall, the illegitimate son of King Robert III of Scotland. The family of the Lords Campbell later became Dukes of Argyll, and remain chiefs of Clan Campbell. Duncan Campbell, as a grandson of King Robert III, received a considerable estate confirmed by royal charter dated 19 June 1452. The family remained at their estate of Auchinbreck, from which they took their title, until 1641. The Campbells of Auchinbreck were commissioned to provide military training and were used by the Earls of Argyll as military support. In 1628 the then head of the family of Campbells in Auchinbreck received a baronetcy, which included a grant of North American land in Nova Scotia.
Dunoon Castle is a ruined castle in Dunoon on the Cowal Peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. The castle sat upon a cone-shaped hill about 80 feet (24 m) high. Very little remains of the castle's structure today. Castle House, built in 1822, stands a few yards north of the castle ruins.
The Battle of Lagganmore took place in 1646 at Lagganmore in Glen Euchar, west of Loch Scammadale. It was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, though in this case the battle, which was fought largely between Highland clansmen, incorporated a long running feud between Clan MacDonald and Clan Campbell.
Clan Ewen of Otter, was a Scottish clan which once controlled the area around Kilfinan on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll.
Asgog Castle, situated on the northwest shore of the Asgog Loch, on the Cowal Peninsula, Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland, was once the home of a cadet branch of Clan Lamont. It was first recorded in 1581, but may be mid-15th-century in date. In 1646, the castle was besieged and eventually destroyed by Clan Campbell, during the conflict now known as the Dunoon massacre. Only three walls of the keep are now standing; of the courtyard, there are no identifiable remains.