Introduction

Main

Foreward

Introduction

MacAskills of Rudh an Dunain

Lieutenants of the Coast 1

Lieutenants of the Coast 2

Lieutenants of the Coast 3

Tales from Frances Tolmie

MacCaskills in Canada

Annex

Notes and References

Bibliography

The Western Isles have a very special place in the history of Scotland and of these the largest and most famous is the Island of Skye. Known as the "Misty Isle" its history is rich in myth, folklore, violence and romance--home to the Ancients who built the brochs and the duns, to the Picts and the Scots whose hide and wicker curraghs criss-crossed from isle to isle, to the Norsemen who beached their galleys and built their longhouses above the rocks and silver sand of its sealochs, and to the mixture of Norse and Celts who formed the clans that fought with great ferocity for possession of the land.

The Island is composed of a number of peninsulas separated by loch, mountain and moor. To the South-West is Minginish facing the Outer Hebrides across a 25-30 mile stretch of water and directly South, and much closer, are the Small Isles--Canna, Rhum, Eigg and Muck. The bulk of Minginish is filled with the Cuillin Mountains, high rocky peaks, and jutting out from under them towards the Small Isles is the peninsula called Rudh an Dunain. This barren tract, 5 miles long by 2.5 was for six to seven centuries the home of the same family, the MacAskills. The story of this family is essentially the story of Skye.

On to the MacAskills of Rudh an Dunain.