Morrison vs. MacAulay

In 1493 the Scottish Crown was able to wrestle control of the Western Isles of Scotland from the Lord of the Isles. The Crown was in no position to establish royal justice in the area and this led to two centuries of unrest between the clans.  One of these feuds took place on the Isle of Lewis, located in the outer Hebrides, between Clan Morrison and Clan MacAulay.  It began in the early 16th century with the murder of Donald Ban Morrison, brother of the Morrison chief, John Morrison, by members of the MacAaulay Clan. John retaliated by sending his clansmen to raid Uig, the MacAulay’s stronghold. The MacAulay chief, hearing about the raid appealed to their allied clan, the very powerful MacLeods of Lewis.  The MacAulay and MacLeods men met the Morrison’s in battle at the Caws of Tarbert where the Morrison’s were soundly defeated.

After defeating the Morrisons the MacAulay’s, with help of the MacLeods, moved on to Morrison land where they were able to capture the Morrison chief and imprison him at Rodil.  The chief was able to escape but the MacLeod’s used their influence with the crown to get him declared an outlaw. Now desperate and on the run he hatched a plan to kidnap one of the Macleod heiresses and exchange her for a royal pardon. There is no record if the Morrison chief received his pardon but the girl was released unharmed.  Another traditional story tells the tail of the Chief of Clan MacAulay who attempted to end the feud by giving up his daughter in marriage to a member of the Morrison family.  After the birth of the first baby, the nurse maid discovered a plot by the Morrisons to murder the child and his mother. The mother was able to escape to Uig but was overtaken by the Morrisons at Bragar. With help she was again able to evade capture, but this incident ramped up the tension between these two clans.

In 1601 the Morrisons received word that the MacAulay’s clansmen were away from home on a hunting trip and they decided to enter MacAulay land and steal their livestock.  The Morrison’s faced no opposition but the MacAulay’s wives were able to get word to their men and they immediately rushed back.  They found their cows grazing near loch Eoag and they realized that the Morrison’s had taken shelter in their broach, Dun Carloway. Instead of waiting for the Morrison’s to emerge, Donald Cam MacAuley, scaled the wall using two daggers, he then threw heather into the broach and set fire to it, smothering or burning to death all of the Morrison’s hiding within.

The last battle between these two clans took place in1654 at the Druim nan Carnan or “the ridge of the cairns,” near Bravas.  It is believed that the battle began after a group of MacAulay’s raided cattle from the Morrisons.  The MacAulays were only able to make it back as far as Barvas when the Morrisons caught up with them.  Legend states that so many clansmen were killed on both sides that they were buried where they fell.