Bagtown Clans

All About Scottish Clans!

Bain Clan Crest

Clan bain crest
Clan Bain crest
CREST: A dexter arm armed grasping a dirk proper
MOTTO: Et Marte Et Arte
TRANSLATION: By strength and art
VARIATIONS: Bayne
Clan Bain is a Scottish clan with a rich and intriguing history. The Bain family was a minor noble family in Scotland, descended from the Clan Mackay. The name “Bain” comes from the Gaelic word “Ban” meaning fair. The Bain family was founded by John Bain Mackay, son of Neil Mackay, after a conflict within the Clan Mackay. John dropped the surname Mackay and moved to Caithness. He had four sons who founded different Bain families in different regions of Scotland.
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The Clan Bain has a fascinating history, which is intertwined with that of the Clan Mackay. Clan Mackay was a powerful and influential clan in Scotland, and it supported King Robert the Bruce and fought at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Angus Mackay, 6th Chief of Clan Mackay, married a daughter of Torquil MacLeod of Lewis, and their son Neil was the father of John Bain Mackay, the founder of Clan Bain.

The conflict within the Clan Mackay involved two factions, and it resulted in the Battle of Drumnacoub, which took place on a hill called Carn Fada. On one side was the old chief, Angus Dow Mackay, and his second son John Aberach Mackay, and on the other side were Angus’s kinsmen Morgan Neilson Mackay and Niel Neilson Mackay, John Bain’s father. They were assisted by clansmen from the Clan Sutherland.

John Bain not only dropped the surname of Mackay but moved from his homeland in the west of the county of Sutherland to the neighbouring county of Caithness. He married in 1436 and died in 1452, leaving four sons; John Bain, who founded the Bain families in Caithness and Haddingtonshire; William Bain, who founded the Bain families of Clyth; Alexander Bain, who founded the Baynes of Tulloch and Dingwall; and Donald Bain, who settled in Galloway.

The Bain family held their seat at Tulloch Castle for over 200 years until Kenneth, the ninth Bayne, sold the castle and estate to his cousin Henry Davidson in 1762. The Bain surname is most commonly found in the Orkney Islands, Shetland Isles, Highland, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

 

Clan Bain Scottish History Poster