Family Dispute, Murder and Vengeance
A true story about a double murder within a Scottish clan and the terrible vengeance and beheadings that resulted.
Beside the main A82 road between Fort William and Inverness, sits an obelisk that is largely unnoticed by the thousands who drive that busy road every day.
After reading this short gruesome history of the monument and the tale behind it, I guarantee, you will not pass it unnoticed next time you are in the area and in fact, will go out of your way to notice it.
The location is in a mountainous area of Lochaber in Scotland, adjacent to the A82, Fort William to Inverness road, just north of the Caledonian Canal swing bridge at Laggan Locks, by the west shore of Loch Oich.
It commemorates a particularly gruesome piece of 17th century Scottish history, involving a bloody feud amongst members of but a single clan, the Clan Donald, or Donell. The monument is known as The Well of the Seven Heads.
The then Chief of the Clan Macdonell or MacDonald had it erected in 1812.
On 25th September 1663, Alexander, Chief of the Keppoch Macdonells and his brother Ranald, were hosting a family gathering at their home in Insch, near Roybridge in Lochaber. For reasons that are to this day uncertain, a brawl erupted between the hosts and a visiting cousin from nearby Inverlair.
Whatever the motivation of this dispute, what is not in dispute is the outcome. The hosts, Alexander and his brother Ranald were slain by their Inverlair cousin, Alexander MacDonald, aided by his six sons. Time passed and the Inverlair cousin and his sons continued about their lives, free as birds, with little or nothing being done to make them pay for their actions.
But someone was on their trail. Let me introduce you to Iain Lom, otherwise known as Iain Moal (Bald Iain), Gaelic Poet Laureate of Scotland. He was a close relative of Alexander and Ranald and had pledged to make the killers pay for what they had done and in doing so had set out on a one-man crusade to seek justice for them.
Or was it vengeance?
Initially, despite his best efforts he could find little or no support. However, he was a determined and dogged character and despite risks to himself, he did not give up his crusade.
Two years later, despite his hard work and persistence, justice for Alexander and his brother Ranald seemed a forlorn hope. As he continued to wrack his brain for a way forward, he was made aware of something. Something that might be the key to unlocking the stubborn door he had been knocking on for these two years.
A MacDonald Chief on the Isle of Skye, Sir James of Duntulm Castle, had at one time fostered the slain brothers. It had to be worth a try. This last throw of the dice that saw Iain Moal travel to Skye and approach Sir James.
His appeal, perhaps influenced by his poetic skill, could not have been more dramatic as he spoke these words;
‘ Abel is cold and his blood is crying in vain for vengeance. Cain is hot and red-handed and hundreds are lukewarm as the black goat’s milk.’
The appeal and these words seemed to have struck home and Sir James pledged to help bring the killers to justice.
True to his word, Sir James then applied to Scotland’s Privy Council in Edinburgh. After addressing the Council he was given permission to pursue, by ‘Fire and Sword’ (teine no claidheamh), capture and bring the killers to justice.
Sir James’s brother, Archibald, the warrior poet, set out with fifty men to do the bidding of the Privy Council. Bald Iain led them to Inverlair, near Tulloch where the murderers were located and after a violent struggle, justice was dispensed, leaving Alexander MacDonald and his six sons dead and decollated.
Iain Lom took the seven severed heads of his cousins to Lord Macdonell at Invergarry Castle (Inbhir Garadh), home of the Clan Chiefs.
Before handing the his gruesome package to the Chief of the Clan, Iain stopped at a nearby well on the banks of Loch Oich and cleaned all seven heads.
When you locate the obelisk, do not be squeamish, look to the top. There is a single hand with a dagger, the Gaelic Poet Laureate of Scotland’s hand. Grasped in that hand the gruesome sight of seven severed heads.
Having found the monument, do not forget to go down the steps behind it and into the tunnel directly under that busy road. It is only then you will be looking at the very place the heads were cleaned, Tober nan Ceann,
“The Well of the Seven Heads.”
Lord Macdonell eventually had the heads taken to Edinburgh where they were, ‘affixit to the gallowes’ for public display.
Many years later the headless corpses of seven males were found buried near Inverlair, in the vicinity of where the Tulloch Railway Station stands today.
Bald Iain, Gaelic Poet Laureate of Scotland got his bloody vengeance.
