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Neish Island is an island in
Neish Island is an island in Loch Earn
Loch Earn (Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic, ''Loch Eire/Loch Éireann'') is a freshwater loch in the southern Scottish Highlands, highlands of Scotland, in the districts of Perth and Kinross and Stirling (council area), Stirling.
Th ...
, Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
History
It is recorded that in 1490James IV of Scotland
James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauchi ...
ordered Lord Drummond to cast down the house of the Ester (eastern) Isle of Loch Ern (Neish Island) and destroy all the strengths of the same and take away the boat and put it at the Wester (western) Isle. The Neishes apparently had the only boat on the loch and although the dwelling was demolished the Neishes repaired it and continued to live there, occupying most of the land near St Fillans
St Fillans is a village in Perthshire in the central highlands of Scotland, in the council area of Perth and Kinross. The village lies at the eastern end of Loch Earn, west of Comrie on the A85 road, at the point where the River Earn leaves t ...
and as far west as Tyndrum
Tyndrum (; gd, Taigh an Droma) is a small village in Scotland. Its Gaelic name translates as "the house on the ridge". It lies in Strathfillan, at the southern edge of Rannoch Moor.
Location and facilities
Tyndrum is a popular tourist village, ...
. The Neishes apparently took refuge on the island after being defeated by the Clan Macnab at the Battle of Glenboultachan in 1522. The Neishes or MacNeishes are regarded as a sept
A sept is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used in both Scotland and Ireland, where it may be translated as ''sliocht'', meaning "progeny" or "seed", which may indicate the descendants of a person ( ...
of the Clan Gregor
Clan Gregor, also known as Clan MacGregor, () is a Highland Scottish clan that claims an origin in the early 9th century. The clan's most famous member is Rob Roy MacGregor of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Clan is also known to hav ...
. In a later part of the feud, in 1612, when the Neishes robbed the Macnabs, the Macnabs apparently took revenge by attacking the Neishes on the island, all of whom were killed except for one small boy who hid under a bed and from who all of the name Neish are allegedly descended. According to the ''New Statistical Account of Scotland
The ''Statistical Accounts of Scotland'' are a series of documentary publications, related in subject matter though published at different times, covering life in Scotland in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
The ''Old (or First) Statistical Ac ...
'' there is a tradition that the Neishes or Nishes felt that they were safe from reprisals on the island because they had the only boat on the loch, but the Macnabs went to the effort of carrying their own boat on their shoulders and over the Grampian Mountains
The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. T ...
to get to the island. The Neishes had a small castle on the island and the ruins of it still remain, and the remnants of a little boat abandoned by the Macnabs on their way back over the hills were still seen into the early part of the 20th Century.Joan Finnigan, ''Giants of Canada's Ottawa Valley'', General Store Pub. House, 3rd edition (1 August 2005), pg. 37 The castle on the island consisted of a square keep, divided into chambers and constructed with thick walls. A small harbour and landing place for boats still exists on the east side of the island.
References
External links
* Islands of Perth and Kinross Freshwater loch islands of Scotland {{PerthKinross-geo-stub