"Celtic names in Scotland must outnumber all the rest by perhaps ten to one." James Johnston, Place-Names of Scotland, 1934.
In the previous chapter I proposed that through prehistory and up to the feudal conquest of Scotland, the basic social unit was the clan - a body of people who lived, originally by hunting, under an elected leader in an area defined geographically and by its beacon system. In two cases a named clan is still associated with a geograpical area defined by a beacon system, exactly as predicted. Ferindonald in Easter Ross was the home of Clan Munro and Ferindonald at Sleat, Skye, was the home of Clan Donald. The etymology of G. fearann ‘land, country, estate’ links with beacons and hunting: G. fear ‘to follow, as a chief; claim kindred with’, G. rainn ‘part, division’, and even archaic fe ‘fire’ and àr ‘battle, slaughter (hunting)’.
Modern gazetteers list three more ‘fearann’ names: Ferincoskry in Sutherland, Ferintosh in the Black Isle, and Formartin or Fearann Mhartain, the district between the rivers Ythan and Don in north-east Aberdeenshire. If we add Fearn, once Ferane, in Easter Ross, we already have five adjoining fearann between Dornoch and the Black Isle and an outlier to the east. Was Moray also divided into fearann?
Consideration of these names led to further llnks. When F is aspirated, it becomes Fh which is silent. The result is found in Gaelic as earrann 'share, portion of land, division, province’ and on the map as ERN names such as Earn. Findhorn appears to be G. fionn ‘white, bright (fire)’ + earrann or fhearann. DRN names like Deveron and Strathdearn plausibly derive from archaic G. dubh 'deer' + earann or fhearann. Early forms of the district name Mearns, which include Moerne and Mhormhairne appear to be G. mo or mor 'great' + fhearann.1. The fearann or earran seems to survive well in early written forms.
As well as FRN, ERN, DRN and MRN names, a handful of LRN names such as Lorne and Latheron were also included as early written forms show that they were originally Lav-earn, Lath-earn or Lag-earn, a compound of fhearann with a ‘beacon’ word akin to Sc. lowe ‘blaze’. BRN is the ancestral form of FRN but this root now covers too many names which apparently or in fact derive from E. burn and brown. That said, the BRN names are certainly part of the pattern, as we see from the twin saints Birnan and Ernan who share a feast day on 3 December. It is perhaps also relevant that the prominent native family who controlled Formartin used the surname Brown. BRN names have been omitted from the gazetteer but are discussed separately below.
The second element in G. fearann is rann 'part, portion, division'. The DRN and LRN compounds can be understood to mean 'deer-portion' or 'fire-portion'. Diack said that in old compounds of noun + noun the first element is in the nominative2 but in these old names the first element is certainly in in the genitive, giving the structure 'Of B, A' in place of the normal Gaelic structure 'A of B'.
The results of this search much exceeded expectations and will be found in the Gazetteer. This suggests that the identification or cofication of archaic place-names by their significant consonantal structure works very well. It diminishes the problem faced by students of Gaelic place-names: the corruption of archaic elements. Traditionally, such students have tackled one name at a time, using the forms found in early written documents and information supplied by native speakers. Both sources are unreliable, for much the same reason: the pervasive influence of English literacy. Transcribing clerks, from the 12th century to the Ordnance Survey, had little or no knowledge of Gaelic and often converted what they heard into English. Even when Gaelic was the spoken vernacular, a native speaker faced with a meaningless archaism would generally convert it into a familiar word or believe what a literate minister or visitor told them. As a result, the Gaelic name for Balmoral in Deeside is now Baile Mhòireir ‘laird’s dwelling’. But the first element in Balmoral is not G. baile but a conventional spelling (borrowed from Scots) which shows the long vowel of G.3, as preserved in Bouchmorale 1451. Bal in Balmoral, as in Baldernock, Balfron, Balhaldie, Balmerino, Balquhidder, and many similar names, is correctly pronounced ‘baw’. The conclusion must be that 'Baile Mhòireir' was invented recently by an English speaker ignorant of the true pronunciation of the name. Against expectation, the most reliable guide to the original Gaelic is the conventional English spelling 'Balmoral'.
With archaic place-name elements such as fearann and earran we may expect to find a variety of interpretations. And we do. They include G. feàrna ‘alder’, fuar ‘cold’, fuaran ‘well’, eorn ‘barley’, éirionnach ‘castrated goat’, Eireannach ‘Irishman’, E. fern, Sc. erne, Norse örn ‘eagle’ and E. ernut ‘earth-nut’. The only possible confusion is with G. feàrna which is common in the names of small streams and boggy corners. G. fuaran also tends to be restricted to small local features. But cold, barley, and even eagles are too common, too transient and too unimportant to be useful as place-names.
The use of fearann for a large division akin to a parish appears to be peculiar to Scotland. In Ireland the fearann has shrunk to mean ‘field, land, farm, plough-land’ and is used with this literal current meaning in the south-west of the country. The aspirate appears to be older as it is represented by a variety of names, all with inventive interpretations: Lough Erne (said to be ‘the lake of a man called Éirne’), Killarney (‘church of the sloes’), Knocknahorn (‘hill of the barley’), Larne (‘the property of a prince called Lathair’), and Aran (‘ridge’).4 In Wales also, Gwern or Wern is a generic name for a small farm. 'Alder-grove' can be ruled out since most Gwerns are on well-drained slopes. W. gwerin ‘people, populace’ suggests it may one have been more important. FRN names continue south of the Border into Northumberland where, being utterly obscure, they have been explained in terms of a man called *Earn or as ærn ‘house or building’, ærn ‘a place at the heaps of stones’, earn ‘eagles’, *fierne ‘a ferny place’, fearn ‘fern’, ‘a man called Forni,’ and forne ‘trout’. These translations are all guesswork.
There is, of course, an element of guesswork in the single broad interpretation proposed here for a large number of Scottish place-names. However as we are arguing from the known to the unknown, it is not gratuitous. The Scottish FRN and ERN names fall into a pattern which is to some extent predictable and so to some extent reliable. As I have said, only two surviving fearann names, both coincidentally Ferindonald, certainly refer to the territory of a known clan, centred on its beacon, but with further research many more FRN names reveal elements of the same pattern. Fernoch (NR8688) on Loch Gilp and Fernoch Hill (NN0120) on Loch Awe might have been features of a fearann, or they might have been places where alders grow or goats flourish. That this is a local sign of a fearann becomes more plausible when we add Fearnach (NM9632) on Loch Etive, Fearnoch (NM8797) at Kilmichael Glassary, and Fearnoch in Knapdale (NR7074) and the discovery in Cowal of two more Fearnochs (NR9279, NS0176). The spread of references is confirmed by Fearann Coille (NS1674) in Cowal which fills in the picture very nicely. The overall pattern suggest that the whole area from Cowal to Knapdale was once divided into fearann, as we have found elsewnere. Their individual boundaries and identities are not yet clear but we find a similar pattern over most of Scotland.
The distinction between Fernoch representing alders or goats and Fernoch representing a feature of a fearann cannot be made with certainty but it is possible to distinguish between larger and smaller landscape features. As a rule of thumb, we may expect most names referring to the local fearann to appear on the OS 1:50,000 maps, as the names of larger settlements and physical features. The scale of this map screens out the names of small features such as alder groves and springs. It is also clear that fearann names occur in what are now or have been settled areas, not in remote deer forests or on small islands. Their distribution is widespread but locally variable – Skye has many, Mull has few; Fife has many, Lothian has few. Does this reflect a different pattern of land allocation, a different dialect term, the wholesale clearance of the native population, a different administrative history?
Continuity?
This exploration of the FRN, ERN and related names has enormous implications for our understanding of archaic Scottish place-names and, through them, of the organisation of the country in prehistory. An early date is suggested by their coherent spread, which suggests land-taking by hunters moving into an empty landscape. The relative absence of FRN names in the more remote uplands, country suggests that these remote sporadic visits only (or an entire lack of exploitation) in the earliest period. The great variety of modern forms suggests a long period of local use.
Since Ernan is identified with Ethernan (see the list of saints), we see that 'er' is a reduced form of 'ether'. We can therefore reconstruct the older form of fearann as *fetherann or *fetterann. Fetter is a familiar if rare Scottish place-name element, found in Fetterangus, Fettercairn, Fetteresso, Fetternear, Fetterkil and Fedderat. Johnston linked Fetter with G. fothir 'field, forest' which is appropriate both as a hunting forest and as the field or range of a beacon.5 In other names fothir is reduced to For, as in Forteviot, Fothiur tabaicht 'the fothir of the abbey' in one early source. Other district names in For include Fortingall (Perthshire), Formartin (Aberdeenshire), Fordoun (Kincardineshire), Fothardun c.1100, Forfar, an old name for Angus, But for Forres Johnston 'G. foir 'brink, edge, border', which is another variant on this old theme. For Ettrick (Selkirk) and Etteridge (Badenoch) he proposed G. eadar or eadaradh 'a division' .6
Persistent Boundaries
There is a well-preserved sequence of fearann are in the area between Ross-and-Cromarty and Buchan, from Ferincosrky and Ferindonald to Formartin. These fearann combined an area of good grazing with a mountainous hinterland for winter and summer occupation respectively. Some are defined by two estuaries or major rivers; others occupy a river valley leading into the interior, or the land around a loch up to the surrounding watershed. They were roughly equivalent to a large upland parish. Ferindonald in Easter Ross was divided into the two medieval parishes of Alness and Kiltearn, while the vast inland parish of Creich ('boundary') consisted of Ferincoskry and (probably) Ferinbeuthlin. The Black Isle was once a single unit known as Ferintosh, but has been divided into eight small agricultural parishes. The fearann along the Moray Firth may correspond to the old counties of Nairn, Moray and Banff.
To what extent can the boundaries of these primary settlements still be recognised? A variety of features may of course overlap on the map without there being any link between them in fact. Pictish carved stones with hunting scenes are found in areas such as Angus which is now entirely agricultural. When the boundaries of a number of different distributions or land-divisions coincide, a continuous history is perhaps the most logical explanation. This is particularly so when the boundaries are major rivers and estuaries.
There were practical reasons for the use of major rivers as boundaries: they provided an actual barrier, being difficult to cross, and they were fixed on the landscape. The rivers of Moray are wild rivers, carrying all the run-off and melt-water from the Grampian mountains, notably the Spey which has a huge catchment area. In their lower reaches they were dangerous to cross and liable to flooding. But above a certain point settlement was able to occupy the entire river valley and is consequently found in various straths and glens which are separated from neighbouring valleys by an increasingly high watershed. Hunters prefer well-drained upland to boggy low country. The earliest divisions that we know of, the prehistoric provinces of Pictish Scotland (see above), were all bounded by large rivers or by estuaries. Cat (Caithness) was the land north of the Dornoch Firth. Ce (or Fidaid) to the south extended from the Dornoch Firth to the Spey. Fidaid (or Ce) lay between the Spey and the Dee, Cirech between the Dee and the Tay, and Fib or Fife between the major estuaries of Tay and Forth. These boundaries, and these units, have persisted because their topography has not changed. Until very recently these features were major barriers to lateral movement along the coast. It was easier to go by sea.
Settlement focussed on minor rivers, and on the upper reaches of the larger rivers, which provided a way of penetrating into the interior. The Roman Navy, on its reconnaissance expedition of c.80 AD, on behalf of Agricola, followed the same routes.
On the other hand, smaller rivers such as the Oykel, the Nairn and the Findhorn attracted early settlers. They could be forded and provided self-contained settlement land defined by the intervening watershed. They also provided routes into the interior, particularly in Caithness. Watersheds were also used to define large units in the headwaters of certain large rivers: the provinces of Fotla and Fortrenn (Atholl and Strathearn) were in fact the catchment areas of the Tummel, the Tay and the Earn, Mar of the river Dee.
It is possible to fill in some of the gaps. Since Formartin had the river Ythan as its northern boundary, we can project a neighbouring ferainn with the Ythan as its southern boundary and limited to the west by the Deveron. As it happens we know that this predicted district is Buchan, now part of Aberdeenshire. We also know that the south shore of the Moray Firth was divided between Inverness-shire, Nairn, Moray, Banff and Aberdeen. Apart from minor local perturbations, Nairn was bounded by the rivers Nairn and Findhorn, Moray by the rivers Findhorn and Spey, and Banff by the rivers Spey and Deveron. Buchan, as noted lay between the rivers Deveron and Ythan. South of the Ythan, we pass into Formartin. The pattern continues. The upper reaches of the Dee are in Aberdeenshire but in its lower reaches the Dee is the boundary between Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, or the Mearns (part of Pictish Cirech). Kincardine contained the coastal lands between the Dee and the North Esk and the foothills of the Grampian mountains. Angus, to the south, was in two parts: from the North Esk to the South Esk, and from the South Esk to the estuary of the Tay. In the Gazetteer I have noted further examples of this pattern in Dumfries and Galloway.
Feudal lawyers also used rivers as boundaries. Once the coastal land along the Moray Firth had been drained, it was granted to a multitude of farming families and in many cases the rivers continued to be used as boundaries: the Nairn separated Rosses from the Campbells of Cawdor, the Findhorn separated Stuarts from Cummins, the lower Spey marked the lands of the Gordons, Leslies, and Inneses, and the lower Deveron marked the boundaries of the Ogilvies, Meldrums, Urquharts, Dempsters, Crichtons, Inneses, and Abernethies.
Though sketchy, the outlines of these fearann in Moray and Ross allow us to postulate similar arrangements elsewhere, since every native clan had similar requirements for survival and similar restrictions on growth. The size of a fearann represents the limits of prehistoric communication and control systems. The aim was have enough adult men to exploit the whole area. No clan wanted or needed to control more territory than it could exploit. The great tinchels that drove the deer from the vast and distant wastes of the Grampians to elite centres in Atholl and Mar were beyond the resources of a single clan. These centres appear to have been control posts for large wild areas which could be exploited only by several clans working in a temporary alliance. From the absence of relevant place-names, there er parts of northern Scotland that may never have been systematically exploited.
Where do the so-called Picts come into it? They were probably responsible for welding these local units into a regional federation as a response to the attempted Roman annexation of Scotland. The Roman invasion brought Scotland into direct contact, though not for the first time, with Germanic or Belgic tribes living beyond the Rhine. This northern federation was effective in deterring settlement by the Romans and a few centuries later it was equally effective in seeing off the Norse. The Pictish sphere of influence is shown by their elaborate carved stones, found in every part of Scotland, though concentrated in the north and east. These stones leave little doubt that the main activity in Dark Age Scotland was hunting; they show a mounted elite armed with swords, foot soldiers with spears, dogs, stags, boar, and a several portraits of hunt officials. The seven provinces of the Picts, which they probably inherited from remote prehistory, survived to become the political foundation of medieval Scotland. That the Pictish state was a voluntary association, more like a football league than a feudal state, is suggested by the spread of identical symbols from Shetland as far as Galloway and by the absence of all other signs of their presence.
Several other aspects of the prehistoric Scottish landscape support the existence of fearann. They include the distribution of prehistoric monument, the tribal names given by Ptolemy, Pictish provinces, parish names and parish saints. Despite the considerable wastage caused by literacy in English and Norwegian and the loss of traditional knowledge and even of place-names caused by the Clearances, enough survives to suggest that many of the major and minor land-holdings of contemporary Scotland survive from the beginning of settlement.
Prehistoric monuments
It is a well-known fact that the Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments of Scotland have very localised distributions7 but as far as I know, no study has compared this distribution and that of clans or place-names. When we do, some suggestive patterns emerge.
1 Passage-graves of Orkney-Cromarty type are found only north of the Great Glen, mainly in Caithness and Sutherland (the Pictish province of Cat) , including the Black Isle. There is an isolated group in Ferinbeuthlin, far to the west, on the route through Strathoykel to Assynt (NC2908 to NC2325).
2 Henges appear in the late Neolithic. A small henge was excavated in 2008 by Richard Bradley and Hugo Lamdin-Whymark at Pullyhour, Halkirk, Caithness, a site which was in use already in the Mesolithic. It was aligned on an earlier cairn and showed the posts, banks, ditches, spreads of paving and other evidence of the alterations and improvements associated with a centre in long and active use.8
There are perhaps thirteen henges in Highland Region, the new administrative area which stretches from Caithness south as far as Glenetive.9. All but two are north and west of Inverness, and the two odd ones are close to Nairn, a few miles to the east. There are henges at Conon Bridge and Bonar Bridge, in the Black Isle at Ferintosh, a cluster of two at Muir of Ord, two on the route up Strathfleet, one at Lairg, one at the coastal end of Strathbrora, and two in the valley of the Thurso river in Caithness. In other words they were built at strategic river-crossings, at natural meeting places, and on the routes into the interior provided by small rivers such as the Fleet and the Brora. This pattern suggests a fearann in Strathbrora and another in Strathfleet, north of Ferincoskry. The name Cill-Mearain in Strathbrora supports this.
The outliers in Moray have a similar distribution. Those on the lower Nairn and Findhorn are probably at the lowest safe crossing-place. Settlement, then as later, avoided the lower Spey. Further south, Angus and Atholl shared a henge tradition with Fife.
3 The Clava cairns give perhaps the best demonstration of the adoption of a new type of monument by certain local clans and its rejection by their neighbours. They appear to mark the spread of a new and perhaps short-lived lunar religion and they cluster in the low, accessible valley of the river Nairn, with a few scattered on the west side of the Great Glen. There is also a string of a dozen or so spread out along the upper Spey. However there are none at all in Strathdearn, the valley of the Findhorn, which lies between these two groups. The most logical explanation is that Strathdearn was occupied by a clan - ancestral to the Macintoshes of Moy? - who did not convert to this novel way of doing things.10
4 Further to the east, the Deveron also marks the boundary of a distinct culture and by assumption the lands of a different clan which built stone circles incorporating a massive recumbent stone. a very different kind of monument. Most of these circles are in Aberdeenshire but there are a dozen or so in the Mearns and one each on the North Esk and its principal tributary.
This suggests that it may be possible to trace old and durable correspondences between the distribution of prehistoric monuments, the settlement units known as fearann, the holdings of native clans, Pictish provinces, and topographical features. Everything ultimately depended on topography, and it might be argued that this is all we find, but there is no evidence for dramatic population movements at any period and a considerable volume of evidence, collected in this volume, for continuity. The fearann was stable because it was the most basic unit possible: a self-contained territory that could be exploited effectively by a single clan. The sign of its effectiveness is that in 2010 we can still trace its remains from Caithness to Perthshire and from the Hebrides to Angus.
Ptolemy and his Tribes
The earliest mention of Scottish clans comes from Ptolemy, a second-century Greek geographer, who located a series of tribal names in Scotland. The series of names in Sutherland and Caithness is anchored to reality by the Caereni at Nabari Fl. - immediately recognisable as the river Navar.
Ptolemy's map reduced Scotland to a triangle, apparently omitting the west coast. However several points on the east and north coasts are recognisable. His information came largely from the expedition made by Agricola's navy in the autumn of AD 84 and the places named may be their landing places. Watson identifies the Varar with the Farar or Forire, now the Beauly Firth, west of Inverness.11 The Varar estuary probably included that part of the Moray Firth until it becomes the open sea. The name Forire recalls a division or boundary. North of the Varar he shows Decantae (in Strathfleet or Strathbrora?) and Smertae, apparently inland. Watson puts them in Strathoykel, or Ferinbeuthlin, centred on Lairg. After the Ripa Alta or high cliffs, we find the Lugi at the river Ila. Watson identifies the Ila as the river Ilidh at Helmsdale, now known as Strathullie.12 The Lugi were the 'light' people. Tarvedum 'bull pen' is probably Dunnet Head and was occupied by Cornavii, assumed to mean 'the people of the promontory'. The Caereni at the river Nabari or Navar were separated by Volsas bay (the Kyle of Tongue?) from the Carnonacae (at Tongue?). Next were the Cerones or Creones who lived in the valley of the river Itis - perhaps at Durness. They may have been a day's sail south of Cape Wrath - but it seems unlikely that anyone could map the west coast and its tribes without mapping the islands where they lived, and Ptolemy knew nothing of the Hebrides. The next tribe, the Epidii, belong to the Mull of Kintyre, which could be reached by sea from the south. It appears that Agricola never realised that the Mull of Kintyre did not coincide with Cape Wrath. His naval surveyors certainly knew the truth but Ptolemy's map reflects an error of that magnitude in the official information.
The information gives the impression of distinct tribes living in the various river valleys of Caithness and Sutherland. The following outline is proposed as a starting point. There is a local preponderance of CRN names.
Decantae in Ferincoskry, possible centre at Migdale (FRN).
Smertae in Ferinbeuthlin, centre at Lairg (FRN).
Lugi at Strathullie or Helmsdale. Kilearnan (ERN), Beinn Dhorain (DRN), Cnoc an Eireannaich (ERN), Cnoc Coire na Fearna (FRN), Loch ma Stairne (ERN).
Nameless clan in Strathhalladale (Culfern FRN)?
Caerini in Strathnavar (Leckfurin FRN, Carnachy CRN).
Carnonacae at Tongue; Dalcharn (CRN).
Creones at Durness (Dubhrinn, DRN), Leirinbeg and Leirinmore (LRN).
These may seem to be very small territories but they were backed up by vast extents of good low-lying deer forest which could be worked from both ends. The river Thurso leads over to Wick and to Latheron (LRN). Strathhalladale links with Helmsdale or Strathilidh. Strathnavar connects with Tongue. A thousand years after Agricola's fleet sailed past, the Scandinavian elite living in Orkney rowed across the Pentland Firth to hunt in Caithness.
It may be a coincidence that when we apply the consonant test to Cerones, Carnonacae, Caerine and even Cornavii, each of them produces a CRN outline. CRN names (like St Ciaran) belong to the general FRN/'fire-land' series. Apparently, the Caereni, Carnonacae and Creones were all 'beacon folk'. It is no doubt another coincidence that at a later date there was in this same area a wide swathe of people called MacKay, G. Mac Aodh, 'the people of the beacon', from G.aodh 'fire'.
The Provinces of the Picts
According to an old rhyme, the Picts had seven hereditary provinces known as raind or fearand in eastern Scotland: Cat, Ce, Cirech, Fib, Fidach, Fotla and Fortriu. Those who lived there took their names from their lands. The same seven provinces or kingdoms are again named in a twelfth-century source and the two lists can be matched very closely except that we cannot distinguish between Ce and Fidaid. One was Moray with Ross and the other was Mar with Buchan but we do not know which was which.13 Is there any link between the fearann and the seven provinces of the Picts?
There are certainly FRN names in areas associated with the Picts but 'Pict' was only a transient name for a person living in Scotland. The Pictish provinces appear to represent political groupings (or natural geographical groupings) of numbers of smaller tribal territories.
| Pictish Provinces | Kingdoms of Alba | Later political units | Fearann |
| Cat | Cathanesia | Caithness and S.E. Sutherland | Ferincoskry, Ferinbeuthlin |
| Ce (or Fidaid) | Muref and Ros | Easter Ross, Moray and Nairn | Fearn, Ferindonald, Ferintosh, Strathdearn, Findhorn |
| Fidaid (or Ce) | Marr and Buchan | Mar, Buchan and Banff | Deveron, Formartin, Frendraught |
| Cirech | Enegus and Moerne | Angus and Mearns | Mearns ‘the great portion’, Fern |
| Fotla | Adtheodle and Gouerin | Atholl and Gowrie | Goveran or Gowrie, ‘deer portion’ |
| Fortriu or Fortrenn | Stradeern and Meneted | Strathearn and Menteith | Strathearn |
| Fib | Fif and Fothreue | Fife and Kinross | Fernie |
These districts occupy the north and east of Scotland north of the Firth of Forth and they are defined by rivers, estuaries or arms of the sea. Cat is the land from the Pentland Firth to the Dornoch Firth and the river Oykel. Ce is the land from the Dornoch Firth to the Spey. Fidach is the land between Spey and Dee. Cirech is the coastal land between Dee and Tay, Fotla the upper valley of the Tay (but not in Breadalbane), Fortreiu the valleys of Earn and Teith, and Fib lies between the firths of Tay and Forth. The evidence suggests a link between these provinces and the fearann, several of which were also defined by rivers. Did the Pictish provinces represent local groupings of individual clan holdings?
The names of several western districts also refer to 'fire-lands'. Morvern in Argyll, like Mearns (Renfrew) and the Mearns (Angus), was 'the great portion’ - G. mòr ‘big’ + fearann - according to the natives who lived there,14. Lorne, a division of Argyll, is *Lav-fhearan, the first element a ‘beacon’ word. Arran is no doubt earrann. The river Ayr was Aeron in one old source. Ferincrieff (Breadalbane) is probably an old name for Fortingall parish.
The fearann of Skye
Dean Munro in 1549 said that the island was divided into seven sundry countreys of which he named six.15 They appear to be fearann: defined settlement areas or estates belonging to a single clan, though by 1549 the native men have vanished from the record. Skye, perhaps it is a mountainous island, retained much of its prehistoric settlement pattern. The twelve or more parishes of Skye also fit into this pattern.
Bracadale: MacLeod of Harris.
Minginish (MacLeod of Harris)
Sleat (MacDonald)
Strathardle (MacKinnon)
Trotternish (MacDonald)
Watternish, Kilmory: MacLeod of Lewis
Parish names
As 'the basic unit in the organisation of the Medieval Church in Scotland was the parish', the fearann was the basic unit in the organisation of political and economic life. It is not surprising that a number of parishs apparentlly retain the name of an earlier fearann. This, and the list of patron saints (below), suggest they might also retain earlier boundaries and other features.
Ardurness or Durness, a coastal parish in the extreme north of Sutherland.
Arndilly, Ardintullie, or Attyldole, Strathbogie, Banff.
Auchterderran, Fife, 11c. Hurkyndorath.
Deerness, Orkney.
Dornock, Annandale.
Drainie, also known as Kinnedar, Moray.
Dreghorn or Langdregarne, Kyle and Cunningham (Ayrshire). The patron was Barnitus.
Dron, south-east Perthshire, bounded by Dunbarnie, Forgandenny, Arngask, and Abernethy.
Duirinish, one of the twelve parishes of Skye in 1549.
Dundrennan, the former name of the parish of Rerwick, Dumfries & Galloway.
Durnach or Logie-Durno, Formartin.
Durndurn, Perthshire, dedicated to St Fillan whose bell was known as Bearnach.
Durness or Ardurness, a parish in Sutherland.
Farines, a deanery in Galloway.
Farnell, on the South Esk, Angus.
Farnua or Ferneway, Moray. St Curadan.
Fearn, Easter Ross, site of an abbey.
Fearn, Angus.
Ferenes, Ardclach or Fotheray, Moray.
Glenernie or Logie Fythenach, on the upper Findhorn.
Inchmarnoch, a chapel in Mar, Aberdeenshire.
Inchmarnock, an island on the west side of Bute, Firth of Clyde. St Marnock.
Inverferane (Ross & Cromarty), associated with the parish of Bron or Lochbron or Urray (NH 5052) on the river Orrin. Inverferane lies between Ferintosh on the Black Isle to the east and Killearnan to the south.
Killearn, Lennox.
Killearnan, Ross, south of Inverferane and Ferintosh, was also known as Eddyrdor ‘between two burns’? The patron saint was Ernan.
Killearnadale, the parish church of Jura, a chapel belonging to Colonsay. Both belonged to Oronsay priory.
Kiltearn, Ross, part of Ferindonald.
Kinairney or Kinerny, Mar.
Kirkmadryne, Rhinns of Galloway.
Logie-Durno or Durnach, a parish in Formartin.
Marnock, the parish of Aberchirder, Banff. St Marnock or Marnan's head was worshipped there.
Mearns, Renfrew.
Nanthorn, now Ednam, Roxburghshire.
Nenthorn, 13c.Nathanstirn, Berwickshire.
Trouternes or Trotternish, one of the twelve parishes of Skye in 1549.
Parish Saints
The native saints had no historical existence. They were personifications of the gathering beacon of his or her tribal territory or fearann which evolved into their present form in the early Christian period and continued to have a long and popular life. The saint-names form a counterpoint to the place-names insofar as many have been inspired by the name of the place, and the search for FRN saints has allowed us to identify several new settlement names. It is not possible to make complete sense of their different 'identities' as each locality had its own ideas on the subject and there is considerable overlap and conflict. An unexpected discovery was that the names of three of their bells, Bearnan, Ronecht and Ronnel (listed below) also take their names from a local sub-division or tribal territory, again suggesting the persistence of fearann as later parishes.
I would assume that any parish dedicated to one of the FRN/ERN saints listed below was once a fearann.
- Athernaise, Ethernascus. Feast on 3 December (as Birn). At Lathrisk (Fife) with John the Evangelist; Leuchars (Fife).
- Barnitus: patron of Dreghorn, Ayrshire. A companion of St Brendan (the same name).
- Bearnach: St Fillan's bell. The name does not mean 'gapped' but 'belonging to the bearn or settlement'. A bell served in place of a bonfire to spread a message.
- Birn, Birnie, Birin, Brennach, Brendan, feast 3 December (cf Athernaise). Birnie and St Marny’s Well at Benholm (NO8069). Dunbarney parish, Perthshire, was Drumbirnen c.1150. Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, celebrated St Brinnan's Day on 28 May.
- Brendan or Brennach: the local saint at Birnie (see above), once the seat of the bishops of Moray. In many settlement names: Dun-Bhreanain on Elachnave; Culbrandan, island in the Inner Hebrides; Kilivranan in S. Uist; Kilbrandane or Killbrennan in Mull; Kilbrannan in Islay. Also at Boyndie in Banff; Brannan How near the church; a circle of 5 stones known as St Brandan's Stanes. Check on Branboth in Glenlyon: a beacon site. beuthelin? See also Birn.
- Brianan had a chapel on Hirta (St Kilda) that probably marked the site of a navigational beacon.
- Brennach: see Brendan.
- Ciaran is a place-name saint found in many different forms at Strathmore, Caithness; Fetteresso, Aberdeen; Glenbervie; Kilkerran, Kintyre; Kilcheran, Lismore; Kilchieran in Kilchoman, Islay; Barvas, Lewis; and at Dalquherran, Daily, Ayrshire.
- Ernan: equivalent to Ethernan by loss of medial aspirate th . Cognate with Marnan and Marnoch. Feast 1 March.
- Ernan: The Irish recognised twenty-six saints called Ernan, including an uncle and a nephew of St Columba. Ernan mac Eochain, ‘fire son of fire’, had his feast on 1 January, the day of the midwinter hunt. Ernan's bell at Banchory, Deeside, was called the Ronecht (cf Ronnel, the bell of St Brendan of Birnie). Killearnan, Ross-shire; Killearnan, Sutherland, and many more.
- Erneneus see Ernan.
- Ethernan was the long-distance beacon on the Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth.
- Ethernan, Itarnan: his feast day was 2 December.
- Ethernascus: see Athernaise.
- Ferranus, an obscure bishop.
- Iphernan at Madderty (Perthshire), a variety of Ethernanus, q.v., An irreverent pun, no doubt invented by a Culdee, links Ethernan, G. ifrinn ‘hell’ and aifrionn ‘Mass’. There is a place in Menteith called Offerance 'beacon site'. G. ifrinn is likely to derive from the fiery meaning of the saint's name.
- Irnie: the name of the steeple of the church at Kilrenny (rainn ‘portion’). Here, worship of the local beacon has persisted without the creation of a 'saint'.
- Itarnan: see Ethernanus.
- Marnock: 18 August or 25 October, at Fowlis Easter in Gowrie; at Benholm in Kincardineshire (St Marny's Well); at Leochel in Aberdeenshire; at Inchmarnock in Glenmuick; at Aberchirder or Marnoch in Banff which possessed St Marnan's head, well and Chair; at Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Inchmarnock is an island off Bute. See also Ernan.
- Mirren: patron of Paisley. Inchmurrin, on Loch Lomond; Cill-Mearain in Strathbrora, Sutherland; Kirkmirren, Kirkcudbright. Equated with Ciaran.
- Queranus: see Ciaran.
- Ronecht: St Ternan's bell, was kept at Banchory-Ternan, Aberdeenshire.
- Ronnel Bell of Birnie. Ronnel is derived from G. rainn 'portion. cf The Ronecht, the name of St Ernan’s bell at Banchory, Deeside. See also Bearnach.
- Saranus: a spelling of Ciaran.
- Tuetheren: see Ethernanus.
- Whirren: equated with Ciaran.
CLAN LANDS?
It must by now be evident, from this study of the fearann and other localised prehistoric features, that with very few exceptions, the histories and genealogies now attached to clans are an irrelevant recent invention. Even their surnames are irrelevant. Their 'chiefs' are recognised by feudal law but bear little resemblance to the native leaders who were elected for their competence and who were largely responsible for the survival of their people. I have noted elsewhere that it was possible until very recently to identify, in many places, a local population which had been so tenacious in its holdings, and so dependent on its particular ways of making a living that it had acquired a local personality, even a local appearance distinct from any other in Scotland.
Apart from this genetic accident, evidence of a long self-contained isolation, little except geography distinguishes one 'clan' or local tribe from another. They all spoke more or less the same language and lived in more or less the same way. The population of Scotland escaped the regimentation and despoilation of the Romans and still retains much of its old pan-tribal or national character. To use an old saying, the Scots are aw ae oo. They may fight among themselves but touch one and you touch all.
There is currently no coherent study of the native clans of Scotland . And yet the native population, if not their leaders, generally survived the imposition of feudal grants: the 'native men' who provided the manpower for galleys, raids and deer-drives, and who later appear as agricultural tenants, were a very large part of the value of any holding, for as long as Gaelic culture survived. I.F. Grant found them too complicated. But once their existence is recognised it will be possible to fill in many of the missing details. Here there is space only to sketch in a few details.
In the north, as noted, the geography of Caithness and Sutherland still forces settlement into a series of river valleys which from prehistory until recently offered deer-hunters a variety of routes into the interior and across to the opposite coast. Ptolemy supplies the names of a few of these groups, filtered through native interpreters into Latin and then into Greek. Whether by coincidence or not, the general meaning of Ptolemy's CRN tribes as 'fire-people' is the same as the meaning of MacKay or Mac-Aodh 'the people of the fire' - and MacKay was the most common surname here in historical times. Despite the Norwegian occupation, which changed many names, and the Clearances which removed almost all the native population, destroying the old settlement pattern, local traditions and local place-names, there is enough information from the FRN names, from the distribution of prehistoric monuments - including the brochs, which have not been discussed - and from Ptolemy to allow an outline reconstruction of prehistoric settlement in this area.
In easter Ross the good spread of FRN names shows that more of the original pattern survives. Nevertheless the native clans are invisible. In recent times the Dornoch Firth separated the generic Sutherlands, tenants of the Dukes of Sutherland, from the generic Rosses, followers of the Earls of Ross. That the first earl of Ross was himself a Gael, traditionally known as Fearchar Mac-an-t-sagairt' "son of the priest" of Applecross, does not minimise the political changes involved.
The south shore of the Dornoch Firth, around Fearn, was occupied by a small native tribe of Maccullochs who might bear further investigation. Clan Munro is also of great interest, as they occupied Ferindonald - the north shore of the Cromarty Firth - where their beacon sites and muster points survive, and where they were important enough to build a castle. There were more 'Rosses' in the area around New Fearn and up to Tarbat Ness, who represent a different fearann, and more Munros to the north, in Strathoykell, probably Ferinbeuthlin, a lost fearann to the west of Ferincoskry. This is where Watson located the Smertae, an obscure name which may be related to G. smearoid 'hot coal'. The prehistoric inhabitants of Ferincoskry (now part of the parish of Creich 'boundary') may have been known to Ptolemy as the Decantae. The root Dec may be the same as that of G. deachair 'bright, glittering'.
The Black Isle or Ferintosh was occupied by Urquharts while the great swathe of wild country in upper Strathnairn was occupied by the native Mackintoshes of Clan Chattan, who persist. A comparable territory in the upper Spey valley belonged to the native Grants, who had southern links with Clan Alpin.
The conquest of Breadalbane, to the south, by feudal Campbells, is discussed elsewhere. The leaders of Siol Alpin resisted what they saw as feudal usurpation and, in consequence we know something about them. Several native families persisted into the nineteenth century. They eventually vanished (as did the Campbells of Breadalbane) but left many memories of their existence.
This is enough to show that the material is available to build up a coherent outline of the clans and clan lands of Scotland from the Mesolithic onwards. In this unpromising remote country, over thousand of years, the Gaels built up and shaped a culture which was destroyed over a few centuries by imported notions of government.
