Crossed Swords

Who was Robin Oig MacGregor? Like father like son, he was the fifth and youngest son of Rob Roy MacGregor, Robin Oig followed in his father’s footsteps and became a notorious Highland ‘outlaw’ in the first half of the eighteenth century. In 1736, after Rob Roy’s death, a quarrel arose with a MacLaren who was claiming land already rented by the MacGregors. Robin, encouraged by his brothers, shot MacLaren in the back when he was ploughing and, failing to stand trial, was declared an outlaw. He fled to France where he enlisted with

General Campbell’s troops. Wounded at the Battle of Fontenoy and taken prisoner by the French, he returned home in 1746 and decided to seek his fortune by marrying Jean Key, a well endowed widow of 18. In 1750 with the help of his brothers, James Mor and Ronmald, he carried her off from the farm of Edinbelle, near Belforn in Stirlingshire. They were married at Rowardennan but she died the following year. Robin Oig MacGregor was seized and brought before the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh accused and charged with abduction and forcible marriage.

The defense of his barrister, Henry Home (later, Lord Kames) that the marriage had been solemnized with the lady’s free will was dismissed. Robin Oig MacGregor was found guilty and executed.

Where is Yell? Yell is the second largest island in the Shetland archipelago. It has an area of 83 square miles but a dwindling population of just under 100. Most live in and around Mid Yell, at the islands narrow waist, where there are shops, a leisure center and a shellfish processing plant. The land is largely covered with peat, traditionally dug by

crofters (farmers) for fuel and now worked commercially for export.

What is the meaning in the term ‘plough gate’? The term is mainly used in southern Scotland as a notional unit of land in the Middle Ages. It denoted the area, rather variable because of different soils, which a team of oxen might expect to plough in one year. An oxgang (or bovate) represented one part of such a measurement. Typical equivalents were 104 acres (42 hectares) to one plough gate and 13 acres (5.2 ha) to one oxgang. Such terms clearly implied cultivable ground rather than pasture.

It is disputed whether or not they indicate that only oxen, and not horses, were used to draw the plough.

Our Root name this week is Shand and it’s derivations: A rare but very old surname in Scotland. “The surname of Shand originally was confined to the north-eastern counties, particularly Aberdeenshire, and in that county more especially to the districts comprising the parishes of Turriff, Forgue, Drumblade, Auchterless, Culsamond, Fyvie, King- Edward, and Gamrie. In times past it was variously spelled Schawand, Schaasnd (1696),

Schands, Schand (1528, and Shand). They wear the tartan of the Aberdeen District. In the southern United States their ancestry is noted for the Shands Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida noted for research, teaching and treatment of cancer.

The Appalachian St. Andrew’s Society Pipe & Drum Corps offer free instructions in Regimental drumming and the Great Highland Bag Pipe. Appalachian St. Andrew’s Society Pipe & Drum Corps meet weekly Saturday 9:30 AM till Noon at St. Clare’s Episcopal Church in Blairsville, lower lobby.