Standing alone at the end of road on the windswept Waternish Peninsula on the Isle of Skye, are the ruins of Trumpan Church. Back in 1758 this church was the scene of a brutal massacre.
The Macleods of Skye had earlier in the year killed many Macdonald’s on the Isle of Eigg and hence the Clan Macdonald wanted revenge. So on a quiet Sunday morning a raiding party of Macdonald’s, pulled their boats ashore on the gravel beach below Trumpan Church and, then proceeded to stealthily set the thatched roof of the church on fire whilst the Macleod’s were singing peaceful Gaelic psalms.
All but one of the Macleod’s was killed but she set out to Dunvegan Castle to alert her clan chief of this brutal act of revenge. The chief on hearing the news unfurled the ‘Fairy Flag‘ and his clansman rallied around as if by magic, and they set off to Trumpan Church.
On their arrival, the raiding party of Macdonald’s who had been busy pillaging and plundering the village were quickly driven back to their boats which were now high and dry because of the ebbing tide. The Macleod’s promptly slayed the Macdonald’s and their bodies were buried under a stone dyke on the shoreline.
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