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"Remember the people from whence you came"

The MacKinnon Crest shows a boar’s head holding in its mouth a shank of a deer, and the proud MacKinnon clan motto “Audentes fortuna juvat” meaning (Fortune assists the daring).

The Clan Mackinnon are an ancient people, tracing their ancestery back to the royal blood of Alpin, the famed 9th Century King of Scots.  The Mackinnons descend from Alpin’s great-grandson Fingon, whose name means “the fair born” in the Gaelic tongue, and it is from this great man that the Clan Mackinnon assumed their name.  The 4th Chief, Finadus, linked his own regal lineage with that of the Norwegian royal family through his marriage to a beautiful Norse princess. This blue blooded union held bountiful rewards for the Mackinnons when they received Dunakin Castle from their powerful Viking relatives.  The Clan Mackinnon made good use of this stronghold’s location, controlling the narrow sound that runs between Isle of Skye and the Scottish mainland. The canny Mackinnons ran a hefty chain across the Sound, and grew rich from the tolls they demanded from all passing ships. The Mackinnons were a great seafaring Clan, controlling land on the western isles of Mull, Tiree, Scalpa, Arran and Skye. It is little wonder that the Clan was closely involved with religious life in the islands, particularly in Iona, the cradle of the Celtic church, and christianity in Scotland. The Celtic church allowed their priests to marry, and a branch of the Mackinnon chiefs became the heriditary abbots of Iona. The last abbot was Iain Mackinnon, who died in 1500.

The Clan Mackinnon are remembered for their loyalty to the Scottish Crown, and they were never reluctant to take up arms for the sake of Scotland. The Mackinnons sheltered the mighty Scottish king, Robert the Bruce, during his time as a fugitive from the infamous English overlord, Edward I. The Clan supported Bruce at the glorious Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, where the Scots defeated the occupying English army and proudly affirmed their nation’s independence. This fealty to the Scottish kings continued down through the centuries, and the Clan Mackinnon were unswerving in their support of the Stuart monarchs. During the 17th Century Civil War, the Mackinnons were steadfast champions of Charles I against Oliver Cromwell’s Roundhead army, fighting for the king at the battles of Inverlochy in 1645 and Worcester in 1651. Such was the Stuart’s esteem for their fierce Mackinnon collegues that Charles II created the chief a knight baronet on the field of battle.

The Mackinnons continued to be loyal to the Stuart cause after their fall from the throne, and were active participants in the Jacobite Rebellions aimed at restoring the exiled monarchs. The Clan supported Bonnie Prince Charlie in his quest for the kingship, marching to Edinburgh to join with the Jacobite armies in 1745. After a campaign of mixed fortunes, the Jacobites were finally defeated on the fateful field of Culloden in 1746. The Mackinnons still stood beside the young prince, sheltering Charlie in a cave while the chief, Iain sent for his own personal galley to transport the prince to the coastal town of Mallaig. For his actions the aged chief was imprisoned in England for a year, but the old Mackinnon was still defiant on his release, saying of the Hanoverian sovereign, “had I the King in my power I would repay him the compliment by sending him back to his own country.” 

 The Mackinnon Chief is Alisdair Mackinnon of Mackinnon who resides at Orchard Cottage in Somerset, England.