The Mathesons of Lochalsh

This is the rollicking story of a small clan in the far northwest of Scotland whose duchthas (homeland) of Lochalsh is a western peninsula which was, in the past, part island, part mainland. It lies in an area which was for centuries politically unstable and dangerous and the clan earned a reputation for its warriors as it fought for survival through tumultuous centuries of conflict and rebellion against central authorities far away beyond the steep-sided mountains of the Northwest Highlands.

Back in the 13th century Lochalsh, squeezed as it is between the western seas and the mountainous spine of Drumalban to the east, was on the fault-line separating the medieval kingdoms of Norway and Scotland. Later it lay on the frontline in clashes between the Gaelic Lords of the Isles and the Kings of Scots, before law and order broke down in this part of the Highlands in the 16th century, a period known as Linn nan Creach (Age of Raids). These were dangerous times for the clan as MacDonalds, MacLeods and MacKenzies fought for control of the peninsula.

In the 18th century the powerful Earls of Seaforth called out the clan during the Jacobite wars which tried, unsuccessfully, to return the House of Stewart (or Stuart) to the Scottish and English thrones. The Mathesons survived this turbulent period as well and so succeeded in maintaining their hard-won status as a separate and distinct clan. Today the clan’s chief is a member of the prestigious Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs.

“The Mathesons of Lochalsh” is a compact book illustrated with maps, genealogical charts and photographs and with hard covers for durability. The subject will appeal to those interested in the history of Lochalsh and Kintail, today’s gateway to the Isle of Skye, and of the wider northwest Highlands, as well as to the dispersed descendants of this ancient Highland clan.

Alister Farquhar Matheson was born in 1941 and brought up in Edinburgh. He obtained his first degree from Edinburgh University and his doctorate from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has spent many years investigating the chequered history of the Scottish Highlands and is the author of a history of northwest Scotland entitled “Scotland’s Northwest Frontier”.