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- Fionn mac Chumhail

Fionn mac Cumhail and the Fianna or Fenians were role models for the Gael. Their personal qualities were often expressed in proverbs (Newton 1999). For the Gael, they embodied ideal and semi-divine characteristics (Wiseman 2009). They were reknowned throughout Ireland and the Scottish Highlands as young warrior bands who protected Gaeldom during the Dark Ages, often from Norsemen. In Glen Lyon - Gleann Lìobhann, or the dark, bent Glen of the Stones - Chromgleann Dubh nan Clach, Fionn and his men had twelve castles from which to conduct their heroic deeds. ‘Bha dà chaisteal deug aig Fionn An Chromgleann Dubh nan Clach’ (in Watson 1937, xxxiii).

Fian is cognate with the Latin venare, meaning to hunt (Meek 1998). Since hunting exercised both mind and body, it was an ideal training for young warriors. In Fenian ballads, prowess in the field flourished alongside praise poetry for hunting and eulogies for the natural arena in which their heroic pursuit was prosecuted. It was self evident that any eulogy for a chief had to celebrate his expertise as a hunter - a leader who held dominion over both nature and nurture (Wiseman 2009). During the Middle Ages the aristocracy of the highlands were preoccupied with the chase and its celebration (Menzies 2012). Hunting expressed noble status. It legitimised social bonding, authority and governance and was a test for the chief and his retainers. It signified a unity of land, culture and people – its heritage or dùthchas in Gaelic. Hunting was as much a a rite of passage for the aristocracy as it was for the Fianna (Wiseman 2009).

The enjoyment of hunting is reflected in an anonymous composition praising the Isle of Arran. Amongst many other stories, it was attributed to Oisean the son of Fionn Mac Cumhail, who was one of the few survivors of this age of heroes. It was probably composed during the 12th century as part of a much longer ballad recording a conversation, Acallam na Seanórach – the Conversation of Old Men, between Oisean and St Patrick. Càilte or Caoilte, another survivor of the golden age, is the narrator. He was the swiftest runner amongst the Fianna, and his talent is mentioned in Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain. This is Caoilte’s reply to a question from Patrick, ‘What was the best hunt, whether in Ireland or Scotland, that the Fèinn (Fian or Fianna) ever took part in?’ (Bateman & McLeod 2007, 305).

from Arran’s Hunting

Arran of the many red deer,

ocean reaching to her shoulders;

island where warriors are nourished,

ridge where blue spears are blooded …

… Greyhounds running there and mastiffs

brambles and dark sloes on blackthorn;

close against woods her dwellings,

deer scattered in her oak groves …

… Delightful for them in fine weather,

trout beneath the banks of her rivers,

gulls around her white cliff replying,

delightful at all times is Arran.

(ibid 305-6)

The Fenian hunt is embedded in nature. There is no distinction between man and the natural world. The hunter is as innocent as the quarry he pursues. A description of dwellings in Arran is included amongst references to the natural world. Such poetry is characterised by its close observation of nature, a symbiosis between man and his natural environment, joy tempered with sadness at the hunting of deer and nostalgia for a bygone era (Wiseman 2009). Traces of the heroic age on Arran can still be found amongst place-names in the mountains. Caisteal an Fhinn – Castle of the Fianna (NS953398) lies to the south of Beinn Nuis and Bealach an Fhir-Bhogha – Pass of the Bowman (NS963416) to the north of Beinn Tarsuinn – Mountain Athwart (the way). As late as the mid-18th century, when Highland society and land use were beginning to change radically, Donnchadh Bàn Macintyre in his Song to Homeland – Òran Dùthcha, was still praising hunting prowess as a defining quality of the Gael.

Gu fiadhach a’ mhunaidh,

No dh’ iasgach air buinne,

Anns gach gnìomh a nì duine

’S mòr urram nan Gàidheal.

For hunting the mountain,

or fishing a current,

for every task demanding manliness

great is the Gaels’ distinction.

(in MacLeod, A 1978, 233)

The reverence Highland folk had for Fionn and the Fianna can be seen in an actual and recorded incident, which occurred at the beginning of the 18th century. After the Jacobite uprising of 1715 General Wade built a network of military roads though the southern Highlands. One ran between Crieff and Aberfeldy through the dramatic defile of the Sma’ Glen - An Caol-ghleann. It means the very narrow glen in Gaelic. (Adjectives coming before the noun in Gaelic emphasise their meaning and lenite the noun following). To avoid a costly diversion in such a tight landscape, the engineers elected to shift a large boulder blocking their plotted route. For local people the rock marked the grave of Ossian or Oisean, Fionn mac Cumhail’s son, and the blind poet, who was first to compose the songs and tales about his father’s exploits and adventures. Wordsworth heard about the story during his tour of Scotland in 1803. Interestingly, he uses a direct English translation of the Gaelic name for the Glen, rather than the Scots, Sma’ Glen.

In this still place remote from men

Sleeps Ossian, in the Narrow Glen …

… He sung of battles and the breath

Of stormy war and violent death,

(Wordsworth 1803, 176)

When the people of the glen heard that the soldiers had shifted the massive stone, they carried away the bones uncovered in the grave beneath the boulder to be reinterred somewhere further west in upper Glen Almond - Gleann Amain. A large party of clansmen bore the remains away to the sound of bagpipe music (Tranter 1971). The people were quite consciously remapping a landmark in the cognitive map of their territory. Curiously there is an Allt Chill Fhinn – Burn of Fionn’s Church (NN842378 – mapped as Allt Cill-Fhinn) on the south side of Glen Quaich, which may be connected to the tale. The large detached rock sitting mutely by the road in the Sma’ Glen, is still shown on the OS map as Ossian’s Grave (NN895906), despite the removal and reinterring of the remains, which it once concealed (plate 9).

Plate 9: Clach Oisein - Ossian’s Grave, An Caol-ghleann - Sma’ Glen, Aberfeldy, Perthshire.

Captain Edmund Burt, an army officer recalled and described the event much later in his letters, which were not published until 1754.

… soon after the discovery was known to the Highlanders, they assembled from distant parts, and having formed themselves into a body, they gathered up the relics, and marched with them in solemn procession, to a new place of burial, and there they discharged their firearms over the grave, as supposing the deceased had been a military officer.

(Burt 1754, 280)

Burt asked another officer ‘who was himself a native of the hills’ about the significance of the occasion.

… the Highlanders firmly believe that if a dead body should be known to lie above ground, or be disinterred by malice or the accidents of torrents … and care was not immediately taken to perform to it the proper rites, then there would arise such storms and tempests as would destroy their corn, blow away their huts, and all sorts of misfortunes would follow till that duty was performed.

(ibid 280)

This recorded incident reflects the sustained resonance of Fenian legend to Highlanders in the 18th century. Until the end of the 19th century, a visitor to the ceilidh house in the Central Highlands would be asked: ‘A’ bheil dad agad air an Fhèinn?’ – ‘Do you have anything about the Fian?’ (Black 2001, xiii & Fraser 1978, 28). Ballads about Fionn and the Fianna were sung in the Hebrides within living memory. Tradition says that Fionn was buried at Killin - Cill Fhinn (NN572330), where a stone marks his supposed grave. Though the name could also mean White Church. Another Fionn’s grave - Uaigh Fhionn - lies in Glen Luss. It may be associated with Dùn Fhinn in nearby Glen Fruin.

Watson cites a story describing the death of Fionn near an island on Loch Iubhair in Glen Dochart (NN434273). Our hero fell in love with another man’s sweetheart. Fionn used to visit her on the island in the loch. Her other lover was called Taileachd mac Cuilgeadain. To settle the matter, they had a competition leaping backwards over a pool. Taileachd landed safely on dry land. Fionn landed up to his neck in deep water. Whereupon Taileachd decapitated him and carried away his head to a ford that would later become known as Ath Chinn – Ford of a Head, near Loch Laidon in Rannoch. The name cannot be found on OS. The Fianna then killed Taileachd in revenge, retrieved Fionn’s severed body and buried him at Killin. The act of leaping fits with Irish accounts of Fionn’s death, even if the location may be different.

Place-names associated with Fian lore can still be found all over the Highlands, attached to different landscape features. Sgòrr nam Fiannaidh - Peak of the Fianna (NN141583) lies at the western end of the An t-Aonach Eagach ridge in Glen Coe. Bealach nam Fiann - Pass of the Fianna (NC272382) is near Kylesku. Leac na[m] Fionn - Slab of the Fianna (NG454704) can be seen to the north of the Quiraing on the Trotternish peninsula in Skye. Associating Fionn and the Fianna with large landscape features emphasised their gigantic and superhuman status.

Plate 10: Leac na[m] Fionn – Slab of the Fianna, Trotternish, Isle of Skye. The flat-topped slab is just to the right of centre.

Fionn’s stature was of such a measure, that near Ardtalnaig on Loch Tayside he could stand with one foot on Cìoch na Maighdinn (mapped as Cìoch na Maighdean) - the Maiden’s Breast (NN736364) and his other on Ciste Buille a’ Chlaidheimh - Chest of the Sword Blow (NN729352), and wash his hands in Lochan nan Làmh – Little Loch of the Hands, possibly above Glen Lednock, and then turn around to drink from Loch Tay - Loch Tatha. Lochan nan Làmh cannot be traced with certainty on the maps, but from this description it could well be an unnamed water at NN741308, which is roughly equidistant with Loch Tay, from Fionn’s standpoint astride Gleann a’ Chilleine – The Glen of Concealment, to the southeast.

Figure 2: Ardtalnaig - Cìoch na Maighdinn and Ciste Buille a’ Chlaidheimh in relation to Loch Tay and the possible location of Lochan nan Làmh

Plate 11: Cìoch na Maighdinn – Maiden’s Breast to the left and Ciste Buille a’ Chlaidheimh - Chest of the Sword Blow to the right, either side of Gleann a’ Chilleine, Ardtalnaig, Loch Tayside. Fionn planted a foot on each hill. From the glen, the Sword Blow is a small notch on the righthand horizon.

Plate 12: Buille a’ Chlaidheimh – The Sword Blow, Ardtalnaig, Lochtayside.

The OS 1:25,000 sheet mistakenly shows Ciste Buille a’ Chlaidheimh as Ciste Buide a’ Chlaidheimh and the 1:50000 OS map substitutes this name with The Shee of Ardtalnaig. William Gillies, a Gaelic speaker from Barra, quotes the correct name (Gillies 1938), which he gathered in the district in the 1920s during his ministry at Kenmore. Shee is a corruption of sìth meaning fairy. It is also the origin of Glen Shee - Gleann Sìodh further east in Perthshire (see below). Plate 12 shows what seems to be a large cut in the rounded flank of The Shee. More prosaically than its name implies, the Fenian-sized sword blow of Ciste Buille a’ Chlaidheimh has actually been caused by an igneous dyke intruding into the surrounding quartzite and leading to a landslip at the junction between the two rock types after the retreat of glaciers at the end of the ice age. It is a pity that Gillies remains silent about the story that must surely lie behind the massive sword blow.