'Achnambeithach Cottage' - Glencoe - Western Highlands - Scotland Photograph - Limited Edition of 10

Achnambeithach Cottage at the Foot of Aonach Dubh, is an iconic scene in Glencoe, in the Western Scottish Highlands. Glencoe is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever visited. It is just as eerie, though, as it is the site of one of the dastardliest deeds in recorded history. On 27 August 1691 King William offered the Highland clans a pardon for their part in the Jacobite rising - if they agreed to pledge allegiance to him before New Year’s Day. The oath had to be made before a magistrate. Many Highland Chiefs waited for word to come from the exiled King James before they took the oath. Alasdair MacIain, the Chief of Glencoe, arrived at Fort William on 31 December 1691 to take the oath but was told that he would have to travel some 70 miles to the sheriff at Inveraray. MacIain finally took the oath on 6 January 1692. He was given assurances that his allegiance would be accepted and that he and his people - the McDonalds of Glencoe - were safe. On 2 February about 120 troops arrived at Glencoe under the command of Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon. For the next 10 days and nights the troops were given food, drink and lodgings. On 12 February Glenlyon rec’d orders from Major Duncanson: You are hereby ordered to fall upon the McDonalds of Glencoe, put all to the sword under 70. You have a special care that the old Fox and his sons do on no account escape, block all escape. The MacDonalds had been victims of ‘murder under trust’, considered even worse than normal acts of murder under Scots law. The Massacre of Glencoe was also an act of terror by the state against its own people. The MacDonalds were killed to scare the other Highland Clans into submission. The orders to kill the MacDonalds of Glencoe had been signed by King William. On my visit, I was entranced by the beauty, and history of the place. I felt, as I walked among the heather, that I was treading on hallowed ground. The heavy overcast sky only added to the aura.