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MOTTO
STAND EITHER PEACE OR WAR |
CLAN TARTAN
GUNN |
Mainly a Pictish tribe, the name Gunn is probably equivalent to the Welsh name “Gwynne”. The Gunn clan chiefs have, however, claimed descent from Gunni, son of the 12th century Orcadian Olaf. Gunni’s wife, Ragnhild, brought with her great estates in Caithness and Sutherland in the far North of Scotland.
The Gunns were a warlike clan, feuding with Clan Keith and the MacKays, as well as the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland. In the 15th century they found it necessary to move from Caithness to the Kildonan district of Sutherland and in 1585 they were heavily defeated by the Earl of Sutherland. However, as foes or friends they were held in high esteem as being “bonnie fechters”.
In the Jacobite rising of 1745 the Gunns fought on the Hanoverian side.
An early stronghold of the Gunns was the old castle of Hallburg, a name with Danish or Norwegian origins. Later they had as their seat the Castle of Kilearnan, which was destroyed by fire in 1690.
The Gunns were eventually moved off their lands, not through violence and war, but the Highland Clearances by the Gordons.
The Chiefship is now believed to rest with the Gunns of Rhives, descended from the second son of MacSheaumais, the fifth chief.
The sept names mostly derive from the chief’s sons as Johnson, MacIan, MacKean, Kean and Keene are all from “son of John”. James, John, Henry (Eanrick), Rob and Will were all sons of the same 14th century George Gunn.
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Clan Crest © Art Pewter Silver Ltd, East Kilbride, Scotland |
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