Clan Murray: The Dukes of Atholl

Overview

Clan Murray is one of the great houses of Perthshire, its senior line the Dukes of Atholl, seated at Blair Castle. Their motto is “Tout Prest” — “Quite ready” — and the chief keeps the Atholl Highlanders, the only legal private army in Europe.

How the clan came about

The Murrays share their progenitor with Clan Sutherland: Freskin, most likely a Flemish knight who came to Scotland under David I. Before 1130 the king granted Freskin lands in West Lothian and then the old province of Moray; the family took the surname de Moravia — “of Moray” — which became Murray. The Atholl chiefly line descends from William de Moravia, a younger grandson of Freskin.

Rise & fall

Gleaming white Blair Castle guards the strategic pass through which every army between Lowlands and Highlands had to march. The Murrays were pivotal in the Jacobite risings — and famously divided: in both 1715 and 1745 the reigning Duke of Atholl stood for the government while his sons fought for the Stuarts. The greatest of them, Lord George Murray, was the finest general the Jacobites had, leading the front line at Culloden.

Battles — won and lost

The most notable actions the clan fought, and how they ended:

• Stirling Bridge (1297) — vs the English (Andrew Moray co-led; died of wounds) — WON
• Halidon Hill (1333) — vs the English — LOST
• Knockmary (1490) — vs Clan Drummond — LOST
• Glenlivet (1594) — vs Clan Gordon (Huntly) — LOST
• Tippermuir (1644) — vs the Covenanters (for Montrose) — WON
• Sheriffmuir (1715) — vs the government — DRAWN
• Glen Shiel (1719) — vs the government — LOST
• Culloden (1746) — vs the government (Lord George Murray) — LOST

Older feuds ran with Clan Drummond and Clan Hannay. The Jacobite years split the family down the middle.

Where they lived & ruled

The heartland was Atholl and Tullibardine in Perthshire, with older Lowland holdings around Bothwell from the family’s de Moravia beginnings, and branches spreading across Perthshire and the north.

Orange markers = the clan’s chief castles, seats and territories. Click a marker for its name; where we have a page, it links through.

Clan & whisky

Murray land is threaded with distilleries: Blair Athol took its name from the Atholl estate; Glenturret secured its water and peat rights from Sir Patrick Murray of Ochtertyre; and Tullibardine carries a Murray-Atholl title in its name.