Clan Ross: The Men of Easter Ross

Overview

Clan Ross takes its name from the old province and earldom of Ross — the broad country between the Cromarty and Dornoch Firths. In Gaelic they are Clann Aindreis, the children of Andrew, and their motto is “Spem Successus Alit,” “Success nourishes hope.”

How the clan came about

The founding chief was Fearchar mac an t-Sagairt — “son of the priest” — descended from the hereditary lay abbots of Applecross. He backed King Alexander II, was knighted, and by 1234 was recognised as Earl of Ross, the earliest firm anchor for the line. When the 5th Earl died in 1372 the earldom passed away from the clan, but the chiefship carried on through Hugh Ross of Balnagown, and the chiefs have been “Ross of Balnagown” ever since.

Rise & fall

The medieval Earls of Ross were among the most powerful magnates in the north — so much so that control of the earldom helped provoke the great Battle of Harlaw (1411), when the MacDonald Lord of the Isles pressed his claim to it. In the late 1400s a bitter feud with Clan Mackay ended in disaster at Aldy Charrish (1487), where the chief and seventeen landed gentlemen of the name were killed.

Battles — won and lost

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

• Dunbar (1296) — vs the English (chief captured) — LOST
• Bannockburn (1314) — vs the English (by tradition) — WON
• Halidon Hill (1333) — vs the English (the 4th Earl killed) — LOST
• Harlaw (1411) — vs the Lord of the Isles — WON
• Tarbat (1486) — vs Clan Mackay — WON
• Aldy Charrish (1487) — vs Clan Mackay & Clan Sutherland (chief killed) — LOST

The clan’s defining rivalry was with Clan Mackay across the late 1400s.

Where they lived & ruled

The heartland was Easter Ross, centred on the chiefs’ castle of Balnagown and the burgh of Tain.

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

Easter Ross is one of the great whisky corners of the north: at Edderton near Tain, Balblair was founded in 1790 by the Ross family and held by them for over a century — a genuine Clan Ross distillery in the heart of Ross country.