Qualla: Battle of Tannach

Battle of Tannach: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Outnumbered and outmaneuvered in their own country, the Keiths of Ackergill did what feuding clans in 15th-century Scotland often did: they called for help. Their messengers rode southwest to Strathnaver, to the chief of Clan Mackay, Angus son of Niel-Wasse, with a simple request - come fight with us against the Gunns of Caithness. Angus agreed. The combined Keith-Mackay force met the Gunns and their allies on a stretch of moor three miles southwest of Wick called Blare Tannie, the Moor of Tanach. The Battle of Tannach was the result - bloody on both sides, decisive for the Keiths, and remembered today only by historians of the long Scottish clan wars.

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Battle of Tannach: Disputed Date

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Even the year is uncertain. Sir Robert Gordon, the historian who lived from 1580 to 1656 and wrote the Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland, placed the battle around 1464. The book Conflicts of the Clans, first published by the Foulis Press in 1764 but drawn from a m...

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Battle of Tannach: On Blare Tannie Moor

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When the Mackays arrived under their chief Angus, son of Niel-Wasse, the inhabitants of Caithness convened in haste. The Gunns and their allies - possibly the Clan Oliphant and the Clan Sutherland - met the combined Keith and Mackay force on the moor of Tanach. Sir Robert Gordon'...

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Battle of Tannach: Angus Mackay's End

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Angus Mackay survived Tannach but did not survive his own enemies. The Conflicts of the Clans manuscript records his end with characteristic medieval directness: he was burnt and killed in the Church of Tarbat by a man of the surname of Ross, whom Angus had molested repeatedly wi...

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