Tour Scotland short travel video clip, with Scottish music, of the Island of Eigg, Scottish Gaelic: Eige, located to the south of the Isle of Skye on ancestry, genealogy, history visit to the Inner Hebrides. it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm. The centre of the island is a moorland plateau, rising to 1,289 feet at An Sgurr, a dramatic stump of pitchstone, sheer on three sides. Walkers who reach the top can, in good weather, take in views of Mull, Coll, Muck, the Outer Hebrides, Rùm, Skye, and the mountains of Lochaber on the mainland. The Irish missionary activity which brought Columba to Iona also brought Donnán to Eigg, where he attempted to establish a monastery, at Kildonnan. According to traditional legends, a Pictish queen took objection to this breach of her sovereignty, and sent agents to Eigg to kill him, which they did on the eve of Easter, in 617; traditionally, Donnán had a large number of companions with him, whom he requested were killed first. Regardless of whether accounts of Donnán's death are pious forgeries or not, the monastic community continued after Donnán's death, under the authority of Iona. In 1577, according to Clan Ranald tradition, a group of MacLeods were being hosted on Eigg when they became over amorous towards local women. As a result, the local men rounded the MacLeods up and cast them adrift in the Minch, until they were rescued by MacLeods from elsewhere. Wanting revenge, a group of MacLeods landed on Eigg, but had been spotted by the islanders, who decided to hide in an obscure cave called the Cave of Frances, Scottish Gaelic: Uamh Fhraing, now known as the Cathedral Cave, located on the south coast; the entrance to the cave is tiny, and was obscured by moss, undergrowth, and a small waterfall. The traditions go on to say that the MacLeods conducted a thorough but fruitless search for the inhabitants, but after a few days, just as the MacLeods were leaving, they saw someone leave the cave, and were able to follow their footprints to the entrance. The MacLeods re-directed the water, piled thatch and roof timbers at the cave entrance, and set fire to it; water dampened the flames, so that the cave was filled with smoke, asphyxiating everyone inside. 395 people had been inside; only one inhabitant of Eigg survived, an old woman, who had not sought refuge in the cave. Clan Ranald had aided the MacDonalds in a longstanding feud against the MacLeans of Duart concerning the Rhinns of Islay. In 1588, some of the remains of the Spanish Armada found refuge with the MacLeans; Lachlan, the MacLean leader, demanded that they supply soldiers in return, which he used to launch an attack against the MacDonalds. After initial failures, Lachlan chose to attack the Small Isles, as a softer, weakly defended target, instead; Eigg was burnt and pillaged. Lachlan was imprisoned in Edinburgh by the king for this,[note 46] but he escaped, and faced no further punishment. Eigg tenants also joined the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and of 1745; the leader of the Eigg branch of Clan Ranald, MacDonald of Laig, also commanded the tenants from Canna, another Clan Ranald property, who took part. Whether or not the events of 1690 were simply blood revenge rather than gunboat diplomacy, there was certainly retribution in 1746. All 38 surviving men who had taken part in the rebellions were arrested by the navy and imprisoned in the Tower of London in England; though many died from natural causes, the remaining 16 were eventually sent to Barbados, to work on sugar cane plantations. After the defeat at Culloden, the Scottish Gaelic poet Raonuill Dubh MacDhòmhnuill, the eldest son of the Jacobite officer and poet Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, moved from Arisaig to the farm of Laig on Eigg. The farm remained in the family until Raonuill Dubh's grandson, Angus R. MacDonald, emigrated to the United States and served as a Lieutenant in the 11th Wisconsin Regiment during the American Civil War. In 1821, several families emigrated to Nova Scotia, Canada, to escape poverty; they settled on a high plateau near the coast of the Northumberland Strait, which they named Eigg Mountain. The laird, his income also having collapsed, planned to recover his position by evicting tenants from Cleadale, and using the land for sheep farming; however, in 1827 he found someone willing to purchase Eigg, and cancelled the planned eviction. After 800 years in the same family, Clan Ranald rule of Eigg was at an end.
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