The Conflict of Blar-na-Pairc

The Conflict of Blar-na-Pairc.

After the Lord of the Isles had resigned the Earldom of Ross into the King's hands, the year of God 1477, that province was continually vexed and molested with incursions of the Islanders. Gillespick (cousin to Macdonald), gathering a company of men, invaded the height of that country with great hostility; which, the inhabitants perceiving (and especially the Clan Mackenzie), they assembled speedily together, and met the Islanders beside the river of Conon, about two miles from Brayle, where there ensued a sharp and cruel skirmish. The Clan Mackenzie fought so hardly, and pressed the enemy so, that in tile end Gillespick Macdonald was overthrown and chased, the most part of his men being either slain or drowned in the river of Conon; and this was called Blar-na-Pairc.