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Barra
Colonsay
In the year 1030 AD, the Niall Mhic Nèill, son of Aodh Aonrachan ("Hugh the Solitary"), 21st Chief of Clan Neil, and a direct descendant of Niall Naoighiallach left Ulster for the island of Barra in the Western Hebrides. Arriving to restore a Celtic presence to Western Isles and to convert the occupying Norsemen to Christianity, the MacNèill ("sons of Niall") as they became to be known established the clan seat at an ancient Celtic fortification known to the Norsemen as Kisimul (Norse for "castle island"). Located on a small island in Castlebay (Bagh À Chaisteil), Kisimul is one of the oldest fortifications of its type in Britain and attracts thousands of visitors from around the world every year. From Kisimul, the fifth Barra chief, Neil MacNèill, helped to defeat the Norse at the Battle of Largs in 1293.
His son, the sixth chief, Neil Og provided assistance to Robert the Bruce in his decisive victory over the English at Bannockburn on June 24, 1314 and was rewarded with a charter for Barra and certain lands in Kintyre. This charter was confirmed in 1427 when Gilleonan Roderick Muchard MacNèill, grandson of Neil Og and the 9th MacNeil of Barra, received from King David of Scotland through Alexander, Lord of the Isles, a charter for Barra and Boisdale in south Uist. After the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles in 1493, James IV annulled all previous charters for the outer isles and then reconferred on Gilleonan a royal charter for Barra.
During the Jacobite rising of 1715, the 18th chief, Roderick Dhu lead the MacNeil clan into battle on the side of the Jacobites. In 1745, during the second rebellion, the MacNeils hid Charles Edward Stewart on Barra. John Macaulay, a local minister, informed the Crown the young pretender's location, but before the Red Coats landed on Barra, Bonnie Prince Charlie had escaped. The English considered this patriotic act as an act of treachery and the MacNeil of Barra, along with other notables as Flora MacDonald, was arrested in June 1746. Taken via Inverness to London he was tortured, imprisoned, and nearly forfeited all MacNeil holdings in Barra. He was released in May 1747.
Under continued English oppression of the Highlands and Islands, financial hardship fell upon the MacNeils. In 1838, Chief Roderick MacNeil was forced to sell the Island of Barra and 800 years of direct MacNeil rule came to an end. The end of MacNeil rule coincided with the brutal clearances which forced tens of thousands of people from their lands. The people of Barra including countless MacNeils were forced to emigrate to New South Wales, Nova Scotia, and North Carolina.
After nearly 100 years of neglect, Kisimul castle along with a large part of the island of Barra, was bought by an American architect from Vermont, Robert Lister MacNeil, who also happened to be the 25th MacNeil of Barra and the 45th Chief of Clan Neil. He spent the rest of his life restoring Kisimul castle. His son, Ian Roderick MacNeil, is a Harvard-educated Professor of Law at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and the 26th MacNeil of Barra, 46th Chief of the Clan Neil.
Other branches of the Clan MacNeil include MacNeil of Gigha, MacNeil of Vatersay, MacNeil of Colonsay, and MacNeil of Taynish.
Links to other MacNeil of Barra sites.
Links to other Scottish sites.