Clan Gunn

History

The Gunns look back to the Norse world of the northern earldoms. According to the clan society, the name derives from Gunni, a Norse figure said to have gained lands in Caithness and Sutherland by marrying Ragnhild, a granddaughter of Earl Rognvald of Orkney. The name itself comes from the Old Norse for war or battle. The line of descent is the clan's own account rather than a documented pedigree, and the early generations are thin on hard evidence.

The earliest Gunn chief who can be clearly traced in the records is George Gunn, who served as Crowner (a coroner-like officer) for Caithness in the 1400s. Gaelic tradition called him Am Braisdeach Mor, meaning the great man of the brooch, a reference to his badge of office. He lived at Killearnan, described as a tower house, and at that time the Gunns held real weight in the county.

That strength did not last. As the Sinclairs, Keiths and Sutherlands took up royal grants in the north, the Gunns were pushed off the better ground. The long quarrel with the Keiths is the best known result. Accounts differ on dates: a defeat at Dirlot in Strathmore is placed in 1464, and the chief's death at a meeting at St Tayre's chapel near Ackergill is given as about 1478. Either way, the Crowner and several of his sons were killed.

After George's death the clan divided into separate branches. One went south-west into Sutherland, to the Strath of Kildonan. Others stayed in Caithness. Later centuries brought further loss. The parish of Kildonan, home to Gunn families for generations, was emptied for sheep farming during the Clearances of the early nineteenth century.

The chiefly line then dropped out of view for a long time. Iain Gunn of Banniskirk was recognised by the Lord Lyon as chief in 2015, the first holder of the title in over two centuries. Earlier, in 1978, while serving as Commander of Clan Gunn, he had put his name to a Treaty of Friendship with the chief of Clan Keith, signed at the site of St Tayre's chapel, which closed, at least formally, a feud of roughly five hundred years. He died in October 2024, and his son John became chief in his place.