300-year-old coins found in fireplace 'belonging to Scottish clan chief' murdered at infamous Glencoe Massacre

October 09, 2023

Coins believed to have belonged to a Scottish clan leader murdered in an infamous 17th century massacre, have been found in a fireplace by an archaeology student on her first dig.

University of Glasgow archaeology student, Lucy Ankers, discovered the hoard of 36 coins at a site associated with Alasdair Ruadh "Maclain" MacDonald of Glencoe, who was slaughtered during the Glencoe Massacre in 1692.

The artefacts were found under the remains of a grand stone fireplace at "the summerhouse of Maclain", in what's thought to have been a hunting lodge or feasting hall.

European pottery, and silver and bronze coins, dating from the 1500s to 1680s were uncovered during a University of Glasgow dig in August.

Currency from the time of Elizabeth I, James VI and I, Charles I, the Cromwellian Commonwealth, and Charles II - as well as France and the Spanish Netherlands and the Papal States - was among the collection.

Whoever buried the coins may have been massacred as they did not return for them, historians think.

Musket and fowling shot, a gun flint and a powder measure, as well as pottery from England, Germany and the Netherlands and the remains of a grand slab floor were also found at the site.

Ms Ankers said: "As a first experience of a dig, Glencoe was amazing. I wasn't expecting such an exciting find as one of my firsts.

"I don't think I will ever beat the feeling of seeing the coins peeking out of the dirt in the pot."

Edward Stewart, excavations director, said it suggested a place where "feasting, gambling, hunting and libations" took place.

Catriona Davidson, curator of Glencoe Folk Museum, said: "Finding objects like these creates such a tangible connection to the people who occupied the Glen in the past."

The MacDonalds took part in the first Jacobite rebellion, an attempt to restore to the throne Catholic King James VII of Scotland and II of England, who had been deposed in favour of his sister Mary II and her husband William III.

Around 82 clan members were slaughtered as a punishment, on 13 February 1692, including Maclain and his wife, by the Earl of Argyll's troops, led by Robert Campbell, of the Campbell clan.

Historians speculated the coins may have been buried on the morning of the massacre.

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