My grandparents were henderson my grandfather and my grandmother was mcdonald her family came from kilchatten in argyle in the 1800s i know about the henderson stone through legend all i know that big henderson was a piper for the macdonalds i always knew there was a link between macdonalds and hendersons great service at the end
Recently found I am part of the Henderson clan ,I'm so excited to learn more about my roots and how I ended up in a small town in Bedford Indiana. All the Hendersons I have met are good,gentle,smart people. I am so proud of my heritage and where I come from. Thankful for all the hard times and battles our forefathers endured and losses they faced in life. Always proud to be a Henderson!❤️
And Mammy said that her mother could only marry a Chieftain, maybe Grandfather Henderson is the key. We will have to make the trip to Glencoe and pay our respects.
So absolutely touching to hear this story about my grandma Henderson’s family. Such a lesson this is! I am so grateful for you passing this on my friend. I assure you, I will be passing this on in order to honor them who were killed and those whose showed such mercy! Thank you Good bless Thornhill Henderson, Graham, Bay
Aye...wishes granted and prayers said...my heart is afire with the message you have delivered. My paternal family are MacKendricks/Hendersons from Argyll Bute, Cambeltown circa 1770. I understand this irony...of these names connected together because of all those things that have occured over the centuries. It is sad that we as a race of humans can be so brutle to each other because of allegence to one or the other but, through my search to find my Scottish heritage I have become so inriched from my families past...I am still searching...knowing even though I am an international/American I find myself return and coming home to Scotland in my spirit and my soul. Thank you!
My sister, husband, a family friend and I were there 2014. The pathway was not as cleared as the pictures you shared. We did wander around Glen Coe for awhile to find the stone. Thank you so much for presenting the stories. One thing I found amazing when we were in Scotland in 2014 was the number of times we saw the name Henderson. I will go back!!!!
The reason the path would not have been as clear is the Crofter and owner of the field do not want it cleared they want it covered over and forgotten about. I was clearing it for years but have major health issues now. I am trying to get someone to maintain it but when they here that they could get into trouble no one is interested.
When I first watched this video I thought they must be old relatives of mine, but through research I found I’m related to the Henderson clan from Caithness. There were several Henderson clans throughout Scotland, very interesting though.Thank you for this video.
Thanks for this. I'd heard about the Hendersons at Glencoe but not so much detail. Next time I'm back in Scotland I must visit the stone. Can't believe I've driven past it twice in the last year!.
Hi welcome to you all to this small field, in which lies this small boulder that has a Big place to play in Clan Henderson or to give us our Gaelic name Clan MacEanriug History. I hope to tell you at least one thing today that you did not know about this sacred lump of Pink Granite covered in lichen which is what gives it the Grey Colour. The Pink Granite stone is not local to this locaton and the closest area that this stone has been found is approximately 2.5 miles to the Southeast at An t-Stron and 5 miles to the North at Mullach nan Coirean. The earliest written evidence that has been found about the stone is the Ordnance Survey map name from 1875, although I would ask you all to help in the quest to get more early information so that it can be proven that what we as a Clan have had handed down through generations can be verified, that way we can get this Important part of our heritage protected. In someones attic somewhere might just sit that piece of Information we need, let us do our best to find it. Anyway onto the stories that we have been handed down, through the ages we already know and it has been proven that the Henderson’s were in Glencoe before the MacDonalds and it was a marriage between a Henderson Chiefs Daughter and a MacDonald, that eventually led to the MacDonalds becoming the land owners and major Clan in Glencoe and a close relationship of the two families. All those who were at the MacDonald monument earlier will know of the story of MacIan, but at the time of the Massacre the Henderson’s were the body guard and Pipers to MacIan. And it is this that I want to focus on here. There are quite a few stories that relate to this stone, and there are similarities in them all so which if any are true I doubt we will ever know for sure, but one thing that we do know for sure is that at the time of the Massacre of Glencoe, Henderson lives were lost as well as MacDonalds, and so we come to this place with thoughts and prayers of those souls who passed. Right onto the stories:- One story goes that on the evening of the 12th February, the night before the attack, after the evening meal one of the Campbell’s asked his Henderson host to accompany him on a walk, the soldier and his host came upon this stone and pausing before it he is reputed to have said, “Auch auld grey stane, yea huv been ev’ry richt tae be waur yea ur, but if yea waur tae be knawin whit I be knawin, yea widdnae be here in the morn.” This gave the Henderson a warning as too what was to come, but whether he escaped or not, we do not know. Perhaps one of us standing here today is a direct relative of this family. Another story goes like this:- The MacDonalds traditionally used a large rock escarpment nearby as a place to signal the Clan members, that rock is known as Signal rock. The Henderson’s however believed that Signal rock was only useful when the weather was favourable. Consequently the Henderson pipers would always choose the Clach MacEanruig or as we know it the Henderson Stone, as their platform for any rallying call. Remembering that the Henderson’s were here before the MacDonalds, perhaps they were right. On the morning of the Massacre the attackers were to send a signal to there troops and they chose to use Signal rock, but the weather not being favourable, this might be why 2 detachments each of around 400 men, turned up late and never sealed the Glen, this let many of the MacDonalds & Hendersons escape into the hills, if they survived the massacre we don’t know what would happen to them in the hills of Glencoe on a freezing cold February morning. I have now got another version of the story which is claimed to be the most common and earliest tradition, and it states that one of the soldiers of the Earl of Argyll’s Regiment named Henderson or Henry who was billeted with a family in Glencoe, took one of the family members to this stone the night before the massacre. He then addressed the stone giving warning of the pending danger. This is very close to the first story, although the Campbell from the first becomes a Henderson or Henry that gives the warning. So that is some stories about this Stone. At the beginning of this year I was contacted and given this other story, it is not about the night before but actually about after the massacre, It is from John MacDonald from Highbridge and was told and translated from the gaelic in 1951, it goes like this:- After the Massacre something amazing happened, a poor woman who was trying to escape with her Infant child who was about 3 months old, were hiding under a bridge. As the soldier’s went by they thought they heard an Infant cry. The commander said to a soldier “Go under the bridge and if it is a boy Kill him but if it is a girl then let it be”, It was a boy and the mother Implored “For the love of God, Leave my boy alone”, There was a cat close by and the soldier killed it and smeared the blood of the cat on his sword, when he returned he showed his Commander who was fully satisfied. Many year after this, when the lad had grown up, he owned an Inn in Appin, when a poor dishevelled wanderer came in, who had been walking the highways. After he had a dram or two, he began talking about the massacre. Well Appin is only about 18 miles from here. And he did not realise the owner had been paying attention to what he was saying, and when he heard him talk about the Massacre he said “You will not leave here tonight” When he told him that it was he who had saved his life he became greatly beholden to him and so he was given lodgings in the Inn and could do what he liked until he passed away. Despite some folkloristic motifs present in the tale, perhaps there remains the element of truth. Even in such a dire situation as the woman had been, the soldier contrary to his direct orders shows mercy and allows the infant to survive. Such generosity of spirit is then unexpectedly repaid many years later. If there is a Moral to the story then it might be that something good came out of an event that caused revulsion to so many when it happened. The Infamy of the massacre is not so much the numbers that were killed, but in the way that it was carried out. You see in the Highlands it was and still is in many Highland homes tradition to always have an open door policy to your fellow man, so for Campbell of Glenlyon to take the hospitality shown to them by MacIan and the families of Glencoe, and then massacre them is actually known as “Slaughter or Murder under Trust”. The aftermath of this event reached Paris, before it was known of in Edinburgh or London. A commission was held in the Scottish Parliament that concluded that what had taken place was not “Slaughter under Trust” so it was not punishable as treason under the 1587 act. Instead they ruled it as “Murder under Trust” and Implicated Dalrymple but King William was exonerated. The final result was that none of the perpetrators were convicted. After all of this Colonel John Hill petitioned the government several times to allow the MacIans to re-settle Glencoe. They were given permission to return to their burned out cottages six months later. The government laid blame on several individuals named Campbell, because they literally held every government office in the Highlands at the time. The King was acquitted of any wrongdoing and he promptly acquitted his Secretary of State Dalrymple, of any wrong doing because of the “excesses of those who carried out his Orders”. For over 300 years Clan Campbell has been treated as if the entire clan were guilty of this despicable act. Yet ther is no justification for what happened on February 13th 1692. Nor is there any justification blaming an entire Clan for the acts of a few men who lived over 300 years ago and who acted on the Kings orders. Anyway I would like now to bring this service to an end so For those of you who are religious I would like to say a short prayer and for any who are not please could I ask that you take this time to think of those kin who were taken from this Glen. They may be gone but we still remember them…. Let us Pray….. We bow our heads Eternal Father, that you are merciful to those people who were responsible for this sad event that took place here on the 13th Feb 1692, that those who are now in Tir Na Nog be truly honoured. Eternal spirit of Truth, beauty and all that is good, grant those who are visiting this Glen today the calmness and warmth of your spirit, and let them feel the measure of Kinship and friendship with those around them and those who were aroused that fateful morn and suffered the blows of death. We are grateful heavenly father, for the memories that this Glen and this Stone now bring us and we will take these feelings with us on our journey through life. Finally Lord please be with us as we travel from this place, and may we all travel in safety and peace to wherever we are staying and onwards in our journey throughout the World to our homes. We say these things in the name of your son Jesus Christ…..Amen
This happens to be mu name and i wear the HENDERSON KILT not the modern tartan is too flashy is THE ANCIENT HENDERSON KILT casually with a traditional hand knitted pure wool aran cream sweater with matching pure wool hand knitted kilt hose with black thick soled leather brogue shoes . Formally a white dress shirt with a plain black wool bow tie of with a black leather sporran and belt with rampant lion of Scotland i am so proud of it
This is interesting to hear about the Henderson stone I really want to go to Scotland and see it in person one day to connect with my family roots
My grandparents were henderson my grandfather and my grandmother was mcdonald her family came from kilchatten in argyle in the 1800s i know about the henderson stone through legend all i know that big henderson was a piper for the macdonalds i always knew there was a link between macdonalds and hendersons great service at the end
Recently found I am part of the Henderson clan ,I'm so excited to learn more about my roots and how I ended up in a small town in Bedford Indiana. All the Hendersons I have met are good,gentle,smart people. I am so proud of my heritage and where I come from. Thankful for all the hard times and battles our forefathers endured and losses they faced in life. Always proud to be a Henderson!❤️
So happy to come across this regarding the Henderson clan, my mother and grandparents were Henderson.
And Mammy said that her mother could only marry a Chieftain, maybe Grandfather Henderson is the key. We will have to make the trip to Glencoe and pay our respects.
Thanks for it in my family tree it goes back to the Henderson Clan and thank you for story very much I like history of the Henderson Clan .
So absolutely touching to hear this story about my grandma Henderson’s family. Such a lesson this is! I am so grateful for you passing this on my friend. I assure you, I will be passing this on in order to honor them who were killed and those whose showed such mercy! Thank you
Good bless
Thornhill Henderson, Graham, Bay
Aye...wishes granted and prayers said...my heart is afire with the message you have delivered. My paternal family are MacKendricks/Hendersons from Argyll Bute, Cambeltown circa 1770. I understand this irony...of these names connected together because of all those things that have occured over the centuries. It is sad that we as a race of humans can be so brutle to each other because of allegence to one or the other but, through my search to find my Scottish heritage I have become so inriched from my families past...I am still searching...knowing even though I am an international/American I find myself return and coming home to Scotland in my spirit and my soul. Thank you!
Thank you very much. It means a lot to hear about our ancestors.
My sister, husband, a family friend and I were there 2014. The pathway was not as cleared as the pictures you shared. We did wander around Glen Coe for awhile to find the stone. Thank you so much for presenting the stories. One thing I found amazing when we were in Scotland in 2014 was the number of times we saw the name Henderson. I will go back!!!!
The reason the path would not have been as clear is the Crofter and owner of the field do not want it cleared they want it covered over and forgotten about. I was clearing it for years but have major health issues now. I am trying to get someone to maintain it but when they here that they could get into trouble no one is interested.
When I first watched this video I thought they must be old relatives of mine, but through research I found I’m related to the Henderson clan from Caithness. There were several Henderson clans throughout Scotland, very interesting though.Thank you for this video.
Thanks for this. I'd heard about the Hendersons at Glencoe but not so much detail. Next time I'm back in Scotland I must visit the stone. Can't believe I've driven past it twice in the last year!.
Thank you so much for this video and all your efforts to preserve Henderson history. Bless you!
Thanks for that KatMom 2, it is a pleasure to do especially when I see that people appreciate what I do.
Hi welcome to you all to this small field, in which lies this small boulder that has a Big place to play in Clan Henderson or to give us our Gaelic name Clan MacEanriug History.
I hope to tell you at least one thing today that you did not know about this sacred lump of Pink Granite covered in lichen which is what gives it the Grey Colour. The Pink Granite stone is not local to this locaton and the closest area that this stone has been found is approximately 2.5 miles to the Southeast at An t-Stron and 5 miles to the North at Mullach nan Coirean.
The earliest written evidence that has been found about the stone is the Ordnance Survey map name from 1875, although I would ask you all to help in the quest to get more early information so that it can be proven that what we as a Clan have had handed down through generations can be verified, that way we can get this Important part of our heritage protected. In someones attic somewhere might just sit that piece of Information we need, let us do our best to find it.
Anyway onto the stories that we have been handed down, through the ages we already know and it has been proven that the Henderson’s were in Glencoe before the MacDonalds and it was a marriage between a Henderson Chiefs Daughter and a MacDonald, that eventually led to the MacDonalds becoming the land owners and major Clan in Glencoe and a close relationship of the two families.
All those who were at the MacDonald monument earlier will know of the story of MacIan, but at the time of the Massacre the Henderson’s were the body guard and Pipers to MacIan. And it is this that I want to focus on here.
There are quite a few stories that relate to this stone, and there are similarities in them all so which if any are true I doubt we will ever know for sure, but one thing that we do know for sure is that at the time of the Massacre of Glencoe, Henderson lives were lost as well as MacDonalds, and so we come to this place with thoughts and prayers of those souls who passed.
Right onto the stories:- One story goes that on the evening of the 12th February, the night before the attack, after the evening meal one of the Campbell’s asked his Henderson host to accompany him on a walk, the soldier and his host came upon this stone and pausing before it he is reputed to have said, “Auch auld grey stane, yea huv been ev’ry richt tae be waur yea ur, but if yea waur tae be knawin whit I be knawin, yea widdnae be here in the morn.” This gave the Henderson a warning as too what was to come, but whether he escaped or not, we do not know. Perhaps one of us standing here today is a direct relative of this family.
Another story goes like this:- The MacDonalds traditionally used a large rock escarpment nearby as a place to signal the Clan members, that rock is known as Signal rock. The Henderson’s however believed that Signal rock was only useful when the weather was favourable. Consequently the Henderson pipers would always choose the Clach MacEanruig or as we know it the Henderson Stone, as their platform for any rallying call. Remembering that the Henderson’s were here before the MacDonalds, perhaps they were right.
On the morning of the Massacre the attackers were to send a signal to there troops and they chose to use Signal rock, but the weather not being favourable, this might be why 2 detachments each of around 400 men, turned up late and never sealed the Glen, this let many of the MacDonalds & Hendersons escape into the hills, if they survived the massacre we don’t know what would happen to them in the hills of Glencoe on a freezing cold February morning.
I have now got another version of the story which is claimed to be the most common and earliest tradition, and it states that one of the soldiers of the Earl of Argyll’s Regiment named Henderson or Henry who was billeted with a family in Glencoe, took one of the family members to this stone the night before the massacre. He then addressed the stone giving warning of the pending danger. This is very close to the first story, although the Campbell from the first becomes a Henderson or Henry that gives the warning. So that is some stories about this Stone.
At the beginning of this year I was contacted and given this other story, it is not about the night before but actually about after the massacre, It is from John MacDonald from Highbridge and was told and translated from the gaelic in 1951, it goes like this:-
After the Massacre something amazing happened, a poor woman who was trying to escape with her Infant child who was about 3 months old, were hiding under a bridge. As the soldier’s went by they thought they heard an Infant cry. The commander said to a soldier “Go under the bridge and if it is a boy Kill him but if it is a girl then let it be”, It was a boy and the mother Implored “For the love of God, Leave my boy alone”, There was a cat close by and the soldier killed it and smeared the blood of the cat on his sword, when he returned he showed his Commander who was fully satisfied. Many year after this, when the lad had grown up, he owned an Inn in Appin, when a poor dishevelled wanderer came in, who had been walking the highways. After he had a dram or two, he began talking about the massacre. Well Appin is only about 18 miles from here. And he did not realise the owner had been paying attention to what he was saying, and when he heard him talk about the Massacre he said “You will not leave here tonight”
When he told him that it was he who had saved his life he became greatly beholden to him and so he was given lodgings in the Inn and could do what he liked until he passed away. Despite some folkloristic motifs present in the tale, perhaps there remains the element of truth. Even in such a dire situation as the woman had been, the soldier contrary to his direct orders shows mercy and allows the infant to survive. Such generosity of spirit is then unexpectedly repaid many years later. If there is a Moral to the story then it might be that something good came out of an event that caused revulsion to so many when it happened.
The Infamy of the massacre is not so much the numbers that were killed, but in the way that it was carried out. You see in the Highlands it was and still is in many Highland homes tradition to always have an open door policy to your fellow man, so for Campbell of Glenlyon to take the hospitality shown to them by MacIan and the families of Glencoe, and then massacre them is actually known as “Slaughter or Murder under Trust”.
The aftermath of this event reached Paris, before it was known of in Edinburgh or London. A commission was held in the Scottish Parliament that concluded that what had taken place was not “Slaughter under Trust” so it was not punishable as treason under the 1587 act. Instead they ruled it as “Murder under Trust” and Implicated Dalrymple but King William was exonerated.
The final result was that none of the perpetrators were convicted.
After all of this Colonel John Hill petitioned the government several times to allow the MacIans to re-settle Glencoe. They were given permission to return to their burned out cottages six months later. The government laid blame on several individuals named Campbell, because they literally held every government office in the Highlands at the time.
The King was acquitted of any wrongdoing and he promptly acquitted his Secretary of State Dalrymple, of any wrong doing because of the “excesses of those who carried out his Orders”.
For over 300 years Clan Campbell has been treated as if the entire clan were guilty of this despicable act. Yet ther is no justification for what happened on February 13th 1692. Nor is there any justification blaming an entire Clan for the acts of a few men who lived over 300 years ago and who acted on the Kings orders.
Anyway I would like now to bring this service to an end so
For those of you who are religious I would like to say a short prayer and for any who are not please could I ask that you take this time to think of those kin who were taken from this Glen. They may be gone but we still remember them….
Let us Pray…..
We bow our heads Eternal Father, that you are merciful to those people who were responsible for this sad event that took place here on the 13th Feb 1692, that those who are now in Tir Na Nog be truly honoured.
Eternal spirit of Truth, beauty and all that is good, grant those who are visiting this Glen today the calmness and warmth of your spirit, and let them feel the measure of Kinship and friendship with those around them and those who were aroused that fateful morn and suffered the blows of death.
We are grateful heavenly father, for the memories that this Glen and this Stone now bring us and we will take these feelings with us on our journey through life. Finally Lord please be with us as we travel from this place, and may we all travel in safety and peace to wherever we are staying and onwards in our journey throughout the World to our homes.
We say these things in the name of your son Jesus Christ…..Amen
This happens to be mu name and i wear the HENDERSON KILT not the modern tartan is too flashy is THE ANCIENT HENDERSON KILT casually with a traditional hand knitted pure wool aran cream sweater with matching pure wool hand knitted kilt hose with black thick soled leather brogue shoes . Formally a white dress shirt with a plain black wool bow tie of with a black leather sporran and belt with rampant lion of Scotland i am so proud of it
Grand presentation
Thanks Warren,