Clan MacDonald - Isle of Jura - Photo Print

Jura is one of the wildest of the Inner Hebrides, an island off Scotland’s west coast where the MacDonalds held power for centuries as part of their Lordship of the Isles, the formidable sea-based kingdom that controlled much of the western seaboard from its seat at Finlaggan on nearby Islay. Just off Jura’s northern shore lies Am Fraoch Eilean, the Heather Isle, where Claig Castle once served as a MacDonald stronghold to control passing vessels and levy tolls on the sea routes between the islands. That small island gave the MacDonalds one of their clan slogans, “Fraoch Eilean”, a reminder of how completely they once commanded this stretch of the Hebrides.

If you carry the MacDonald name, the sea lanes and islands between Islay and Jura were part of the world your ancestors built and defended. Photographer Aly Wight captured this corner of the MacDonald homeland for the Clanscape collection.