Legend of the Highland Skull
A centuries-old Highland tale of forbidden love, warfare and a legendary curse will be brought into the modern spotlight this September when true crime style investigation meets medieval mystery.
Legend of the Highland Skull
Episode 1 - The Harrods Box
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A skull in a Harrods food hall box, a 19th-century letter, and the start of a medieval love story that reshaped three Highland clans, the Grants, the MacGregors and the Comyns (later the Cummings). This is the start of a story of forensics, Scottish clans, morbid fascination, medieval life in the Scottish Highlands and an ancient curse.
In this episode, Dan Cottam, curator of Grantown Museum, explains how he came to be holding a human head, a skull sawn cleanly across the forehead and fitted with a hinge. He decides he needs to know who this person is.
Lord Reidhaven, a direct descendant of the Clan Grant chiefs, describes how he came across the skull in a Harrod’s box in his father’s home, after years in storage, and explains why he brought it to the museum. He tells Dan what he knew of the skull growing up, its legend and its curse. He reads the opening of the letter written in 1857 to the Countess of Seafield, known as the last of the great feudal chiefs, a letter which tells of the legend surrounding the skull.
Storyteller Isobella Hubbard takes us through the start of the legend, while Dan Cottam details the historical context of medieval Scottish HIghland life relating to the story.
Dan meets Cat Irving a Human Remains Conservator from the Surgeons Hall Museum Edinburgh, who examines the osteological traits of the skull. She explains her thoughts on the crude metal hinge and hook attached to the skull. Has the skull been buried at some point?
Dan’s thirst for the truth is whetted. Is this a man or woman, how did they die, how old were they, and above all how old is the skull?
If you love Highland clan history and want to find out more about historical characters in this story, such as the Countess Dowager of Seafield, sign up to Granton Museum's newsletter. Go to grantonmuseum.co.uk/legends and click the newsletter link.
Credits
Dan Cottam - Presenter and Grantown Museum curator
Jac Phillimore - Producer
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller
Cat Irving - Human Remains Conservator, Surgeons’ Hall Museum, Edinburgh
Lord Reidhaven - Descendent of the Grant clan chiefs
This project was delivered in partnership with The Space and Museums and Heritage Highland.
It is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players.
I've got a story to tell you, a tale of a skull and a legend found in a box, a mystery involving forensics, Scottish clans, morbid fascinations, and an ancient medieval curse. This is the Legend of the Highland Skull, episode one
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:Hi, I'm Dan Cottam. I run Grantown Museum, dedicated to telling the stories of Scottish life in and around Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands. It's not every day as a museum curator I'm handed a skull. Grantown was founded by the once all-powerful Grant clan. So when a living descendant of the Grant chiefs called me to say he had something he wanted to show me, I knew it would be an important meeting for the museum. What I didn't expect was that what I saw at that meeting would come to haunt so many waking hours of my life
Lord Reidhaven:The actual story of the skull had been passed down from generation to generation.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:This is Lord Reidhaven. He's directly related to the line of Clan Grant chiefs.
Lord Reidhaven:I was told that it was the chieftain of a clan. So the important thing was to be in absolutely no doubt that the authentication is correct, and it is what we claim it is. And the skull is connected to a storied legend regarding the Grants, the Comyns, and the MacGregors.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:I'd heard fragmented pieces of this legend over the years, an extraordinary tale of one head, two lovers, and three clans, a tale that forever changed the course of history amongst powerful Highland families, the Grants, the MacGregors, and the Comyns. And now here it was, the fabled skull, and with it the legend committed to paper in 1857. I knew an adventure was about to unfold. In this podcast series, I'm going to try to find out if the skull really is who the Grant family think it is, and along the way, as we hear the story of the legend, I hope to reveal what a skull and an ancient story can tell us about Scottish Highland life in medieval times. So, whether you're a lover of Scottish history, you appreciate a good yarn, or you're a descendant of the clans featured in this legend, I'll try to get some answers for you
Lord Reidhaven:We were told that it was old and it had been passed down generationally, but we never saw it, uh, bizarrely enough. It was never really talked about that much. We never really ventured or felt emboldened enough to ask to have a look at it There was a, a jinx or a curse that surrounded it, that if it left Grant tenure or, or possession, it would mean the end of the Grants in that part of Strathspey.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:When Lord Reidhaven first brought the skull to me, he transported it in an old Harrods box.
Lord Reidhaven:I moved back to Strathspey the end of 2021 after the pandemic, and it just came to me to look into the skull and its story when I moved back here. The skull was located in an old storeroom. It was actually i- in a box marked Harrods Food Halls, which is quite amusing. It was, uh, obviously a very sturdy, robust box, as you would expect from Harrods. You know, it was just kept under lock and key. We opened the box and found that it was all intact. Well, there was a letter written to the then Countess of Seafield in 1857."My dear Lady Seafield, when I had the honor of being at Castle Grant the other week, I was shown by your ladyship a skull. I have hurriedly committed to writing the story connected with it, as I have repeatedly heard it related by various persons since I was a boy, and I now take the liberty of sending it to your ladyship." The Countess
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:of Seafield lived in Castle Grant at that time, a 15th century castle which was home to the Grants for centuries and lies just north of Grantown-on-Spey. When the letter was written to her, she was married to the chief. But after his death and after the tragic death of her son not too long after, she was in charge of the huge estates, responsible for thousands of tenants, and would go on to found bridges, piers, churches, and town halls. She's referred to as the last of the great feudal chiefs. People bring many things to my museum. We've recently been given a stuffed capercaillie, a Victorian wedding dress, and a giant paper mache wild cat. But never before have I been brought a human head and a letter supposedly documenting its history. Taking it out of this Harrods box for the first time, I felt an eerie chill. This is not just an object, but what remains of a real living person, and I couldn't help but wonder what the person would look like. But then another thought took over. This skull has been sawn in half across the forehead, and there's a very old-looking broken hinge at the back that creates a lid out of the top half of the skull. There's also a great big hook sticking out from a hole in the top of the head I'm now a bit horrified, to be honest. Who would do such a thing and why? It seems utterly disrespectful, but it has raised my curiosity tenfold.
Lord Reidhaven:We decided to get the skull examined. It was just something that needed to be looked into, I felt. And to that end, I thought about bringing the Grantown Museum into the picture because they display a lot of the history of Grantown and the skull is, is definitely part of that history. And I thought it was a story that needed to be brought to some sort of conclusion. The history of the Grants and Strathspey wasn't really complete until the story of the skull really is, is laid to rest really.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:When Lord Reedhaven offered to lend it to the museum for a while, I was super excited. It's such a rare object and even rarer to have such an amazing story attached to it. I knew immediately I wanted to find out as much as I could about the skull. I also wanted to share the legend and examine the truth behind it. I just wasn't sure where to start. I was wary about putting it on display. Colleagues were unsure too. Many heritage institutions have decided to remove displays of human remains from other cultures and museums and repatriate them, and it's recognized that not everyone is comfortable viewing human remains, finding it either too gruesome or too voyeuristic. But here might be a skull of a Scottish clan chieftain. What would Scots feel about having one of their ancient ancestors on display? Would that be different? I wasn't totally sure, but I didn't want to lose sight of the fact that this skull had been a real person, so I wanted to see if I could find out who the skull really belonged to. That way, I felt we could make a much more informed decision as to the skull's next resting place.
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller:Thanks for all the context, Dan. Finally though, we get to me, the storyteller in all of this, the letter of the legend in my hand. I'm Isabella Hubbard, and I'm here to take you through this extraordinary and ancient Highland tale. Once there prevailed long, long ago, the good old law, the simple plan, that they should take who had the power, and they should keep who can. This legend begins with a forbidden love affair set in medieval Scotland, a fairly lawless place ruled by different clan powers. A young Grant lad has been serving the ruthless MacGregor clan. He's been marauding the hills and glens around Loch Awe, which lies between Glen Coe and Loch Lomond, and battling the MacGregor's sworn enemy, the neighboring Campbell clan. The lad is said to be able to look at the point of a sword without winking, and has therefore gained the respect of the MacGregor chief. But the lad has fallen hard for the chief's daughter, and she for him, and the couple fear MacGregor will never approve of the match, and so they decide to flee north, back to the Grant clan's hometown on the banks of Loch Ness in a place called Stratherrick.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:Now, a chief's daughter would not have been able to make her own choices in many aspects of her life, and she certainly would not be given any choices in whom she should marry. Marriages amongst the nobility were contracts that strengthened alliances and tied powerful families together. The MacGregor's daughter would've been, for all intent and purposes, a precious resource. The Grants were not at that time anywhere near in the MacGregor's league, so their running away together would've been seen as stealing a rare and valuable prize.
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller:Oh, following their hearts, not their heads. So romantic, so reckless. The lovers hide out for a while back with his family, swearing their love for one another. Their future is bound by the swelling of the young MacGregor girl's pregnant belly But sure enough, the MacGregor chief is furious the boy has risen above his station and boldly courted his child. He rallies his men and sets off in pursuit to track them down and to punish his runaway daughter and the Grant lad.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:The chief of the MacGregors was a fearsome man from a fearsome clan. The MacGregors saw themselves as ancient Scottish royalty, descended from Grigor, a son of the legendary King Alpin, who ruled, we think, in the ninth century. They controlled a huge chunk of the central Highlands, but around the time of this legend, they were beginning to lose their lands to the Campbells and other clans more loyal to the Crown. The MacGregors were fighting against the new bureaucratic system of the Normans, where the king at the top of the chain doled out charters that gave the land to the most loyal supporters, who in turn collected taxes and contracted mortgages to tenants. These contracts were called feus. This sophisticated hierarchical feudal system, which the Normans inherited themselves from the Viking system of designated jarls, or earls, in charge. It was at odds with the old way of he who is strongest shall rule that the MacGregors fiercely held onto.
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller:Ah, yes, the ferocious MacGregors. Their reputation amongst the clans is notorious.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:Over time, their ruthless and ferocious fighting against the system and those that were somewhat unfairly advantaged by it would see them with no lands to their name. They were eventually outlawed as brigands and thieves to such an extent that even to use the name MacGregor was punishable by death. A dreadful law was made that meant anyone could kill a MacGregor without consequence. However, at the time our story is set, you would not want to make an enemy of the still powerful chief of the MacGregors. Could our skull really be that of someone who lived in this period? Just how likely is that? And why would anyone gruesomely alter the skull, sawing it in two? We definitely need some expert help here. I've arranged with James Lord Reidhaven to take the skull for some scientific analysis, and he has had made a more suitable wooden traveling case for our skull. I took it along to Cat Irving, a human remains conservator based at the Surgeons' Hall Museum in Edinburgh, to find out what she could tell me about it.
Cat Irving - Surgeon's Hall Museum Human Remain's Curator:Okay, let's have a look at this skull. We shall open the box. Okay, so it's a beautiful box lined with velvet. We don't usually get our skulls like that. Just unpack. It's very well packed to keep it safe. Here we go. We've got the skull out of the box. I'm just gonna take a look at it. Okay, so we don't have a mandible. That's the jawbone. We just have the top part of the skull. We've only got the upper jaw and we've got two teeth. Now, it looks like, uh, the rest of the teeth have actually been lost post-mortem. So the person would have had them in life, but they've came out because there are no gums, no ligaments, uh, nerves which would normally hold the teeth in place in life. So that's not uncommon to see, uh, in a skull, especially if it's been moved a lot, if it's been in the ground. And then the top of the skull, the calvaria, has been sawn off, like you would see on a skull that's been medically prepared. And at the back It's got this little hinge, so you would've been able to flip the top of this skull open. Now, this kind of mounting would have probably been done either in the late 18th or the 19th century. That was when this kind of thing was common. So that means that this is at least Victorian. And then it's got, um, a couple of holes drilled into the top of it and some wire, as if at some point this has been hung up. You know, as if it's been suspended to display it.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:So we know it is Victorian at the very least. I've been wondering about that crude metal hook and the hinge. The Victorians certainly enjoyed collecting both the exotic and the macabre. They also had a thirst for scientific knowledge. Women took to wearing live insects as jewelry, and we know a lot of Victorians found good sport in the killing of animals. So hanging a human skeleton, or even just the skull, in one's parlor would probably not upset Victorian sensibilities. Is there anything else on first examination that Cat can tell us?
Cat Irving - Surgeon's Hall Museum Human Remain's Curator:So it has this kind of brown coloration, which it certainly looks like a skull that has been in the ground. It's got that kind of patina of having been buried and then exhumed. The sort of tannins in the soil coming out and staining the bone. And it has a sort of polished look. This is something that could have happened later. When you see bones that have been prepared medically, what, what tends to happen is they tend to have been either boiled or simmered or, uh, exposed to insects, and that tends to leave the bone looking a lot more white than we can see on this skull. Looking at the skull, you can often learn things about the individual, so the age of the person when they died, uh, about their sex. Uh, you can, uh, s- get some ideas about health and things like that. So leave it with me, and I'll come back to you
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:So a head, or perhaps an entire body, that has been buried and then exhumed. That is rather odd. But also it has the top of the skull cleanly sawn in two, like a lid. I wonder if that's because the brain has been removed or examined at some point. A ritual perhaps? Or simply an autopsy or medical research? Or was it done purely to create a hinged box from a human head? Even though I find that difficult to fathom, who knows? Though what Cat says about its color is odd. If it were white, like it had been boiled down, that's a procedure that would have been done often after dissection to prepare the skull for medical students to look at and understand the skeleton. You can see this process in William Hogarth's 1751 engraving, The Reward of Cruelty, where medical students are looking at a body being dissected while someone else's bones are being boiled down to the left. No, this skull has definitely been in the ground. So maybe it's not a medical specimen from recent centuries. Does this detail of it having been buried at some point fit with the Clan Grant legend? And whose skull is it meant to be? Hopefully we can find out a bit more. Let's return to the story.
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller:You left me twiddling my thumbs for so long there. So the lovers have fled to join the Grant lads kin. They hear word that the chief of the MacGregors and his men are trying to track them down and hastily up sticks. Heading east and taking some of Grant's kinsmen with them for more protection, they finally find shelter in Strathspey.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:Strathspey is my homeland. We are now in the landscape I know so well. It's written that the couple camp at Huntly's Cave. Today it is a place loved by rock climbers, but for the lovers in this story, it is too small and inhospitable for sheltering a pregnant woman and so many men long term. They soon move to a place called Clashindoonan and set up a much more permanent encampment. Presumably, they have come across the old ruined Pictish fort, which stands next to a steeply wooded ravine not far from where Castle Grant stands today. It would have been fairly easy to rebuild the timber palisade. It's now marked on maps as Grant's Fort. If you visit this beautiful place, you'll see all that remains of this fort is stones heaped up, a bit like the bottom of a small Egyptian pyramid. These stones are now all overgrown with moss and grass, but they would have once supported timber fencing to enclose the structure, and the fort's position at the bottom of a very steep ravine would have been ideal for defending the settlement and its people from ambush.
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller:The couple and their party establish themselves comfortably at Clashindoonan, safe for now, and not long after, the first Grant of Strathspey is born. Clashindoonan stands only a few miles from a stronghold belonging to the Comyns, one of the most powerful clans in Scotland. Their chieftain would like to see them off his land. The Grant party have managed to hold Clashindoonan so far though, and it's certainly not their biggest problem. News travels that the MacGregor chief has discovered their location The couple are vulnerable. Their son and heir just born, and the MacGregor chief a vengeful man. How will their 30 men stand up to the MacGregor chief's fierce pride and band of ruthless clansmen?
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:In medieval times, battles were fought with sword, spear, arrow, and axe, and warfare was incredibly risky. You were just as likely to die from sepsis from a small wound as to a blow to the head or fatal slash of a sword. And you needed more than just decent weaponry and brawn. Tactics were crucial, things like the element of surprise and the ability to understand terrain. There's so much at stake for the lovers in this story.
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller:Yes, and the ruthless MacGregor chief and his men are on their way. The Grant lad knows well the chief's temperament and a thirst for violence, seen over the many battles they have fought together against the Campbells. What chance is there that the girl's father will take pity and accept a son-in-law he thinks is beneath the family name and status?
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:So the lovers await the MacGregor chief, and along with updates on the skull, we'll hear more of how that dreaded meeting transpires in the next episode. Finally, my mission to discover more about the Highland Skull is underway, and I'm desperate to find out more. We already know a little, that the skull is at least 150 to 200 years old, and that it looks like it has been hung up on display at some time in history. But there is so much more I want to find out. Is it a man or a woman? How did this person die? And how old were they at the time? But most of all, how old is the skull? What era did they live through?
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller:We'll get there, Dan. Patience. You've been listening to episode one of the Legend of the Highland Skull. Coming up in the next episode.
Dan Cottam - Grantown Museum Curator:It was a dog-eat-dog kind of world. I wouldn't be surprised if this skull turns out to be any of the characters in this legend. There's so much jeopardy and conflict at every turn in this story.
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller:And we'll find out some more clues about the head.
Cat Irving - Surgeon's Hall Museum Human Remain's Curator:If we look at those sutures that hold the skull bones together, we can get a bit more precision on how old they are.
Isobella Hubbard - Storyteller:If you love Highland clan history and want to find out more about historical characters in this story, such as the Countess Dowager of Seafield, sign up to Granton Museum's newsletter. Go to grantonmuseum.co.uk/legends and click the newsletter link. This podcast is produced for Granton Museum by Jack Phillimore. It's presented by the museum's curator, Dan Cotton, and the legend is read by me, Isabella Hubbard. The project was delivered in partnership with the Space and Museums and Heritage Highland. It is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players, and you can find out about other heritage work supported by the lottery at heritagefund.org.uk