In the year 1646 Clan Lamont fell victim to a massacre by Clan Campbell on their own territory on the Cowal Penninsula, near the ancient seat of Dunoon; both of their castles - Toward and Ascog, fell after being under siege, on June 3, 1646. Three dozen special gentlemen, so called because they were leaders of the Clan, heads of family groups, were hanged in a tree in the churchyard. Numbers from 200 up to 350 have been estimated for the number of Lamont men who died in the massacre. Uncounted women and children also died.

Those who were able to escape, sought refuge where they could find it. Many hundreds of Lamonts fled to Ireland, changed their names and took up new lives. Some of these survivors carried the memory and the change it brought to their lives down through the centuries to today's descendants in the stories that they told. This page is dedicated to the memory of those members of our family who did not survive the massacre, and to those who kept the memory of it alive and passed it to us. The bits of the memory passed down to us are the clues that enabled us to learn of our Lamont heritage.

"For that is the mark of the Scots of all classes: that he stands in an attitude towards the past unthinkable to Englishmen, and remembers and cherishes the memory of his forebears, good or bad; and there burns alive in him a sense of identity with the dead even to the twentieth generation."

                                                                                        - Robert Louis Stevenson, Weir of Hermiston, 1894.

On the Lamont Memorial in Dunoon is the following inscription and a list of some of those who died:

During the civil wars of the seventeenth century the Lamonts espoused the Royalist cause thereby incurring the hostility of neighboring clans who laid siege to the castles of Toward and Ascog. Sir James Lamont of that Ilk was forced to surrender at Toward on 3rd June, 1646. When in violation of Articles of Capitulation and Indemnity signed by the besiegers, over two hundred of the Lamonts were bound, carried in boats to Dunoon, and there murdered. Among those who thus perished were:

1) Neill Macpatrick or Lamont
2) Archibald Lamont, son to Baron Macpatrick of Cowstoune
3) Robert, Duncan and Hugh Lamont, his brothers
4) Duncan Ger, Lamont in Kilmarnock
5) Gocie and John Lamont, his sons
6) Ewen Lamont in Midtowart
7) Gilbert Lamont and Duncan Lamont
8) John Archibald and Donald Mackquein or Lamont brothers
9) Duncan and John, sons of Walter Lamont, brother to the Laird of Ascog
10) Hugh Lamont in Corro of the Carrie
11) Robert, Duncan, Angus, Donald and Walter Lamont, all in the Carrie
12) Duncan Lamont called Mackwalter there
13) Alexander Lamont in Ardyne of Nethercowall
14) John Jamison, Provost of Rothesay
15) William Lamont
16) John Mackquein (younger) or Lamont
17) Patrick Bolgle, son of the Minister at Rothesay
18) Dougall Harper or Mackalaster, servant to Sir John Lamont
19) John Lamont, son to Gilbert Lamont of Knockdow
20) Gilbert Mackley in Glendarowal
21) James Lamont in Ardyne
22) Donald Lamont
23) James Mackquein or Lamont in Nethercowall
24) James Lamont, his son
25) John Mackpatirck or Lamont in Ardyne
26) John Lamont in Auchnishelloch

The Ruins of Castle Toward...

This is part of the ruins of Castle Toward taken the year 2000 and copyright by 

Phil White. Used by permission.

How dear the cost in the lives that were lost
In the massacre at Dunoon.
For a treaty was spoke, and a truce was broke,
And a tree grew red from Lamont blood shed,
Now the sod grows green o'er their tomb.

The covetous eyes of Lord Argyle fell on the land of Lamont at Toward.
In the name of God they laid to waste with fire and salt and sword.
Cruelly they murdered the lasses and bairns, and left them for beasts of the field,
And tenscore true men were fettered and bound, with no chance to use claymore or shield.

(chorus)
With Sir James as their captive, the Campbell's rode forth the castle at Ascog to take.
On an oath of safe conduct the gates were flung wide, the life of their lord was at stake.
Oh, the terror, the treason, the savage betrayal, the lives that were lost on that day,
As the castle was leveled, the clansmen were bound and in boats they were taken away.

The Campbells took all to the shores of Dunoon, those Lamonts who dared to survive.
Three dozen they hanged on an old oaken tree, while others they buried alive.
The remnants, still fettered, were slain where they knelt, with dagger, with dirk and with skean.
The bodies they left for the birds and the beasts, but the horror will always remain.

Now some say that the hanging tree withered and died, and a miracle henceforth ensued.
The roots of that tree were said to run red, the result of that dreadful feud.
The Campbells in panic did hack out its roots in an effort to cover the deed,
But the earth still was stained with the blood of Lamont - 'twas the price of Lord Argyle's greed.

This CD can be ordered from rdighton@elkgrove.net.

Return to HOME PAGE. This page updated on February 24, 2004.

This site is maintained by Sharon Young Jebavy. To communicate about this site send an email to ShaLamont@wideopenwest.com.