The Raid of Urquhart

October 1544 & April 1545

Ewen Cameron, XIII Captain and Chief of Clan Cameron, made expeditions both during October 1544 and April 1545 to Grant's lands of Glenmoriston and Glenurquhart, commonly referred to as the "Raid of Urquhart."  He was accompanied by his grandson and heir Ewen (Eoghainn Beag) the son of his eldest son Donald, who had died a few years before and of Agnes or Anne, daughter of Sir James Grant, then Laird of Urquhart.  It appears that Ewen had little feeling for his former "in-laws," though in that day and age marriages were all about clan power and inner-clan relations rather than civilities.

The "spoil" taken was a rich one.  Among the goods, cattle and horses taken from the laird's home farm were:

- Two hundred bolls of oats, with the fodder
- One hundred bolls of bere
- One hundred cows
- One hundred calves
- Forty young cows
- Ten one-year-old stirks
- Eight horses and four mares
- Four young horses
- One hundred and forty ewes
- Sixty gimmers and dinmonts
- One hundred lambs.

From Castle Urquhart, which was reportedly captured, they carried away:

- Twelve feather beds, with bolsters, blankets, and sheets
- Five pots, six pans, one basket, and one chest containing three hundred pounds in money
- Two brewing cauldrons
- Twenty pieces of artillery
- Ten stands of harness
- Several other articles named of considerable value, including doors, bedstands, chairs, forms, and three large boats.

The tenants were similarly treated, according to the value of their possessions.  Goats, kids, wedders, swine, and cloth were mentioned among the spoil taken from them.  In two cases sixty ells of linen and sixty ells of woolen cloth were carried away, in addition to the household furniture belonging to the owners.  The number of cattle and sheep, and the quantity of corn and other goods taken was very large and shows that the people of Glen Urquhart were very well-to-do in those days.