Clan Gunn has no links with Saint Donan
On Saint Donan / Saint Donnan. Kildonan (Caithness) and the Clan Gunn have nothing to do with him.
St Donan had no links with Kildonan in Sutherland and so has no part in Clan Gunn history.
Part One - On Kildonan (Sutherland) having nothing to do with St. Donan
I think that Kildonan in Sutherland being linked to St Donan is far-fetched.
My concerns are:
1) It is accepted that the original, 'native' names for Kildonan have nothing to do with St. Donan; in fact the original names were recorded in Roman times (see, for example, the Rev. Sage's discussion in the The Statistical Account of Scotland 1791-1799). If St. Donan had such an impact on the area would not the local names reflect this? They don't. This raises a question as to whether St Donan had any importance to the inhabitants; or whether he was even there.
2) Then one needs to consider A.O. Anderson's Early Sources of Scottish History. The monks of the 600s have detailed records and these records include St. Donan. But there are no records for him being anywhere near the east coast of Scotland, let alone at 'Kildonan'. The records detail his time on the west coast. And see http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=422 Remember we are talking 600s here; the east coast of Scotland was a world away.
So, the local - Sutherland (Celtic / Pictish / pre-Pictish) - names for Kildonan suggest nothing to do with St. Donan. The historic records suggest he did not go to the east coast so why should Kildonan have a 'link' to him?
The explanation is to be found in W.F.H. Nicolaisen's Scottish Place Names (Professor Nicolaisen was for many years the Director of the Scottish Place Names Survey at the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh). He writes
it is not always easy to sift the cill-names proper from those which in their anglicized form look identical but, when properly examined, are found to contain such elements as coille 'wood', cuil 'nook'' or the like... (page 129) ... Dubona ... black (page 177)
So we have here an expert saying don't take Anglicized versions of place names to be true especially those with a 'Kil' sound; they may not be what you think. By implication there is an alternative - Kildonan may just be an anglicised version for 'black wood' (or similar) which seems quite likely for Kildonan, even today. It certainly provides a much more likely reason for the place name of Kildonan than a link to St.Donan.
I note as well from James Hunter's Last of the Free; A History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland page 64
Columba was by no means the only cleric to play a part in bringing Christianity to the Highlands and Islands. An Irish monk called Donnan - a man whose identity is still preserved in various Uist, Skye and Wester Ross placenames - established his own monastery on Eigg in the years around 600.
Now to state the obvious - there is no mention of the Sutherland place name here and the west coast proximity of the other place names associated with Donnan is clear.
Clan Gunn links to St. Donan are non-existent. He has no relevance to Gunn history.
Part Two - Saint Donan / Saint Donnan (for those who believe in the myth that St Donan has a link with Kildonan)
Let’s start off with a couple of facts, or as near as facts as anyone can have in these early periods of history. Saint Donan died in 617 CE and the ‘Gunns’ start from the coroner inthe 1400s. Yes, the Gunns were there much earlier but we know nothing about them - so there is a major time gap between the death of Saint Donan and the start of the Gunns. As such, Saint Donan’s link to the Clan Gunn seems very marginal at best, but he is given real prominence in some Gunn history[1] texts and expensive Clan Gunn Society social events (the 1996 dinner was £44, the 2012 whole weekend celebration in London included dinner at £56 per person with one glass of wine free and the 2014 London dinner will cost £70 as part of a weekend celebration).
What did Donan do? What is known about him? Basically he was an Irish priest who introduced Christianity to some Picts. He is the patron saint of Eigg, where he was martyred on 17 April 617.[2] But this is Gunn history. So what relevance is he to the Gunns? According to tradition apparently a Saint Donan associated church may have been the burial place of Gunn Chiefs from the middle of the thirteenth century[3] until some undisclosed time. Yes, some Gunns may have gone to a church possibly associated with Saint Donan (and let’s not forget, six hundred years after his death) and they may have buried some 'Chiefs' in it. Perhaps that is all true, perhaps not. After all, even the names of the 'Chiefs' at that time are very problematic, and the surname Gunn was not in existence, and that is if there were any chiefs...
So why give him such prominence in Gunn history? One suspects the prominence is due to confusion between Gunn history and Christian propaganda (what else is linking Gunns to a random Christian Saint?) masquerading as history.
Does this celebration of a very, very minor possible religious link to the Clan Gunn really deserve so much time? No.
[1] For example, he constitutes most of the first chapter of Mark Rugg Gunn’s history.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donn%C3%A1n_of_Eigg
[3] http://www.cushnieent.force9.co.uk/CelticEra/Saints/saints_donan.htm
Part One - On Kildonan (Sutherland) having nothing to do with St. Donan
I think that Kildonan in Sutherland being linked to St Donan is far-fetched.
My concerns are:
1) It is accepted that the original, 'native' names for Kildonan have nothing to do with St. Donan; in fact the original names were recorded in Roman times (see, for example, the Rev. Sage's discussion in the The Statistical Account of Scotland 1791-1799). If St. Donan had such an impact on the area would not the local names reflect this? They don't. This raises a question as to whether St Donan had any importance to the inhabitants; or whether he was even there.
2) Then one needs to consider A.O. Anderson's Early Sources of Scottish History. The monks of the 600s have detailed records and these records include St. Donan. But there are no records for him being anywhere near the east coast of Scotland, let alone at 'Kildonan'. The records detail his time on the west coast. And see http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=422 Remember we are talking 600s here; the east coast of Scotland was a world away.
So, the local - Sutherland (Celtic / Pictish / pre-Pictish) - names for Kildonan suggest nothing to do with St. Donan. The historic records suggest he did not go to the east coast so why should Kildonan have a 'link' to him?
The explanation is to be found in W.F.H. Nicolaisen's Scottish Place Names (Professor Nicolaisen was for many years the Director of the Scottish Place Names Survey at the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh). He writes
it is not always easy to sift the cill-names proper from those which in their anglicized form look identical but, when properly examined, are found to contain such elements as coille 'wood', cuil 'nook'' or the like... (page 129) ... Dubona ... black (page 177)
So we have here an expert saying don't take Anglicized versions of place names to be true especially those with a 'Kil' sound; they may not be what you think. By implication there is an alternative - Kildonan may just be an anglicised version for 'black wood' (or similar) which seems quite likely for Kildonan, even today. It certainly provides a much more likely reason for the place name of Kildonan than a link to St.Donan.
I note as well from James Hunter's Last of the Free; A History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland page 64
Columba was by no means the only cleric to play a part in bringing Christianity to the Highlands and Islands. An Irish monk called Donnan - a man whose identity is still preserved in various Uist, Skye and Wester Ross placenames - established his own monastery on Eigg in the years around 600.
Now to state the obvious - there is no mention of the Sutherland place name here and the west coast proximity of the other place names associated with Donnan is clear.
Clan Gunn links to St. Donan are non-existent. He has no relevance to Gunn history.
Part Two - Saint Donan / Saint Donnan (for those who believe in the myth that St Donan has a link with Kildonan)
Let’s start off with a couple of facts, or as near as facts as anyone can have in these early periods of history. Saint Donan died in 617 CE and the ‘Gunns’ start from the coroner inthe 1400s. Yes, the Gunns were there much earlier but we know nothing about them - so there is a major time gap between the death of Saint Donan and the start of the Gunns. As such, Saint Donan’s link to the Clan Gunn seems very marginal at best, but he is given real prominence in some Gunn history[1] texts and expensive Clan Gunn Society social events (the 1996 dinner was £44, the 2012 whole weekend celebration in London included dinner at £56 per person with one glass of wine free and the 2014 London dinner will cost £70 as part of a weekend celebration).
What did Donan do? What is known about him? Basically he was an Irish priest who introduced Christianity to some Picts. He is the patron saint of Eigg, where he was martyred on 17 April 617.[2] But this is Gunn history. So what relevance is he to the Gunns? According to tradition apparently a Saint Donan associated church may have been the burial place of Gunn Chiefs from the middle of the thirteenth century[3] until some undisclosed time. Yes, some Gunns may have gone to a church possibly associated with Saint Donan (and let’s not forget, six hundred years after his death) and they may have buried some 'Chiefs' in it. Perhaps that is all true, perhaps not. After all, even the names of the 'Chiefs' at that time are very problematic, and the surname Gunn was not in existence, and that is if there were any chiefs...
So why give him such prominence in Gunn history? One suspects the prominence is due to confusion between Gunn history and Christian propaganda (what else is linking Gunns to a random Christian Saint?) masquerading as history.
Does this celebration of a very, very minor possible religious link to the Clan Gunn really deserve so much time? No.
[1] For example, he constitutes most of the first chapter of Mark Rugg Gunn’s history.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donn%C3%A1n_of_Eigg
[3] http://www.cushnieent.force9.co.uk/CelticEra/Saints/saints_donan.htm