Clan MacLea - Livingstone

The Official Home of the Clan McLea (The ancient historical name of the Livingstones)

The Lady's Rock - Lismore in Alba

Rev Ian Carmichael, DSO, MC

The Lady's Rock at the southwest of Lismore is nature's lasting memorial to the unbridled savagery of this clan. At most states of the tide the Lady's Rock is visible, but at high water it is awash. In the sixteenth century a certain chief of Duart wished to get rid of his wife, who is supposed to have been a daughter of the Earl of Argyll of that time (1527).

At low tide he marooned the lady on this skerry, fully expecting that the rise of the tide would do the rest. Unfortunately for him, however, some Lismore men out fishing in the neighbourhood heard her cries. Having rescued her, they conveyed her to Dunstaffnage, from whence by easy stages she returned to her father's house.

Some days later Maclean arrived to break the sad news of the death of his daughter to the Earl. He himself appeared inconsolable at the loss of his wife until, suddenly, she was ushered in to his presence to put an end to his hypocrisy. Duart's wife lived for many a day after her escape from the Lady's Rock, but he paid for his cruelty with his life.