Mature Flâneur

Scotland’s Fiercest Feud You Never Heard of: The Highland Controversy

A battle fought on the mountains of Assynt

The mountains of Assynt: The battlefield of The Highland Controversy. All photos by Tim Ward

You have heard of great Scottish battles — of Flodden, of Culloden, and of Scottish heroes of old: William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and Bonnie Prince Charlie. Add you have wept, no doubt, over the cruel betrayal and blood spilt in the long feud between Clan Campbell and Clan MacDonald. But the fiercest Scottish conflict you have never heard of — The Highland Controversy — was fought here in the mountains of Assynt in the Scottish Highlands, where I have spent the past few weeks. Nothing less was at stake than the foundations of the earth, yet not a drop of blood was shed.

Hilltop memorial on loch Assynt to the heroes, Horn and Peach

I have walked across rugged, empty hills and visited the memorials to learn the tale of what transpired on this rocky ground 150 years ago, to Inchnadamph and Knockan Crag and the wild lands in between. It was a battle — now brace yourselves — between rival factions of geologists (Brad Yonaka, I see you swoon!) that raged within the British Geological Survey for over 60 years as they struggled to explain the perplexingly jumbled layers of rock…