Lochaber Axe - in History

In History

In about 1570, during the Battle of Bun Garbhain between Clan Cameron and Clan Mackintosh, the Lochaber axe was used by the Camerons. Donald 'Black Taylor of the Axe', son of the 14th chief of Clan Cameron, became notable for his fighting prowess with the axe and became a hero for felling the chief of Clan Mackintosh with it.

Before the Jacobite Rising of 1745 or, simply, "the '45," Lochaber axes were relegated to the Scottish constabulary, and were somewhat viewed as the police baton of the day. In 1745, Prince Charles Stewart raised an army of Scots to oust the Hanoverian King George from the Throne of England and place his father, James VIII of Scotland, on the throne. Many of the Prince's army equipped themselves with Lochaber axes, until such a time they could discard the axes for captured muskets and bayonets or arms supplied by the French.

By around 1767, the Lochaber axe was used mainly as a ceremonial weapon by the town guard of Edinburgh, Scotland.