MACCORQUODALE,
otherwise Mac Torquil (the son of Torquil), Mac Corkle, or
Corkindale, the surname of a Highland sept, the founder of which
was Torquil, a prince of Denmark, who is traditionally stated to
have been in the army of Kenneth the Great, on his coming over from
Ireland to the assistance of Alpin, king of the Scots, against the
Picts. Previous to Kenneth’s arrival, King Alpin, in a battle with
the Pictish king, was killed, and his head fixed on an iron spike in
the midst of the Pictish city, situated where the Carron ironworks
now stand. King Kenneth offered to any one in his army who would
pass the Pictish sentinels and remove the head, a grant of all the
lands on Loch Awe side. Torquil, the Dane, undertook the hazardous
enterprize, and brought the head to the king, for which act of
bravery he was rewarded by a charter of the lands promised. This
charter was for a long time preserved in the family, though the
greater part of the lands had passed to other hands. shortly before
the Revolution it was lent to Sir Alexander Muir Mackenzie, for his
inspection, and was lost. At least it disappeared from that time.
The name which is, in some places of the Highlands, still called Mac
Torquil, is perhaps one of the most ancient in the county of Argyle.
Donald MacCorquodale of Kinna-Drochag, on Loch Awe side, who died
towards the end of the 18th century, was the lineal
descendant of Torquil and the chief of the clan. His grandson and
representative, John MacCorquodale, at one period resided at Row,
Dumbartonshire.
