Hugh of Sleat

Who was Hugh of Sleat?

Hugh of Sleat, pronounced "Slate", who is known as Ùisdean in Gaelic, was an illegitimate son of Alexander MacDonald, 10th Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles. He was a member of the Highland and Western Isles Clan Donald. Hugh's clan later became known as Clan Uisdean, Clan Donald North, and Clan Macdonald of Sleat, while the McDonnells of County Antrim in Northern Ireland were known as Clan Donald South.

Hugh was probably born about 1436, the year when his father married his mother, a daughter of Gillepatrick Roy, son of Rory, son of the Green Abbot of Applecross, of the O'Bealon family, former Earls of Ross. The O'Bealon family also has been known as Ross and Rose and has connections to the Leslie family through marriage.

Hugh was probably born in Dingwall Castle, just outside Inverness, Scotland, the same castle where Macbeth of Scotland, of Shakespeare fame, was born. This was long the seat of the Earls of Ross. He most likely died at Paisley Abbey, in Paisley, Scotland, in 1498, and was buried at a place called Sand, on the island of North Uist. This burial ground is now called Clachan Shannda, Clachan meaning "a small village with a church", and Shannda meaning "Sand" or "Sand Island", from the Norse.