Mackie

This family were powerful and prominent in Galloway in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The name is in its derivation similar to Mackay, and the Mackies may be descendants of sons of Aoidh (a descendant of the royal Celto–Pictish house of Moray) who made their way to Galloway and Wigtownshire via Kintyre. The arms of the principal family Mackie of Larg give rise to one of the many legends of family origins based upon feats of martial skill. The story is told that Mackie of Larg was in the company of Robert II and was making much of his prowess as an archer. The king, wearying of this, pointed to two ravens on a distant tree and invited Mackie to demonstrate his skill. Mackie, no doubt much to the king’s chagrin, skewered the ravens with a single arrow. He was thereafter granted the right to bear on his shield the two ravens pierced by an arrow through their neck, together with a lion, alluding to the royal witness to this feat. Sir Patrick Mackie of Larg was one of the original fifty Scottish undertakers of the plantation of Ulster at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He was clearly not an enthusiastic participant, as John, Earl of Annandale, eventually took over some one thousand acres near Donegal that was in the original portion of Sir Patrick. The family also acquired the lands of Bargaly in Kirkcudbrightshire and Auchencairn by Castle Douglas. The family prospered, and Lieutenant Colonel John Mackie of Bargaly served with distinction in the Boer War. There are still Mackies in Kirkcudbright today.