Coire Gabhail by members of Clan Macdonald to hide cattle and other livestock, whether their own or stolen from others. Like other clans in the area, cattle were the mainstay of their economy, both herding and raiding: young men boastfully sang of getting cows from the Mearns. The wide flat glen is well suited for this purpose since from Glen Coe it appears to be a normal v-shaped glen approached only by a steep narrow gorge. The Macdonalds commonly had feuds with Clan Campbell. This culminated tragically in the 1692 massacre of Glencoe when Campbell soldiers turned on Macdonald clansfolk who fled
Clan Stirling when Prince James, son of James II of Scotland rebelled against his father and Sir William Stirling of Keir was one of his supporters. Sir William Stirling's descendant, Sir Arhibald Stirling of Keir was a prominent lawyer who supported the king during the Scottish Civil War and on the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The Stirling of Garden branch of the clan descend from this Sir Archibald Stirling. He was also appointed to the Supreme Court with the title Lord Garden. His third son, James Stirling (1692 – 1770), was a prominent mathematician. During both the Jacobite rising of