page_title: MacCrimmon (piping family)
hierarchical_section_title: MacCrimmon (piping family)
caption_attribution_description: "Mac Cruimin". A plate illustrated by R. R. McIan, from James Logan's The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, published in 1845.
context_page_description: The MacCrimmons were a Scottish family, pipers to the chiefs of Clan MacLeod for an unknown number of generations. The MacCrimmon kindred was centred at Borreraig near the Clan MacLeod seat at Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. At Borreraig the MacCrimmons taught at one of the best known "piping colleges" in the Highlands of Scotland.
  Over time many pieces of Pìobaireachd have been attributed to the MacCrimmons by popular tradition, yet the actual authorship of these cannot be verified. Popular lore has made the MacCrimmon pipers one of the most famous families of hereditary pipers along with the MacArthur, MacGregor, Rankins. The term hereditary is not a native Gaelic term, though in popular lore it has been used to imply an above average skill or special status. In the Scottish Highlands, and in Europe as a whole, until the Industrial Revolution most positions were inherited, "from the chief down to the humblest cotter".
  Since 1967, the MacCrimmon Memorial Piobaireachd Competition has taken place every year at Dunvegan Castle where players complete to win the 'silver chanter'. Competitors only play tunes attributed to the legendary MacCrimmon family.
context_section_description: The MacCrimmons (Gaelic: MacCruimein) were a Scottish family, pipers to the chiefs of Clan MacLeod for an unknown number of generations. The MacCrimmon kindred was centred at Borreraig near the Clan MacLeod seat at Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. At Borreraig the MacCrimmons taught at one of the best known "piping colleges" in the Highlands of Scotland.
  Over time many pieces of Pìobaireachd (also known as Ceòl Mòr: "Big music") have been attributed to the MacCrimmons by popular tradition, yet the actual authorship of these cannot be verified. Popular lore has made the MacCrimmon pipers one of the most famous families of hereditary pipers along with the MacArthur (pipers to MacDonald of Sleat), MacGregor (pipers to Campbell of Glenlyon), Rankins (pipers to the MacLeans of Coll, Duart and Mull). The term hereditary is not a native Gaelic term, though in popular lore it has been used to imply an above average skill or special status. In the Scottish Highlands, and in Europe as a whole, until the Industrial Revolution most positions were inherited, "from the chief down to the humblest cotter".
  Since 1967, the MacCrimmon Memorial Piobaireachd Competition has taken place every year at Dunvegan Castle where players complete to win the 'silver chanter'. Competitors only play tunes attributed to the legendary MacCrimmon family.
  The origins of the MacCrimmons is debatable; even the genealogy of the pipers themselves is the subject of debate and speculation. In the 20th century the chiefs of Clan Macleod instated two MacCrimmons as hereditary pipers to the clan.
caption: "Mac Cruimin" a romanticised Victorian era depiction of a MacCrimmon piper to MacLeod of MacLeod, illustrated by R. R. McIan, from The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, published in 1845.
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