Faery Bagpipes
West Highland Museum

The Faery bagpipes of Kinlochmoidart are believed to be more than eight hundred years old, one of the oldest sets of pipes in existence.    

Legend holds that the MacIntyre piper made the pipes after he had a dream in which a faery told him to heat his poker to be white hot and use it to pierce the bottom of his chanter, side to side. According to the faery, the pipes would make the sweetest sound in Scotland.   

The pipes were said to have been played at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 by MacIntyre, Clanranald’s piper. Supposedly enchanted, they were never played by the losing side of a battle.   

Of the original instrument, only the chanter now survives; the blow-pipe, drone, and tartan bag date from a later period. An engraved silver plate has also been added to the drone to commemorate the pipes’ importance.