Clan Kerr and The Legend of The Spiral Staircase
lan_kerr_staircase_export-468×248.png” alt=”The left-handed Clan Kerr and spiral staircases” width=”468″ height=”248″ />
Spiral staircases were a clever defence in medieval castles. They were almost always built with the spiral in the same direction (clockwise, when looking up from the bottom) so that the defending swordsman, who would either be coming down the stairs or backing up in reverse, could freely swing his sword. Conversely, the attacking swordsman (ascending the stairs) would have his swing blocked by the wall.
This, of course, assumed that both attacker an defender were right-handed, which most were.
Left-handed swordsman, though rare, had the advantage of surprise when attacking out-in-the-open – they had fought (and trained against) more right-handed opponents than their adversary had fought left-handed opponents. Their attack when
ascending standard spiral staircases was also not blocked by the wall.
The warlike Clan Kerr trained to use their weapons with their left hands. Scottish Poet James Hogg (1770-1835) wrote, in The Raid of the Kerrs:
But the Kerrs were aye the deadliest foes
That e’er to Englishmen were known
For they were all bred left handed men
And fence [defence] against them there was none
and Walter Laidlaw wrote, in The Reprisal:
So well the Kerrs their left-hands ply
The dead and dying round them lie
Legend has it that, to allow them to more easily defend Ferniehirst Castle – seat of the Clan Kerr – the staircase was built spiralling in the other direction (see illustration above, with left-handed Kerr shown with ginger hair).
Is this true? Certainly, the castle does feature a reverse spiral staircase, but a 1993 study found no increased incidence of left-handedness in Kerrs.
Personally, I don’t Kerr whether it’s true or not – it’s a great story.
Hi Dan
I am the Curator at Ferniehirst, yes its true, Dand Kerr 1480 – 1545 was a great warrior, he was left handed and recognised the advantage of left handedness in battle and of course as you have described in defence of a corkscrew staircase. Also bear in mind that the Kerrs were a great riding clan and often fought as mercaneries in Ireland and on the continent. Dand Kerr taught his servants, fighting men and indeed his sons to fight left handed, the price for a left handed warrior was more than twice that of his right handed counterpart. The Kerr family installed left handed staircases in all their towers and fortified houses, the left handed staircase at Ferniehirst was rediscovered in 1851. The modern stair ascending the tower today is Georgian and not a spiral until the second floor is reached.
Wow, thank you so much for the information Bob! What an amazing history.
Survey conducted when children forced to be right handed. baby oomers in the uk represent a distorted sample and were generally forced to write with the wrong hand. Furthermore, left handers had a greater mortality in WW1 and WWII due to handed bias. try a 303 bolt action or a sten as a lefty. the result is a significant right handed bias in surveys thereafter. The survey actually found an increased incidence. my kerr uncles ad aunts, siblings and my children are all left handed. good story – reprisal and the age of ferniehurst sugest a long history. Laidlaw to now is over 400 years. Thanks also bob
My father was left handed and we traced our ancestry all the way back to the lowland Kerr’s of Scotland.
My family came to America during the early 1600’s. John Carr, son of Thomas Carr, who was the brother of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, fled Scotland during Cromwell’s reign and was given land south of the Jamestown settlement in what is now Portsmouth,VA. His offspring and my g,g,g,g,grandfather Nathan Carr owned huge farms around Portsmouth/Nansemond County and became postmaster of Isle of Wight County, VA and Carrsville, VA was named after Nathan.
My great grandfather Archibald A Carr moved to Wash DC in 1900 from Isle of Wight Co. VA and we became the Northeast DC Carr’s….
James Philip Carr Jr
Silver Spring, MD USA
My mother’s family (hence my given name) are the Kerrs and we never been able to identify a single lefty
My three children are left handed as are all my brothers and a sister? My father and all his siblings are also left handed. One of his nephews writes with his wrong hand (right) however the Kerr handedness is strong with us. One third of the original ship (Fifeshire) to my home city in New Zealand (Nelson) were Kerrs from Lothian, Scotland.