The far north of Scotland is extremely rich in prehistoric remains. On the threshold of the historical periods stand the mysterious brochs of the proto-Picts and the superb stone sculpture of the Picts themselves.
When the Picts were overrun by the Gaelic Scots of Dalriada in the south and by Vikings from the north, the survivors took refuge in the inaccessible hinterlands behind the areas in which such substantial evidence of their presence remains. It is here, in the heights of the Caithness-Sutherland border, that Clan Gunn is to be found. For centuries their name has been offered a variety of Norse pedigrees. The earliest literature of the area is a Norse saga of the Orkney earls, and one theory is that the Gunns descend from Gunni of the saga. Another is that the name derives from Gunnr meaning war.
Throughout the Middle Ages the territories of the Gunns became more and more heavily indented by their neighbours in the west, north and south. By the mid-15th century the chief had acquired the Gaelic patronymic Mac Seumais Cataich (son of James of Caithness). George Gunn held the office of Crowner, lived in style in his castle at Clyth until he was killed by treachery in 1464 trying to reconcile with the Clan Keith.
The Gunns suffered severely in the Highland clearances of the early 19th century. In 1821 the 10th Mac Seumais presided over the formation of the Clan Gunn society, but he was the last officially recognised Chief of this clan, and one of the most aboriginal tribes in Scotland had been swept from fastnesses at last. Many of the Gunns moved down to the coast, and took to fishing. Others emigrated to New Zealand and Canada.
Novelist Neil Gunn (1891-1973) was the son of a skipper who generally engaged his crews from the west, and was a Gaelic-speaker himself. One critic states, "Modern Scottish fiction reaches its highest peak in the novels of Neil M. Gunn." There is a Clan Gunn museum north of Latherton, not far from Helmsdale.