Left Handed Clan Kerr and The Reverse Spiral Staircase
Diagram of the Clan Kerr staircase
The use of spiral staircases in medieval castles served as clever defence systems. 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.
Category: Kerr
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I hail from Kerr’s who settled land in Upper Canada shortly after the War 1812-1815. {Soldiers were apparently offered a trip back to their mean little crofts in Scotland or Northern Ireland or 160 acres of free land in Canada – albeit mostly trees)
I can recall my grandfather in the 1950′s with wonderfully mishappen left hand where his teachers had broken his knuckles trying to force him to write with his ‘right’ hand way back in the late 1800′s.
My father was spared that indignity, but I wonder how he made it as far as uni (to be an engineer of course) whilst coping with a steel pen and an inkwell. To his dying day, he wielded even a ball point in a semi circle of his left arm to avoid smearing ink. His 3 brothers were all left handed too.
In primary school, I also endured about 2 years of ink blots but then a modern fountain pen with fast drying ink cartridges hit the market (Schaefer if I recall correctly) and dad brought one home. (Ma protested the cost but lost that contest)
So is my son, but not my sister. So there you have it. Four generations of leftie Kerrs + 3 similar uncles!
But maybe not in the female line….Now I know about the poverty of genetic material on the Y chromosome but there could still be something missing here.
There are 2 contradictory studies of left handedness in Kerrs, but I wonder if they include details of gender, order of birth, etc (Just for fun, she might hsve cheated about the middle but settled for a Kerr for #3 and last)
What happened to the Davidson clan? I know they almost got wiped out 200-300 years ago, but some are still around!
Hello! My name is Kitty and I live in Melbourne Australia.
My husband Russell Kerr, (3rd generation Aussie), just so happens to be left handed as was his late brother and father before him. I cannot verify any further back than that though. Funnily enough, I have red hair although it is a little more grey these days!
best wishes
KK
Strange, I have been intrigued about this for a while, my mother’s family in Ontario Canada, at a Christmas dinner some years ago of the 17 people sitting at the table 11 of them were left handed. I myself am left handed although neither of my girls are although my grandchildren both golf left handed. I wonder……………..