 The most powerful clans on Skye in the post – Norse period were Clan MacLeod , originally based in Trotternish , and Clan Macdonald of Sleat . Following the disintegration of the Lordship of the Isles , the Mackinnons also emerged as an independent clan , whose substantial landholdings in Skye were centred on Strathaird . Clan MacNeacail also have a long association with Trotternish , and in the 16th century many of the MacInnes clan moved to Sleat . The MacDonalds of South Uist were bitter rivals of the MacLeods , and an attempt by the former to murder church @-@ goers at Trumpan in retaliation for a previous massacre on Eigg , resulted in the Battle of the Spoiling Dyke of 1578 . 
