Clan Primary Image Mac Gillivray

Scottish Clans

MacGillivray Tartans & Clan

Clan Motto Touch Not This Cat

Who Wears MacGillivray Tartan? - Associated Names

First of all to explain why there are so many tartans, way over 2000 in fact. There are an awful lot of Scottish clans to start with and on top of this each clan can have many different tartans and names associated with it.

  • Gilray
  • Gilroy
  • Gilvray
  • MacGilroy
  • MacGilvra
  • MacGilvray
  • MacIlroy
  • MacIlvrae Milroy
  • Roy

Shop MacGillivray Tartans & Clan From Curtains to Clothing, use the filters below to navigate through everything we offer in MacGillivray Tartans

MacgillivrayTartans

3 variations

Each tartan can have multiple variations, the most common of which are Ancient, Modern, Weathered, Hunting and Dress

About tartan variations

  • Ancient
  • Modern
  • Weathered
  • Hunting
  • Dress

Ancient Tartan

Before 1860 fabrics were coloured using animal and vegetable dyes. This produced the softer colours typical of the Ancient tartans, mossy greens and sky blues, a more orangey red and some would say showing off the pattern to much greater effect as as the contrasts are much brighter than the Modern tartans. The pattern or sett remains the same across all variations of a single tartan, and only the shades or tones vary.

Helpful Advice

Post 1860 chemical dyes replaced the natural animal and vegetable dyes and the Modern Tartans were born with their stronger and bolder colours. The soft greens and blues become bottle green and navy blue, reds are scarlet.

Modern Tartan

Before 1860 fabrics were coloured using animal and vegetable dyes. This produced the softer colours typical of the Ancient tartans. Post 1860 chemical dyes replaced the natural animal and vegetable dyes and the Modern Tartans were born with their stronger and bolder colours. The soft greens and blues become bottle green and navy blue, reds are scarlet.

Helpful Advice

The Modern tartans are often the more subtle combinations such as the classic Black Watch Modern

Weathered Tartan

Before 1860 fabrics were coloured using animal and vegetable dyes. This produced the softer, more earthy colours typical of the Weathered tartans, reminiscent of bolder colours subjected to wind, rain and sunshine producing beautiful faded tones, olive greens and browns, and very light blues with reds that are more pink than red.

Helpful Advice

Some mills refer to the Weathered tartans as Muted.

Hunting Tartan

The Hunting Tartans are the camouflage tartans and some clans don't have these variations because they are already predominantly green or brown and don't need amendment to blend in with nature's colours. The Black Watch or Gunn tartans are examples of these, whereas a tartan such as the Fraser is predominantly red and would not provide much cover for men out hunting.

Helpful Advice

One thing to remember if you are ordering your tartan to match an existing kilt or accessory is that although the sett and colours are the same, there can be a slight difference in colour from one mill to the next. This is purely down to yarn dying so if you need an exact match we suggest you order a swatch to double check.

Dress Tartan

The Dress Tartans were designed as the name suggests for celebrations and highland dance. The sett or pattern of the tartan remains the same and the main colour is changed to white, or extra white is added to the pattern to give it a brighter, more "fancy" appearance. The Scots do like to bend the rules and occasionally instead of white thread, yellow is used and this is where the rather wild MacLeod Dress Modern and Barclay Dress Modern came from.

Helpful Advice

One thing to remember if you are ordering your tartan to match an existing kilt or accessory is that although the sett and colours are the same, there can be a slight difference in colour from one mill to the next. This is purely down to yarn dying so if you need an exact match we suggest you order a swatch to double check.

Clan Origin Primary Image Mac Gillivray

Dall’inizio

MacGillivray Clan Storia e Origini

Clan Origin History Image Mac Gillivray

Esplorare la storia di Clan MacGillivray

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Territories

Dunmaglas in the Monadhliath Mountains of Scotland

Clan Chief

Clan MacGillivray is an armigerous clan which means that the clan, family or name is registered with the Court of the Lord Lyon, but does not currently have a chief recognised by the Lyon Court. However in In 2016 four Clan MacGillivary Societies of Scotland, America, Australia and the Netherlands elected Iain MacGillivray as Clan Commander.

Cosa c'è nel nome MacGillivray?

The name MacGillivray comes from Mac Gillebhrath meaning servant of judgement.

Clan Origin Location Image Mac Gillivray

Dunmaglass

Dunmaglass is an estate located just outside of Inverfarigaig in Inverness and is the historic seat of Clan MacGillivray. The first known recording of Clan MacGillivray occupying Dunmaglass estate in 1549. The last Clan MacGillivray Chief to live at Dunmaglass estate was the 13th laird, Captain John William MacGillivray, who was forced to sell his estate before he died in 1914, as he did not have an heir. Although the MacGillivrays do not currently own the Dunmaglass estate it is still classified as the historic seat of their clan. The estate is currently used for shooting purposes.

Dunmaghlas

Clan MacGillivray is a Highland Scottish clan and is a member of the Chattan Confederation. The war cry of Clan MacGillivray is Dunmaghlas.

Clan Motto: Touch Not This Cat.


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