Clan Primary Image Oliphant

Scottish Clans

Oliphant Tartans & Clan

The Oliphants were a Norman family who first held lands in England around Northampton. David de Olifard is commonly held to be the progenitor of House of Oliphant and in the 12th century he was granted lands in Roxburghshire by the Earl of Huntingdon, later to become David I of Scotland.
Clan Motto A tout pouvoir (Provide for all)

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OliphantTartans

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 Oliphant

From the start

Oliphant Clan Origins & History

Clan Origin History Image Oliphant

Explore the history

How it all started

Territories

The Lords Oliphant at their most wealthy era owned lands in 7 counties with a minimum of three estates in each county. In some areas they owned considerably more land, such as Perthshire and of course Caithness where they owned about a quarter of the entire county.

Clan Chief

The curretnt chief is Richard Oliphant of that Ilk

What's in the name?

Early forms of the name Oliphant are Olifard and Oliphard, they are believed to allude to an olive branch.

Clan Origin Location Image Oliphant

Dupplin Castle

Dupplin Castle is located just outside of Perth and is the historic seat of Clan Oliphant. The earliest known recorded owner of the castle and the lands was Sir William Oliphant during the 13th Century, however the castle may well have been built before this. The castle was destroyed in 1461, but it was re-built shortly after this. The Oliphant family finally sold the Castle to the Hay family in 1623. Once the Hay family owned the castle they re-built much of the structure, however they did encorporate many aspects of the original castle. The castle was destroyed another two times by fire once in 1827 and then again in the 1920s, it was re-built both times and now stands as a country house rather than a castle.

Hatton Castle

Hatton Castle in Angus was built in 1575 by the 4th Lord Oliphant to replace nearby Balcraig Castle. Restored by Roderick Oliphant in the 1980s the Castle then sadly had to be sold due to taxes.

Clan Motto: A tout pouvoir (Provide for all)


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