Irish

County Donegal Tartans & Clan

Who Wears County Donegal 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.

Begley
Bracken
Bradley
Breslin
Broderick
Cannon
Clements
Creagh
Croke
Daugherty
Devers
Donelly
Dunlevy
Farren
Gallagher
Gilbride
Gillespie
Hayes
Kenny
Laverty
Lynch
McBride
McClean
McCloskey
McCool
McCrossan
McDavett
McFadden
McGettigan
McGinty
McGonigal
McGowan
McHugh
McLeach
McLoughlin
McMenamin
McNelis
McNulty
McRoarty
McSweeny
McTeigh
McWard
Mulvany
O'Boyle
O'Caigley
O'Clery
O'Curran
O'Doherty
O'Donnell
O'Dorrin
O'Dorrian
O'Duffy
O'Duvan
O'Kernaghan
O'Leany
O'Quinn
O'Raffery
O'Sheil
O'Sheeran
Patten
Roddy
Toner

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County Donegal Tartans

1 variations

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

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County Donegal

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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From the Start

County Donegal Clan Origins & History

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How it all started

County Donegal is Ireland's most northern county found skirting the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast. The county is rich in rugged coastline, ancient ruins and prominent mountain ranges such as the Blue Stack including heights of Lavagh More and Derryveagh. At many points in history, Donegal has been known as County Tyrconnel and was home to the once courageous Clann Dalaigh, anglicised as the O'Donnell dynasty. Until the 15th century, the clan was one of the richest and most powerful native families in Ireland and for several centuries they ruled the Gaelic kingdom of Tir Chonaill in West Ulster, which covered all of modern day County Donegal. The O'Donnell chiefly rule eventually came to an end in September 1607, newly creating County Donegal.

What's in the tartan?

The county Donegal tartan is mainly a sky blue with stipes of green, red and yellow running throughout.

Donegal Castle

Donegal Castle is found at the very heart of Donegal Town on a hidden bend in the River Eske, near the mouth of Donegal Bay. It was built in the 15th century by Hugh O' Donnell as a personal fortress and was where the O'Donnell Kings of Tir Chonaill were traditionally inaugurated. Hugh was determined his fortress would never fall into English control, but, to his dismay, an English captain became the castle's new lord in 1616 and started to undergo a programme of improvements including a manor house, a magnificent chimneypiece and his own imperious coat of arms. The building complex eventually fell into ruin during the twentieth century but was brought back to all its glory in the 1990s and is now a suit of informative panels and guided tours available allowing you to discover even more about the county's rich heritage!

The name 'Donegal' literally means fort of the foreigners and is believed to have stemmed from a Viking settlement on what is now Donegal Town.