Clan Primary Image Gow

Scottish Clans

Gow Tartans & Clan

The Gow family are part of the Chattan Conferderation and are a sept of Clan Macpherson.

Clan Motto Touch Not the Cat Bot a Glove

Who Wears Gow 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.

  • McGowan
  • MacGowan
  • Gowan
  • Chattan
  • MacPherson

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Gow Tartans

5 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 Gow

From the start

Gow Clan Origins & History

Macpherson

Explore the history of Clan Gow

How it all started

Territories

The Gow surname is associated with Perthshire and Inverness-shire

Clan Chief

Clan Gow 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.

Where does the name Gow come from?

In Gaelic Scotland the blacksmith was known as Gobha, from which came the name Gow, and “son of the smith” was Mac gobhann, which became MacGowan.

Clan Origin Location Image Gow

Gows Folly

Built almost 300 years ago on Orkney, Gow's Folly celebrated the capture and hanging of the Pirate Gow. Also known as the Groattie House (due to the Groattie Buckie shells that decorate the roof), the Pirate's ship, The Revenge, was built from volcanic ballast stones and these were used to make Gow's Folly. It originally sat in the middle of a goods yard but today has been rescued by Kirkwall Council and moved to Tankerness House Museum where you can visit and learn the story of the notorious Pirate Gow detested and feared by generations of wagoners and hauliers.

John Gow

One notable member of the Gow family is John Gow, a Scottish Pirate. He may have had a short carrier (1724-1725) but he was immortalised by being included in the book, A General History of the Pyrates by Charles Johnson. Before 1724 John was a second mate of the Caroline, crew members were unhappy with conditions on board and eventually the crew along with Gow killed the ships captain and renamed the ship Revenge. The Revenge went on to attack British ships in the region.

Clan Motto: Touch Not the Cat Bot a Glove.


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