Clan Primary Image Mac Inttyre

Scottish Clans

MacIntyre Tartans & Clan

MacIntyres participated in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Jacobite rising of 1745–46 but they did not operate as an independent body. The clan served as foresters to the Lords of Lorne and as pipers to the chiefs of Clan Menzies and the MacDonalds of Clanranald.

Clan Motto Per Ardua (Through Adversity)

Who Wears MacIntyre 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.

  • MacCosham
  • MacIntire
  • MacKintyre
  • MacTear
  • MacTier
  • MacTire
  • Tyre
  • Wright

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

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 Intyre

From the start

MacIntyre Clan Origins & History

Clan Origin History Image Mac Intyre

Explore the history of Clan MacIntyre

How it all started

Territories

Argyll

Clan Chief

The current chief is Donald R. MacIntyre of Glenoe

Where does the name MacIntyre come from?

The name MacIntyre means son of the carpenter There is a story that the Clan became known through this name because the progenitor of the Clan, a chap named Maurice, drilled holes in Olav the Red's boat. When Olav set sail, the boat began to sink and the carpenter leapt to Olav's aide and plugged the holes in exchange for his daughter's hand in marriage.

Clan Origin Location Image Mac Intyre

Glen Noe

Clan MacIntyre's original home was in the hebrides, but they moved to the Glen Noe (the time at which this happened is unknown) and so Glen Noe is the historic seat of Clan MacIntyre. Most of the history of Clan MacIntyre is unknown as the book that held the historic records has been lost for some time now, therefore the tales of the Clan are steeped in Myth and Magic. One story is of how they came to settle in Glen Noe: when they were travelling from the Hebrides a spirit told the Clan that they would settle wherever the first white cow laid to rest and that is how they settled in Glen Noe. The Clan stayed here for many centuries, but in 1806 the Clan Chief and his family were forced to leave Glen Noe and emigrate to the US as they owed Clan Campbell a lot of money and were unable to make the payments.

Cruachen!

Clan MacIntyre's war cry is Cruachan!

Clan Motto: Per Ardua (Through Adversity)


Explore More...