We can trace a boar’s head being associated with the Chisolm/Chisholms back to at least 1296, when Richard de Chesehelme of Roxburghshire used a boar...
Clan Chattan takes its name from Gilchattan Mor, the great servant of Saint Cattan, or Cathan. Saint Cathan was the son of the Dál Riatan King Áedán ...
We were kindly contacted by Antony Cummins, who has made some very interesting videos of his tartan projects. Be sure to check out the rest of his cha...
Something of a pun here, albeit a slightly sinister one. The name Charteris is assumed to refer to Chartres in France and the family’s origins there....
The Chalmers crest is a lion with the motto ‘avance’, French for ‘advance’. On the surface this is pretty standard stuff, a lion being a famous symbo...
As discussed with the Arnot crest, the crescent is one of the older heraldic symbols, very popular among knightly circles, sometimes as a reference t...
Carnegie. Here’s a more unusual crest, a winged thunderbolt. In Ancient Greece the eagle and thunderbolt were symbols of Zeus, and this continued wit...
Here we have a broken lance raised triumphantly. This is a reference to the Battle of Baugé on 22 March 1421, during the Hundred Years War, when a Sc...
Unlike the Campbells of Inveraray and the Campbells of Breadalbane who use a boar’s head as a crest, the Campbells of Cawdor (and Campbells of Airds)...
Our Autumn 2020 range of kilt pins, just in time for Hallowe’en, celebrates the wonderful and unique Scottish art found on seventeenth century tombs. ...
CAMBPELL Here we have a boar’s head and the Latin motto ‘Ne Obliviscaris’, meaning ‘don’t forget’. There are two stories behind this crest. The boar ...
This crest was adopted in the 1740s by Donald Cameron of Lochiel, known to history as ‘Gentle Lochiel’, replacing an older crest of an arm holding a ...
From an armorial panel on Crathes Castle, this crest seems to have been in use since the early 1600s at least. A very interesting story here. This em...
BUCHANAN Here we have a hand holding a ducal cap topped with a rose, between two laurel branches. The earliest reference to this design comes in 1657...
This is the crest of the Buchan Lairds of Auchmacoy. Here we have a sunflower looking towards and enjoying the sun. The sunflower is a surprisingly ...
The term ‘Celtic’ is best thought of as a language and artistic group, which spread across northern Europe in ancient times, and now primarily represe...
Bruce: a fairly straightforward crest here. A proud lion has obvious connotations to Scottish royalty. The Latin motto ‘Fuimus’, meaning ‘we have bee...
The Brodies are one of the most enduring laridly families of Scotland. Here we have a bunch of arrows being held by a hand. There’s usually three arr...
Here we have a double headed eagle ‘parted’ with a wiggly line. Not to imply some sort of Frankenstein’s bird, or bad taxidermy, the double-headed ea...
The Lordship of the Isles - Part 3 Somerled’s death at the battle of Renfrew to the forces of the Bishop of Glasgow in 1164 essentially ended the kin...
The South West Boyds today. Here we have a comple Latin motto, ‘confido’, meaning I trust. The crest is a right hand with two fingers and the thumb r...
The Borthwick Crest consists of a Moor’s head in profile and the Latin motto ‘Qui Conducit’, both being recorded by 1675. The head is a reference to ...
Bethune today, usually better known as Beaton. The crest is of an Otter’s head, presumably a reference to the wildlife on the family lands in Fife, o...
So we learnt in part 1 that the old kingdom of Dal Riata was supplanted by incoming Vikings after 849AD. Raids on the Isles had started from 793, and ...
Today we have a reiving family, whose name is thought to derive from a French word for fair or handsome. Not much to explore with the crest: a dagger...
A surprisingly aggressive crest for a family famous for its Quakers. Here we have a hand holding a dagger emerging from a cap of maintenance. The dag...
Unsurprisingly, this family were the bearers of the royal standard in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Here we have a knight in armour holding a swo...
The Lordship of the Isles – Part 1 The Western Isles have always been a distinct part of Scotland. Where the sea dominates communications, the culture...
Another griffin, although this one’s tooled up with a little sword. Aside from being really cool, this will be a representation of the chief holding ...
A gryphon’s head. The griffon had the body, tail and legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle… so we just have the eagle bit here, but take...
The first of many severed boars’ heads, perhaps the single most popular symbol in Scottish heraldry. A major cluster of boar-head heraldry could be f...
A surname from the place in Kinross-shire. The crest is an upturned crescent. In modern Scottish heraldry this symbol is often used as a mark to indi...
Not much subtlety here. A strong arm, or Arm-Strong if you will. The ‘Invictus Maneo’ literally translates as ‘I remain unvanquished’, but there’s so...
In Scotland, the chief of a clan/kindred will have their own coat of arms, consisting of the shield, supporters, crest and so on. Followers of that ch...
Named after the lands in the Mearns, this is the first crest whose motto is a command rather than a brag: the Latin ‘Laus Deo’ meaning ‘Praise God’. ...
Above you can see a machine-stitched kilt on the left, and a completely hand-stitched kilt on the right. What’s the difference? Both have their own a...
The restrained beep blue tartan of the Earl of St Andrews has a similar story to that of Royal Stewart: initially a restricted personal tartan for ro...
Another surname from a placename in Fife. A good story behind this crest, with some less fun Latin grammar. Two armoured arms bringing down a pole-ax...
The sons of the unknown Andrew. The arms of Anderson of Sterheuch, the leading line, are well recorded from at least 1563 in the Forman Manuscript, b...
This surname comes from Saxons who fled to Scotland from the Norman Conquest of England. The crest here has a naked arm wielding a scimitar – a state...
When it comes to early art from Scotland, most attention is usually turned either to the enigmatic Pictish carvings, or the glorious Book of Kells, wh...
Two possible origins for this surname, either the Norman de Agneaux or the Ulster O’Gnyw. Either way, this crest comes from the Agnews of Lochnaw. He...
The Abercromby surname comes from the place in Fife. Here we have a falcon and the Latin motto 'Petit Alta'. The meaning behind this is nice and stra...
First and foremost, a sgian dubh is not a weapon and never was. Of course, it could be used as a weapon, and no doubt often was when the desperate ne...
St Kilda offer two clan maps of Scotland. One version is online and can be found here the other is available to buy as a print, by the artist Hugh Dia...
Properly pronounced with the guttural ‘ch’ (like loch), the word quaich comes from the gaelic cuach, literally meaning cup. Yet this isn’t the sort of...
It happens to us a lot: you find a piece of tartan, but can’t for the life of you remember what one it is. Is that a MacDonald of Clanranald, or a Cam...
A few things to make clear first – there is a big difference between Arms and Crests. Crests are taken from a chief’s Coat of Arms, and are the featur...
Have you ever wondered about the black rosette worn on the bonnet? Often cap badges are mounted on these, indicating either an organisation, pipe band...
Sewn-in garment pockets are a relatively new invention, only appearing, it seems, from the 1600s. Now they are more or less universal in every type of...
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