Clan MacLachlan

Lochlainn was the name of the senior branch of the Ui'neill descendants of the King Niall of the Nine Hostages in Tirconnell, one of the old kingdoms of Ireland. Until 1241 the MacLochlainns were virtual rulers of Ulster, until they suffered defeat at the hands of King Brian O'Neill. The name was known in Scotland by the thirteenth century, when the great warrior, Lachlan Mor, is recorded as living on the shores of Loch Fyne. In 1292, Archibald Maclachlan was one of the twelve barons whose lands were formed into the sheriffdom of Argyll. Gillespie, probably the son of the chief, supported Robert the Bruce and attended his first Parliament at St Andrews in 1308. By the early fifteenth century the chiefs were described as 'Lords of Strathlachlan'. The Maclachlans recognized the rising power of the Campbells in Argyll, and allied themselves to them.

R. R. McIan describes this figure thus: 'The figure is that of a young man in the act of parrying an attack by his sword and targe. He wears a deer skin jacket or rather waistcoat, being in his shirt sleeves. The hose are of a different tartan from the clan pattern as was often the case. The brogues are similar to old examples — the purse, dirk, target, and broadsword, are also from old specimens of armour. The badge is fixed in the bonnet by the appropriate dealg or pin, which was formed of the shank bone of a deer’s leg'.

The figurine weighs a little under 0.6 kilos. It stands 15cm tall,  is 11cm at its widest, on a base rougly 10cm by 5cm.