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The Baronage of Angus and Mearns — family tartans of 1856

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In 1856 David MacGregor Peter published The Baronage of Angus and Mearns: comprising the genealogy of three hundred and sixty families … being a guide to the tourist and heraldic artist — a county-by-county walk through the landed families of Angus and the Mearns, each article carrying arms, crest, motto, seat and anecdote. And, for thirty-eight of the families, a tartan: the sett spelled out stripe by stripe, exactly as James Logan had done twenty-five years earlier.¹

The Drummonds of Megginch Tartan Collection

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

For two centuries the Drummonds of Megginch have worn one tartan, and for two centuries no two weavings of it have been quite the same. The collection held at Megginch Castle — a plaid, three kilts, a child's kilt, even a carpet — is the same design at different scales, in different dyes, at different states of fading. This post gathers the whole collection in one place: every artefact, every thread count, every shade we have measured, and a printable poster of the lot.

Logan's Scottish Gaël — the first published tartans

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In 1831 James Logan published The Scotish Gaël; or, Celtic Manners, as Preserved Among the Highlanders — two volumes of antiquarian sweep covering arms, dress, music and language. Tucked into the appendix of volume II is something genuinely new: a Table of Clan Tartans, the first time the setts of tartans had ever been published. Fifty-four patterns, each recorded stripe by stripe.¹