Lost tartan worn 300 years ago and pre-dating Culloden is saved - and woven once again
A lost and “extremely rare” tartan worn more than 300 years ago has been saved - and woven once again.
The Grant 1714 is considered one of the oldest tartans in Scotland. It is one of less than 100 recorded patterns which predate 1815, when the clan tartan system was formalised by the Victorians.
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The ancient pattern has been revived following an investigation by Peter MacDonald, honorary head of research at The Scottish Tartans Authority,
Mr MacDonald was able to establish the tartan depicted in two 1714 portraits of celebrated Clan Grant figures held by National Museum of Scotland was the same. A third painting held in Inverness was able to corroborate the tartan was associated with the clan.
Now, The Grant 1714 has been added to the Scottish Register of Tartans and produced by Lochcarron of Scotland, with “part of our history” protected following the project, which was led by Lord Strathspey, the new Chief of Clan Grant.
Mr MacDonald said: “There are relatively few tartans of that era surviving, so it is extremely rare and unusual. It is one of the things that really interests me and which my work really concentrates on, is trying to revive these old patterns and pieces so they aren’t lost. They are our history.
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Hide Ad“You have got 12,500 tartans on the register of which no more than 100, probably fewer than that, can you date before 1800.”
Lord Strathspey, Michael Grant of Grant, the 34th chief of Clan Grant, asked Mr MacDonald to investigate the tartan worn in the 1714 portraits of William Cumming, the Laird’s Piper, and Alister Mohr Grant, the Laird’s Champion.




Both were painted by Richard Waitt, an artist who toured the Highlands, following a commission from the-then clan chief.
The tartan worn by the champion and the piper is woven in a more muted red and green colour scheme compared to the modern clan cloth and was not included in the early collection of tartans collated by the Highland Society of London in 1815.
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Hide AdMr MacDonald said: “The whole concept of clan tartans, named identifiable family tartans, really is a post 1815 thing. What I am really interested in is to protect and preserve these older patterns because they are part of our history, part of our DNA, if you like. And if we don’t make them available, we will lose them.”
The tartan depicted in the portraits was “almost certainly” woven by the same weaver using threads created using natural dyes.
Mr MacDonald added: “Extracting tartan from portraits is an art in its own right and it very much depends on the artist and how good the artist was. Some artists were really good on hands and faces and European dress and some of them really struggled with tartan.
“And indeed in the two portraits, you can see errors and discrepancies. So it is a case of working with those and extracting a workable pattern to be absolutely sure they are the same tartan.”
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Hide AdWhile the 1714 was a tartan connected to the Grants, it predated clan tartans and reflected a time when “you wore what you liked, what you could afford or what was available”, Mr MacDonald said.
He added: “The gentry would have always have wanted the best they could afford. Not that there was a middle class then, but the next level down, if you like, would aspire to be the next people up.
“And the poor would wear what they could get. It is actually, relatively speaking, no different from what it is like today.”
He described reviving the Grant 1714 as an “enormously” satisfying project to work on.
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Hide AdMr MacDonald said: “Because of its age - it is pre-Culloden tartan - there has been a lot of interest, particularly in the US where people want a tartan that is old and not particularly a clan tartan.”
Lord Strathspey, of Chichester, said he wanted to revive the ancient tartan as part of his “mission” to bring the clan to a bigger, international audience in the modern age. He became 34th Chief of Clan Grant following the death of his elder half-brother, James, last year.
Lord Strathspey, who has retired from his career in project development and asset management, said: “My father had been chief before, so it had always been part of my life and when he died in 1991, my elder brother James inherited the title.
“My father, when he retired, got very involved and really started the international societies. Now, they have rather waned.
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Hide Ad“I feel my task, my mission, is to try and get them going in a more contemporary style. When my father was really working at this in the 1980s, everything was by letter or a very expensive phone call.
“And now, of course, with email and social media, the whole thing as a concept has moved on. In my parents’ day, the clan society was a drinks party in Edinburgh, a dinner and a Highland games, but now it is not about that any more.
“It is more about staying connected and getting things in place that younger people enjoy. Thank goodness there is such a growing following in pipe music, Gaelic traditions and tartans
“Tartans are now so popular throughout the world, in fashion, in Korea, in Japan. And I had to ask myself what I wanted to do as a 71-year-old chief of a clan to try and make a difference.
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Hide Ad“I wanted to do something and this whole tartan project fell into my lap as a sort of natural progression. Obviously I have always been aware of the Grant tartans and it has always bemusde me, these Victorian inventions and why there wasn’t anything older.”
He said he had always been intrigued by the family portraits - “that we don’t own anymore” - and in particular Waitt’s portrait of the piper.
Initial research by the clan historian Hank Grant, author of Grant Tartan, suggested the tartan worn by the champion and the piper were the same.
Lord Strathspey said: “One of the privileges of being the chief is that I do know my history and my ancestors. For myself, knowing my ancestors, the whole project to revive the tartan was amazing and it really brings to life what life must have been like in this period.
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Hide Ad“I am taking the tartan as a kind of banner for a new image that I am trying to create. I am not just some kind of funny old thing that wants to go to a dinner. I am trying to do something for the clan as a whole - and especially for younger people.”
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