The Tartans of Clan Grant

"Tartan" is a generic term referring to the lovely multicolored checked and striped cloth that has become one of the best-known symbols of Scotland. When speaking of a "Clan tartan" what is typically meant is the "sett" of that tartan. A sett is a specific tartan "pattern" of color blocks and lines. A Clan may have one or more setts for itself, some differentiated as "dress" or "hunting", usually indicating when it should be worn (such as for formal dress or evening affairs, or for daywear occasions, and so forth), and some setts for sub-groups or families within a Clan.

To confuse things even further, tartan "setts" come in a variety of "colors". The two most common color schemes are "Modern" and "Ancient". The "Ancient" colors are supposed to represent the sett as it would have looked using the old vegetable dyes from the 18th century (or earlier). Typically the "Ancient" colors will show the sett better - with better clarity - since it lightens the colors. The "Modern" colors represent the sett as colored using the strong, modern dyes currently available to the mills that produce tartans.

Some mills offer other color variations called "Weathered" or "Reproduction". These typically fade the darker colors of the sett in some way to indicate how the sett would look after being exposed to the elements or as it would have faded over "time". However, it seems these can be wrong choices by the mill. If one looks at old tartans that exist in museums, it seems that the colors which stay darker and richer, or which fade, are completely different than those in some of the "Weathered" or "Reproduction" setts.

This page shows the tartan "Setts" which belong to either Clan Grant as a whole, or to individual families within the Clan (such as the Grants of Ballindalloch or the Grants of Rothiemurchus).

The 1860 Sett - The Clan Grant Dress Tartan

The "1860 Sett"(see below for image) of the Clan Grant tartan in the "Ancient Colors" is the sett recommended for Clan Grant by our Chief, Lord Strathspey. The "Ancient Grant" typically has a more "orange-ish" red, and a lighter green and shows the pattern of the sett better in these colors. On many versions of the 1860 sett the thick "blue" border is a "dark" navy-blue, appearing almost black in color (the sett from Lochcarron Mills, in particular). The darker "Modern" colors commonly worn in the United States today were preferred by the late Chief, Sir Patrick Grant, and are now considered a historic Clan Grant tartan.

The Black Watch - The Clan Grant Hunting Tartan

The "Black Watch" sett in the Ancient Colors is known as the Grant Hunting tartan. This is the Hunting Tartan recommended for Clan Grant by our Chief. "Hunting" tartans supposedly developed as alternate tartan setts for the clans, with darker colors, and worn while "hunting" because it acted as a better camouflage outdoors (the belief being that the standard or "dress" tartan setts, with brighter colors, would scare off their quary).

The Black Watch tartan is the Grant "Hunting" tartan due to our clan's long association with this regiment. The original Black Watch regiments enlisted men from Clan Grant, and it is said that this tartan was originally a Grant tartan before being adopted as the official tartan of the regiment. There are many clans, such as the Campbells, whose standard tartan is identical to the Grant hunting tartan, or other clans, who have a variation of the Black Watch tartan (typically with lighter colors, an extra stripe, or a light stripe somewhere in the sett, etc), whose clan members were part of the original Black Watch Regiment and adopted the Black Watch tartan or a variation of it as their own. The Black Watch tartan in the modern colors is currently one of the most recognized tartans in the world, and is one of a handful that are considered by many to be a "national" tartan for Scotland.

Grant of Achnarrow - The Ladies' Grant Tartan

While not a true Clan Grant tartan, the Grant of Achnarrow tartan seems to be favored by many of the Grant women as a historical tartan that will unofficially identify them as Grant women. Originally worn by a Miss Grant of Achnarrow Farm (about 10 miles east of Grantown-on-Spey) in the 1780s as a wedding dress, the tartan has a white background typical of ladies' tartans with a sett pattern made up of red, green, and navy blue lines. The tartan is currently sold by Locharron Mills of Scotland.

The Wearing of Highland Dress