Clan Ross

Clan Ross, in Gaelic Clann Anndrais, the children of Andrew, takes its name from the province of Ross, the land between the Cromarty and Dornoch Firths; the name comes from a Celtic word for a promontory.

The first securely recorded chief is Fearchar Mac an t-Sagairt, “son of the priest”, who supported Alexander II against rebellion in the north, was knighted for it, and was Earl of Ross by about 1234. The clan fought at Bannockburn in 1314 under Earl William, and at Harlaw in 1411 alongside the Lord of the Isles. The old earldom passed out of the family in the fourteenth century, after which the chiefship rested with the Rosses of Balnagown, near Alness, who held it until 1893; it then passed to the Rosses of Pitcalnie and afterwards of Shandwick. The clan feuded repeatedly with the Mackays, defeated them at Tarbat in 1486, and took the government side at Carbisdale in 1650 and in the risings of 1715 and 1745.

The Ross tartan

The tartan is far less well documented than the clan, and this page will not pretend otherwise. Ross does not appear among the plates of the Vestiarium Scoticum, and no source could be found giving a dated first recording, a weaver, a manuscript or a collection for the principal Ross sett. The Scottish Register of Tartans lists Ross, Ross Hunting, Ross Old and Ross Dress with the designer given as not specified or unknown and no date recorded, which is the Register’s standard entry for a pattern of untraced origin.

The red Ross is the dress pattern most people know; the green hunting setts are the quieter day-wear alternative. Modern, Ancient, Muted and Weathered are dye conventions rather than separate patterns.

Clan facts

References

1. Ross tartans — The Scottish Register of Tartans
2. Clan Ross history — Clan Ross Association of Canada
3. Clan Ross