Glen Discovery. Visit Scotland. Discover your Highland roots

Do you like the tartan? From 1747 to 1782, the use of tartan and wearing of the kilt or belted plaid, except by the Highland regiments of the British army, became an offence punishable by transportation to the colonies. In 1822, Sir Walter Scott stage-managed the visit of George IV to Edinburgh, in which the king himself was persuaded to wear a kilt. From then on every family in Scotland had to have its own clan tartan made by the woollen weavers of Lowland Stirlingshire and Clackmannan. Most modern tartans (with a few exceptions) date from this time or after. The process is by no means complete and it is common today for companies and institutions in Scotland to have their own tartan. Although I am descended from a number of Highland clans, my male line 'Lawrie' ancestors lived in Banff in the 17th century. Some of them joined the Jacobite army which was defeated at Culloden in 1746. Other Lawries in the 16th to 18th centuries were found in the Lothians, in Lanarkshire and in Dumfries (the famous Annie Laurie of Maxwelton). One of my distant cousins has designed and registered a 'Lawrie' tartan and I have used it as a background with his kind permission. See the Laurie tartan company.



	Curious swans at Broughty Ferry, wondering where the Pelican came from. - But not nearly as much as the herd of twitchers following its every move!

	Do you like the tartan? From 1747 to 1782, the use of tartan and wearing of the kilt or belted plaid, except by the Highland regiments of the British army, became an offence punishable by transportation to the colonies. In 1822, Sir Walter Scott stage-managed the visit of George IV to Edinburgh, in which the king himself was persuaded to wear a kilt. From then on every family in Scotland had to have its own clan tartan made by the woollen weavers of Lowland Stirlingshire and Clackmannan. Most modern tartans (with a few exceptions) date from this time or after. The process is by no means complete and it is common today for companies and institutions in Scotland to have their own tartan. Although I am descended from a number of Highland clans, my male line 'Lawrie' ancestors lived in Banff in the 17th century. Some of them joined the Jacobite army which was defeated at Culloden in 1746. Other Lawries in the 16th to 18th centuries were found in the Lothians, in Lanarkshire and in Dumfries (the famous Annie Laurie of Maxwelton). One of my distant cousins has designed and registered a 'Lawrie' tartan and I have used it as a background with his kind permission. See the Laurie tartan company.