Is MacDonald of glencoe recognized?

[figheadair]

I like the glencoe tartan quite a bit and wondered if it is actually recognized by the chiefs of clan donald? I know the campbells are pretty strict on what their “official” tartans are.

The only MacDonald tartans I see on the clan website are standard MacDonald and those of the main branches (clanranald, Sleat, glengarry, etc). Since glencoe has no chief, I guess there’s be nobody to say it was official other than the high chief.

Does anyone here have any idea?

The short answer is no, it's not officially recognised as you mean it but then again, nor are the majority of the older tartans associated with Clan Donald; Glenaladale, Kingsburgh and Borrodale being the three most obvious. Unlike many other clan societies, there appears to have been no serious attempt to collate details of the various MacDonald and associated tartans, of which there are around 50, on any of the 'official' clan websites:

The High council of Clan Donald

The Clan Donald Society of the Highlands and Islands

Clan Donald Society of Edinburgh - Why on earth use a non-Clan Donald tartan doing as the background?

Clan Donald USA

Only Larry MacDonald's Clan Donald Heritage site explores tartan in any serious way.

With regard to the so-called MacDonald of Glencoe, it has been claimed that a fragment so named in the West Highland Museum (WHM) was found in Glencoe and so was automatically attributed to the MacDonalds, however I know of no proof other than the Glencoe connection. To date I have been unable to track down the alleged specimen which is remarkably similar to a piece of MacDonald of Keppoch, also said to be in the WHM.

There must be some doubt that there are two similar pieces in the same museum and I strongly suspect that both patterns have been extracted from a single specimen and that one, or both, of the modern settings is erroneous. I cannot find a reference to the MacDonald of Glencoe tartan before about 1950 and suspect that its naming was a researcher’s error at some time around then.

Notwithstanding the doubts about its antiquity, the design has been around as MacDonald of Glencoe for some time, if you like it - wear it, just understand the background and don’t assume that it’s a truly old pattern associated with the MacIains of Glencoe.