This site has been reactivated after 20 years in abeyance because it has become necessary again.

When colleagues and I first started serious research into the origins of our clan, some senior members of the Clan Society tried to inhibit other society members from assisting in that research and as soon as they could they took all interesting material off the site which they had spent so much time and effort securing from the then member who had first registered www.clangrant.org. But we were buoyed up by the enthusiasm of the chief – Sir James Grant of Grant – and they were to discover that their effort was in vain when I put up the earlier incarnation of this site in 2002.

In 2006 a change of régime meant that the material I had been collating was put on to the Society’s site and I was able to stand my site down. However the sad death of Sir James in 2023 gave key leaders of the society of the day a window of opportunity to take down all the material I had collated.

The need to put this site up has provided a good reason to review the material, much of which was showing its age. Background knowledge has advanced so much that it has been possible to address some outstanding issues and very quickly to come to conclusions now set out in pages on this site. Meanwhile in the pages of their magazine they have reverted to the so-called Norman Origin fake history invented by “The Good” Sir James Grant and first promulgated in 1773. Some examples of this – and how daft their approach to the Clan’s origins are – are set out on different pages in the Miscellany section.

“The Good” Sir James was pushing at an open door, however, because the traditional MS history was indeed garbled, most of the dates were hopelessly inaccurate and several of the names are clearly a matter of the writer having access to written material which he just could not understand. That is why it took 10 years of intensive research to produce my “Scottish Clans: Legend, Logic & Evidence” which sets out the real story in a way never managed before (partly because the internet is a fantastic resource, as indeed public libraries have been until the last 10 years or so during which the network has been so largely dismantled) and also why I have put as many of the old texts up here so that the interested reader does not need to take my word for anything.

I should make it clear that, before I embarked on the research, I had an entirely open mind as to where it would go and indeed many of the conclusions I have reached are far beyond what I could possibly have imagined. Nor have I any axe to grind. I am a participant in the Grant DNA project and so science can say what I always presumed: there is not a drop of chiefly line blood in me!

Since the publication of “Scottish Clans….” Research has continued and further papers eg about the origins of the Picts and Scots, perhaps more relevant to “ordinary” clansmen rather than those in the chiefly line can be found at:

https://adriangrant1.academia.edu/

Website Acknowledgements

First of all, regarding the website itself, I am grateful to The Crystal Shop, in St Andrews, Fife for permission to use their image of “smoky quartz” of which the Cairngorm gem is a particularly prized example for this site’s ‘wallpaper’.

Second I would like to note that the pine sprig logo is my photo of a sprig which was personally picked in Duthil by our late chief Sir James. [We also incorporated this image into Letters Patent several of which he issued over some years.]

The Tartan banner is a Grant Hunting tartan in SVG format from tartanify.com. It and its more plain alternative can otherwise be seen here.

Simon Grant, now based in Belgium, was generous with his time and expertise in the HTML of the original site, but 20+ years later much has moved on and I am pleased with the work of Adrian Simmons for the transformation of the site to make it fit for today, especially with regard to tablets and phones.

Keir Lawson for the original coding for Fraser’s “Chiefs of Grant”.

Andi King for the original coding for “Urquhart & Glenmoriston” inter alia presented here.

Research Acknowledgements

The research which has given rise both to my book and to this site could not have been undertaken alone. Sadly too many of my principle assistants are no longer with us.

Steve Grant of Kent wrote the original letter which sparked the research and was an active participant in the early days.

The late Peter Grant of East Sussex and the late Phil Moody in the USA were my main research colleagues over several years. Some papers of Peter’s are included here.

The late Irene Grant of Currie was indefatigable in going to the National Archives in Edinburgh at my behest. I could not possibly have managed without this.

The late Donald Grant in England gave me a considerable sum of money at a very early stage which allowed me to buy reprints of many old texts which were vital in unpicking the period before 1060 and Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk lent me his copy of Fraser’s Chiefs of Grant enabling me to scan the whole work whence its presentation here. [How things have moved on. Nowadays this work is readily accessible on the internet – but it certainly was not 20+ years ago.] Later on Peter Grant in New Zealand very generously gifted me a copy which I both cherish and still find very useful.

Professor Alex Woolf of St Andrews has been extremely generous with his time, expertise and prodigious knowledge, especially in the early days, giving me very helpful suggestions and steering me clear of many an elephant trap. More recently Neil Macgregor of Edinburgh has been endlessly patient, especially with Gaelic and with (not just) Strathspey place names, while Ron Greer of Blair Atholl has also indulged me with his time and expertise, especially with his knowledge of ecology and the environment generally.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. In “Scottish Clans….” I included an Acknowledgements page on the CD (with Volume II) which runs to over 3,000 words. Clan Chiefs and seanachaidhs, professors, librarians, archivists and so many more all find their place there. They are not forgotten even if not all mentioned again here.