Clan Chattan Arms

[ThistleDown]

My apologies for the delay in posting this information, but I needed to await 'official' confirmation finally given this month (February 2023).

The Clan Chattan Association was awarded arms by the Lord Lyon in August 2022.


The charges in the arms give primary place to the Northern and Southern segments of the Confederacy (the cat faces) and the common ancestry of the two (the lymphad). The lymphad is displayed without preference to either by way of its tincture, the furling of its sails, and the shipping of its oars.

None of the charges specific to any of the chiefs of the specific clans were included: lions, caltrops, stags, red hands, etc.), and for the crest the Lord Lyon chose to display the preferred image of the Association over the past one hundred years (resting, observant, contemplative) rather than the sometimes aggressive or protective posture in the arms of several of its chiefs. He also excluded the crests of some of the chiefs bearing the lion or the stag.



Wreathing is in both whortleberry and boxwood, again symbolic of the two primary segments of the clan.

The slughorn of the constituent clan chiefs have often (but not always) been based on 'Touch Not the Cat Bot a Glove'. Lord Lyon chose 'Comhla nas Laidire', roughly translated as 'Better' or 'Stronger' Together.

[Doc MacBean]

Thanks for posting this! It is good to see the final approved version and to hear an explanation of it. I saw an earlier version with a different helm. Can you say which clans make up the northern and which the southern segment of the confederacy and how they came to be viewed as separate segments? Is it more that just a matter of geography? The lymphad refers I take it to Gillechattan Mor, meaning the great servant of St Catan the founder of the clan which existed prior to 14th century and before it came to be a confederacy allied with the Mackintosh.

[ThistleDown]

Hello Doc -- welcome to the forum

The helm is not a 'charge' but is described by Lord Lyon as 'suitable to an incorporation'. In an earlier take on the arms (last year) the helm was shown oversized to the shield -- one of the reasons for the delay in acknowledgment.

The Northern and Southern wings of the Clan Chattan are really geographical, but there is some symbolism in the Mackintosh assembly in the North and the Macpherson in the South. The Mackintoshes formerly had extensive lands in the South -- Badenoch and Lochaber -- and there were Macphersons in the North, of course.

Generally speaking, today we think of the Macphersons, Cattanachs, some Davidsons and Macintyres in the South, and Mackintoshes, Shaws, Macbeans, Macphails, Davidsons, Macandrews, Macqueens of Strathdearn, Macleans of Dochgarroch in the North. There is also an Eastern wing, descended of the Mackintoshes, including the Farquharsons, Macthomases and some Shaws and a Southern-Southern branch of the Mackintoshes in Perthshire.

[Doc MacBean]

Thanks! Are you a member of Clan Chattan and if so which clan?

[ThistleDown]

I have been on the Clan Chattan Council for over forty years and am the CCA's Historian. I'm a Davidson through my father and a Mackintosh through my paternal grandmother.

[Silmakhor]

Hello Doc -- welcome to the forum

The helm is not a 'charge' but is described by Lord Lyon as 'suitable to an incorporation'. In an earlier take on the arms (last year) the helm was shown oversized to the shield -- one of the reasons for the delay in acknowledgment.

Interesting choice of helm styles - a sallet. It's my impression that those are quite rare in British heraldry ... but maybe things have changed recently?

[MurrayInGA]

Interesting choice of helm styles - a sallet. It's my impression that those are quite rare in British heraldry ... but maybe things have changed recently?

The sallet is the common helm granted to organizations (and also companies I think). We have the same for the Murray Clan Society.

[ctbuchanan]

Arms of the Clan Buchanan Society International as granted by the Lord Lyon

[Silmakhor]

The sallet is the common helm granted to organizations (and also companies I think). We have the same for the Murray Clan Society.

Doh - I used to know that - thanks for catching me up to speed.

[Doc MacBean]

I have been on the Clan Chattan Council for over forty years and am the CCA's Historian. I'm a Davidson through my father and a Mackintosh through my paternal grandmother.

That's awesome! I appreciate the work you folks have done to keep alive the clan and highland culture. I wish you well!