Quote Originally Posted by M. A. C. Newsome
... Gunn actually has more in common with Mackay, and this makes sense as the clans Gunn and Mackay were neighbors. ...
Taking this thought a step further, clan Mackay tartan has served as the basis for at least one other clan tartan, and if you were to just look at a map, it might not make much sense either. Remember, Mackay is a Scottish mainland (Sutherland) clan.

Look at the similarity between these two tartans.
. . .
. . . . . . Mackay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morrison

The Morrison is nothing more than the Mackay tartan replicated faithfully, but with a red central tram line. Considering that clan Morrison is generally thought of as an Outer Hebridean clan, most people aren't aware of the close ties that existed between the two since the MacLeods chased the Morrisons off of Lewis a few hundred years ago (tribal war -- them #@%$! MacLeods!).

I've heard conjecture that this is because the same weavers made cloth for both clans and all sorts of other nonsense. In fact, the Morrison tartan was chosen very deliberately at the beginning of the twentieth century at a time when no one knew what tartan clan Morrison wore back before the Proscription Act of 1746. Because of their close ties, the Morrison tartan was based on the Mackay tartan, which was well known.

Later, while renovating a house on Lewis, a bible dated 1747 inscribed with the name Morrison was found bricked in behind a chimney. It was wrapped in this tartan:



Since then another sample of Morrison tartan was found dating from 1745. It is almost, but not exactly identical to the red-based example shown above (it had only one central green tram line, not two).

The point is that sometimes even when there are similarities between tartans, it takes some research to find out whether it's anything more than incidental, and if not, the real reasons.

One other lesson from all this is that back when people actually wore locally woven tartan cloth every day, they probably didn't always worry that the tartan was exactly just so. "EEK, your tartan is missing a tram line!" ... swoon ...

Regards,
Scott Gilmore