"Any cloth or clothing from the 16th century that is not from royalty or nobility is pretty rare, and so to have this piece which predates the clan tartan mania of the 19th century, worn or used ...

The real Clan Mackenzie tartan according to the official Scottish Register of Tartans is a much brighter affair with squares of a sea blue and vibrant green intersected by thin lines of red and white.

A lost and “extremely rare” tartan worn more than 300 years ago has been saved - and woven once again. The Grant 1714 is considered one of the oldest tartans in Scotland.

It's estimated that there are about 400-500 clan and family associations in Scotland, however not all clans have a tartan and there is little evidence that tartans were associated with any family ...

Tartan intarsia wool scarf, £646, Balenciaga at Net-a-Porter.com For the brave, there’s head-to-toe, à la Emilia Wickstead, but for those of us a little bit more shy about joining the clan ...

The so-called Falkirk tartan, a scrap of cloth found in a pot containing almost 2,000 Roman coins in 1933, dates to the third century and is often hailed as Scotland’s oldest surviving tartan.

But not, as many people believe, on the bodies of men killed in clan battles. The tartan kilt was worn before a battle started and then it was discarded and a plain, tougher leather kilt was put ...

While the 1714 was a tartan connected to the Grants, it predated clan tartans and reflected a time when “you wore what you liked, what you could afford or what was available”, Mr MacDonald said.