Clan MacLaren

Crest & Motto

Clan MacLaren crest 3D model with Creag An Tuirc motto, STL file for 3D printing or CNC carving The MacLaren crest shows a crowned lion’s head between two laurel branches, and the Gaelic motto is Creag An Tuirc: the Boar’s Rock, the clan’s gathering place above Balquhidder.

History

Clan MacLaren, Clann Labhrain, the children of Laurence, traces its name to Labhran, a 13th century abbot associated with Achtow in Balquhidder. The clan’s small but ancient heartland is Balquhidder and lower Strathearn in Perthshire: the braes above Loch Voil, the old kirkton of Balquhidder, and the rocky knoll of Creag an Tuirc, which served as the clan’s gathering place and gave it its war cry and motto.

The MacLarens lost their status as independent crown tenants in the 16th century when their lands passed into other hands, leaving them exposed to stronger neighbours. The worst blow came in 1558, when a raiding party of MacGregors killed a large number of MacLarens and occupied their homesteads, a wound long remembered in Balquhidder, where the two clans lived side by side. Rob Roy MacGregor is buried in the MacLarens’ kirkyard.

The clan remained loyal to the Stewarts, fighting under Montrose in the 1640s and joining the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, usually brigaded with the Appin Stewarts. Donald MacLaren of Invernenty, captured at Culloden, made a famous escape by rolling down a hillside in the Devil’s Staircase while being marched to Carlisle. The chiefship then lay dormant for two centuries until 1957, when the Lord Lyon recognised Donald MacLaren of MacLaren and Achleskine, who had bought back Creag an Tuirc and part of the old clan land. Emigration spread MacLarens, McLarens and Lawrences through Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.