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Logan
Motto: Hoc majorum virtus (This is the valour of my ancestors)
The surname Logan is derived from the gaelic ‘lagan’ meaning a little hollow. Logan in Ayrshire and Laggan in Invernerness-shire are different forms of the same word. The Highland Logans, Lobans/Lobbans, and Maclennans are all of the same descent. In 1329, Sir Robert Logan was in the train of barons who accompanied the Sir James Douglas, with the heart of Bruce, on his way to the Holy Land, on which account the Logan’s bear a man’s heart in their arms.
During battle with the Moors in Spain, Douglas, as well as Sir Robert Logan and Sir Walter Logan, were killed. The principal family of the name was Lastelrig or Restalrig, a barony between Edinburgh and what is now South Leith. They established themselves through lands by marriage during the reign of Robert I, and latterly Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig married a daughter of King Robert II. The last of the family who held the barony was Robert Logan of Restalrig, described by a contemporary as ‘ane godles, drunken and deboshit man’!
In 1596 he sold the estate of Nether Gogar to Andrew Logan of Coalfield and in 1604 his Barony of Restalrig to Lord Balmerino. The last Logan of Ayrshire was remembered in a book of anecdotes titled ‘The Laird of Logan’, as he was recognised for his wit and eccentricity. The Logan water in Lanarkshire has been celebrated in song by many Scottish poets, particularly John Mayne and Robert Burns. There is a considerable confusion surrounding the Logan tartan, and there are of course strong links to the MacLennan tartan. Most references come from the late 18th – 19th century. There six setts.
Choose from one of the Logan tartans listed below:
