Origins Clan Maclachlan claims descent from Lachlan Mor, who lived on the shores of Loch Fyne in the 13th century. Lachlan belonged to the family who originally emigrated from Ireland to Scotland in the 11th century, see Irish clan
McLaughlin (surname). The progenitor of this family, Anrothan, son of Aodh O'Neil, king of the north of Ireland, is said to have married the
heiress of the
King of Scots and gained lands campaigning there.
Moncreiffe wrote that it was more likely Anrothan married a daughter of the local king of Argyll or a sub-king of Cowal and through this marriage, Anrothan's descendants gained control of the lands of
Knapdale and
Cowal. Several Scottish clans claim a descent from Anrothan, including
Clan MacNeil of Barra, Clan Lamont, Clan MacEwen of Otter, and the MacSweens who became the Irish Sweeney Clan who left Scotland and returned to Ireland in the 14th century as leaders of
Gallowglass. Lachlan's mother was Elizabeth of the
Clan Lamont, who was also a descendant of
Somerled.
Early history , overlooking
Lachlan Bay on
Loch Fyne. The castle was built sometime in the 15th century, and finally abandoned in the 18th century. In about 1230 Gilchrist Maclachlan was witness to a charter of Kilfinan granted by Laumanus, ancestor of
Clan Lamont. The first documentary evidence of the clan's ownership of lands was recorded in 1292, when Gilleskel Maclauchlan received a charter of his lands in Ergadia from
John, King of Scots. Sometime between 1306 and 1322 Gillespie received, in charter from
Robert I of Scotland, the ten
pennyland of "Schyrwaghthyne" (Strathlachlan) and other lands. in 1309. Gillespie was one of the sixteen Scottish magnates who signed a letter to
Philip IV of France in 1309. His name appears on one of the seal tags with that letter, though the actual seal that had been attached to the tag has since been lost. granted forty
shillings sterling to the Preaching Friars of
Glasgow, the sum of which were to be paid from his pennylands of Killbride near Castle Lachlan. ("juxta castrum meum quod dicitur Castellachlan"). Gillespie was dead by 1322 and was succeeded by Patrick his brother. Patrick married a daughter of James the Steward of Scotland, and had a son, Lachlan, who later succeeded him. like his ancestor Gillespie, granted the Preaching Friars of Glasgow six shillings and eight
pence per year, from the same pennylands of Killbride beside his home Castle Lachlan. In 1487 Iain Maclachlan of Strathlachlan, witnessed a bond by Dougall Stewart of Appin to
Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll. Archibald had only daughters and in turn was succeeded by his nephew Lachlan Og ("Lauchlane oig Macklauchlane his brothers sone"). In 1748, Rev. John MacLachlan of Kilchoan, in a letter to Rev.
Robert Forbes, wrote, and on her death in 1996, she was succeeded by her eldest son Euan John Maclachlan of Maclachlan, Chief of Clan Maclachlan, 25th of Maclachlan and Baron of Strathlachlan, Today the clan is alive and lives as the
Clan Maclachlan Society and the
Lachlan Trust. The Clan Maclachlan Society consists of eight branches around the world, including Australia, Britain & Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States of America. == Castle Lachlan==