The Loch Lomond district was the home of several war-like clans, and none more war-like than the MacFlarlanes, who claim the moon as their lantern, and who trace their descent from Gilchrist, brother of Maldowen, 3rd of the ancient Earls of Lennox in the thirteenth century. The great-grandson of Gilchrist was named Bartholomew, and from its Gaelic equivalent Parlan, the clan takes its name.

Duncan, 6th chief of the clan, obtained the lands of Arrochar from the Earl of Lennox, and in 1395 he aquired many of the adjoining lands by marriage. On the death of the last of the old Earls of Lennox, without male issue, MacFarlane claimed the title and lands. The conferring of the Earldom on Sir James Stewart, of Darnley, led to a long enmity betweenthe contesting families that terminated only when a cadet of the MacFarlanes married a daughter of the Earl of Lennox in the fifteenth century.

In the following century the clan found an outlet for their war-like spirit in supporting the Earls of Lennox, and Duncan MacFarlane of Tarbet, who was afterwards killed at the Battle of Pinkie, is decribed as in command of about 150 men who spoke Irish ( Gaelic) and the English-Scottish tongue, well armed in shirts of mail, with bows and two-handed swords. The MacFarlanes distinguished themselves at the Battle of Landside fighting against Queen Mary, and claim to have captured three of Queen Mary’s standards.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the clan was proscribed and deprived of lands and name, and members were scattered throughout the country assuming other names. Some afterwards emigrated to Ireland and the family chief is alleged to have gone to America in the eighteenth century. Walter, 20th chief, who died in 1767 was one of the most famous antiquarians and genealogists of his time.

Crest: (granted by Regent Moray for their services at the Battle of Langside): A demi-savage holding a sheaf of arrows in his right hand, and pointing with his left to an imperial crown. Badge: Cranberry, Cloudberry. War Cry: Loch Sloy.