Elliot Clan

The Elliots have existed as a Clan with a recognised Chief since the time of King Robert the Bruce (1306 – 1329) to the present day.

Before the Union of the Crowns in 1603, they held that part of the frontier with England known as “The Middle March” – their chief usually being appointed Captain of Hermitage Castle in Liddesdale and they became famous as one of the great “riding” clans of the Scottish Borders.

From “Scottish Clans and Tartans”

The Elliots were a famous, indeed notorious, Border clan, like the Armstrongs. Their territory was around Upper Liddesdale, where they conducted their more or less profitable banditry for many centuries. The principal family in the early days was the Eliotts of Redheugh, who often held the captaincy of Hermitage Castle – still to be seen, squat and impregnable, on the moors south of Hawick.

From “Scotland and her Tartans”

The Elliots, with the Armstrongs, were the most troublesome of the great Scottish Border families in the Middle Ages, the Redheugh branch being regarded as the most influential of them.

In the modern world, the Elliots have prospered and the Clan is now widely spread throughout the world.