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Clan Armstrong (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Armstrong

Gaelic Name: Mac Ghillieláidir

Clan Crest: An arm from the shoulder, armed, Proper

Clan Motto: Invictus Maneo (I remain unvanquished)

Lands: Liddesdale

Seat: Gilnockie Tower

Origin of Name: Strong arm

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Clan Armstrong History

The Armstrongs are a significant border clan whose origins are in Cumberland, south of the officially established border between Scotland and England in 1237. The name Armstrong is said to have mythological origins, as it is said that their heroic forefather, Fairbairn, saves his king of Scotland in battle, rather than from a wild beast, as is the case with another Border clan, the Turnbulls.

He is said to have lifted the king onto his own horse with one arm while dressed in full armour after the King's horse was killed under him in battle. The family crest commemorates this act of bravery, which earned him a grant of lands in the Borders and the famous Armstrong surname.

The first mention of them in Liddesdale, which would become their family seat, is in 1376. Liddesdale was also the region's undisputed power center, allowing them to expand into Annandale and Eskdale to accommodate their growing population. It is said that by 1528, they were able to field 3000 horsemen.

To say the least, the Armstrongs' relationship with subsequent Scottish kings was tumultuous. The most infamous incident in this tense relationship occurred in 1530. John Armstrong, known as 'Gilnockie' in history, was persuaded to attend a meeting at Carlingrigg with King James V, who, unbeknownst to Gilnockie, was plotting to silence the rebellious Borderers. The ruse worked, as Gilnockie and fifty of his followers were apprehended.

The King issued the order to hang them, and despite several requests for the King to be lenient in exchange for obedience, it was carried out. Gilnockie, defiant to the end, addressed King James V directly:

"I am a fool to seek grace at a graceless face, but if I had known you would have taken me this day, despite King Harry and you both, I would have lived in the Borders." "Johnie Armstrong," a soulful popular Border ballad, commemorates and echoes his defiance:

“Farewell! Gilnock Hall, my lovely Gilnock Hall Where on the Esk side dost thou stand? If I had only lived seven years longer, I would have been a gilt thee round about John Murdered was at Carlinrigg And all his gallant companie; but Scotland's heart was ne'er sae wae To see so many brave men die."

The Scottish parliament passed an act in 1587 "for the quieting and keeping in obedience of the inhabitants of the Borders, Highland, and Isles..." This included a list of Chieftains and clans, confirming the importance of Border families in clan history, and the Armstrongs as possibly the most significant Border clan.

Until 1610, when Archibald Armstrong was 'put to the horn' as a rebel, the clan's authority was intact at Mangerton in Liddesdale, with a succession of Armstrongs retaining the 'Laird of Mangerton' title.

The Armstrong lands then passed into the hands of the Scotts.

Clan Armstrong People & Places

Clan Armstrong Individuals

Armstrong Neil (1930-2012)

Armstrong, the first man on the moon, is said to have brought a swatch of Armstrong tartan with him. Eddie Armstrong was the town clerk of Langholm at the time of the moon landing. Eddie invited Neil Armstrong to become the town's first and only Freeman.

Neil Armstrong and his wife came to Langholm to accept the award in 1972. Men, women, and children lined the streets to welcome and cheer. During his speech at the ceremony, he told the audience, "The most difficult place to be recognized is in one's own home town; I consider this to be my home town now."

Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, at the age of 82, as a result of complications from bypass surgery to clear blocked coronary arteries. Langholm representatives began making requests to the Scottish council to commemorate his life within days of his death.

Edwin Howard Armstrong is an American politician (1890-1954)

FM radio inventor from the United States.

Mr. Gary Armstrong (born 1966 in Edinburgh)

Gary's 47th cap against Romania in August 1999 equaled Roy Laidlaw's previous record as Scotland's most capped scrum-half. He then joined the 50-cap club in October, when he led Scotland to a World Cup play-off victory over Samoa.

He retired from international rugby following Scotland's 18-30 loss to New Zealand in the 1999 Rugby World Cup quarter-final.

Gary Armstrong captained Scotland to the Five Nations Championship in 1999, playing his eighth Test as captain as Scotland took pole position with a stunning 36-22 victory over France.

Clan Armstrong Locations

Castle Langholm

Langholm Castle is located across the fields from here. The Scotts of Buccleuch own it, but the Clan Armstrong Trust looks after it.

It was most likely built by an Armstrong laird and served a strategic purpose in maintaining order in Eskdale. The Reivers were robbers and raiders to their enemies, but invaluable law enforcers to local rulers.

During the 'Rough Wooing' of 1544, when Henry VIII of England attempted to force a marriage between his son and Mary Queen of Scots, Langholm Castle was occupied by the English. It was later retaken by the Scots after only seven shots were fired.

'On the border were the Armestronges - capable men, somewhat unruly, and extremely difficult to tame!'

The Gilnockie Tower

Gilnokie Tower is a 16th century Peel Tower located in the hamlet of Hollows, just over 2 kilometers north of Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway.

Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie, a notorious Border Reiver, built and lived in this. It was constructed around 1520.

This powerful chieftain was hanged by a Scottish king in 1530, and Walter Scott romanticized his story. Sir Christopher Dacre, English Warden of the Western Marches, had burned down the tower two years before in 1528.

The tower was rebuilt, but was destroyed by English raids in the 1540s, forcing it to be rebuilt with a new parapet walk and a beacon stance on the gable. Unfortunately, the tower is no longer open to the public.

Clan Armstrong Tartans

The Armstrongs would not have worn a tartan because they lived in the borders. The infamous Sobieski Stewarts designed the Armstrong Tartan for the 1842 Vestiarium Scoticum. The Armstrongs have worn it since then.

Armstrong the Elder

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Armstrong Contemporary

Clan Armstrong Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan Armstrong Coat of Arms

Worn by everyone with the same name and ancestry:

Description of the Crest:

Proper arm from the shoulder, armed

Coats of Arms of Clan Armstrong

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). There are no such things as "family coats of arms." Personal weapons are depicted below (with the above exceptions). Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.

ARMSTRONG'S ARMS—

Three dexter arms vambraced argent, hands proper, gules.

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Hugh Armstrong and his wife's tomb at Holy Trinity, Wysall. These depict Armstrong's Arms, gules, three chevronels vair; Fitzherbert's Arms, gules, three lions rampant or, in chief a label of three points; Raynes, Chequy or and gules, on a bend vert a Moor's head between two annulets or, a canton ermine: these represent the alliances of three of his daughters. A ribbon encircles the parents' shield and reads, "Hughe Armestronge Esquire Marye his wyfe, daghter of Henrie Sacheverell of Ratclif-upon-Sore Esquire."

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Three shields with the Arms of Armstrong, Sacheverell, and Armstrong on the sinister side are placed at the end of the tomb, between the figures of a female, a man in armour, and one in grave clothes. "Here lyeth the bodyes of Hugh Armestrong Esquier and Marye his wiff, daughter of.....Sacheverell of Ratclif-upon-Sore, Esquier, wch Hugh dyed the xxijth dey of December m° d° Ixxii. and the sayd Marye dyed the xxth dey of Ma........"

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