About us

The rose of all the world is not for me.
I want for my part
Only the little white rose of Scotland
That smells sharp and sweet—and breaks the heart.

Hugh MacDiarmid

What we are

The Lamont Heritage Association is a member-run online association managed by an elected council dedicated to exploring and recording the lives and times of the historic Clan Lamont and the worldwide family of its descendants.

The Association is a registered Scottish charity (No. SC055344)

Who we are

Convenor: Colin Lamont
Treasurer: Robert Lamont
Secretary: Julie Lamont
Councillors: Kate Lamb
William Lamb
Brett Lamont
Susan Miles
Historical Adviser: Robert Reid

Who we are for

anyone by the name of Lamont whether by descent, adoption, or marriage;
anyone by any of the many names associated with the name of Lamont;
anyone who is connected in any way, thinks they are connected, or wishes they were connected to the name; and,
anyone who, regardless of name, is interested in the history and heritage of an historic Scottish clan and its descendants.

We welcome as a member

What we plan to do

We look to build a worldwide membership to engage with the project. Central to that is the members' area where members will find the story unfolding, a library of the materials we collect, create or reference; a bibliography of relevant books, essays, articles, stories, audio and audio-visual items; a photo gallery; and an interactive meeting place where members can join interest groups, create groups of their own choice and drop into the members' lounge to chat.

Create a worldwide collaborative community

We're not embarking on the rewriting of already recorded history but rather on creating an archive of extant and new material, an accessible resource of written, audio and audio-visual material relating to the history and heritage of the Lamont family, focusing mainly on the lives of the common people. Complementing that, we will develop a bibliography of relevant sources of information on and illustrative of the wider social, political and economic context of the times and places in which our forebears lived.

Build a resource bank and bibliography

What's in a name?

A simple answer to that is - a host of other names. The more generations you go back in tracing your ancestors, the greater the number of surnames that are in your make-up. In each generation there are twice as many names as in the one before: two parents, four grandparents, eight great-parents' names and so on. By the time you reach your GGGGG grandparents, there could be up to one hundred and twenty eight different surnames in the mix.

Septs, name changes and affiliation

We can add into the mix of surnames those of the septs of the historic Clan Lamont and those who changed their names for safety after the 1646 massacre. And there were the ones who belonged to a clan and owed allegiance to its chief because they lived on its lands not because of kinship.

A patrilineal system

Although in Scotland, a woman historically might well have retained her maiden name, her children would bear the name of their father. If your aunts and uncles have children, conventional naming means you will have cousins bearing different surnames. And so on it goes. So many connected names

We will assist members as best we can in the exploration of their family histories through the support of others similarly engaged, encouraging mutual support through a genealogy discussion group and using the resources of Wikitree, the online global family tree project. By recording the lives of Lamonts and their kin on Wikitree, we open up the possibility of making connections that grow the member's family tree and honour the lives of the ancestors we encounter on our journey.

We will give recognition to the lives of our ancestors by creating their profiles in Wikitree, thereby also advancing the online global family tree project.

Help members with their family searches

We will support and promote heritage studies and the work of other heritage organisations in and around Cowal and other parts of Scotland of particular Lamont interest. In particular, we will seek to reprint relevant archive material, digitising it if necesssary, thereby making it universally accessible and raising the profile of the organisation.

Promote and support other heritage organisations

Encourage heritage awareness amongst young people

We will promote online educational events and engage with Argyll and Bute Education Department, the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) and the history departments of other Scottish Universities on ways of promoting heritage studies and involvement amongst young people.

What we mean by .......

History

The academic study of past events, often with an interpretation of why they occurred.

History and Heritage

Heritage

What we value from our past, tangible and intangible, which informs our present and which we seek to preserve and add to for future generations.

History and heritage are closely connected terms although different in meaning. We understand much of our heritage in the context of the local, national and international events and situations of its times, and so will aim to relate people's lives to the times they lived in and the events they lived through.

It has been estimated that there are over 40 million people around the world who are of Scottish descent

Clans

The contemporary Scottish 'clans' are social organisations mostly created in the 19th century. While they no doubt contribute much to the preservation and celebration of heritage, they are not clans in the historical sense of the socio-political system of the Scottish Highlands. After a long period of change, this system finally ended in the mid-18th Century. For the sake of clarity, we use the term Clan Lamont to mean the historic clan up to that point and refer to its descendants now scattered across the world as our global or worldwide family.

The website

The public pages

Open to all, these pages include information on what the Association is set up to do, how it is managed,how to join us, how to access the members' area and items of heritage news.

The members' area

Open only to members, this is the epicentre of the Association. It is where we will be building the Lamont Story, gathering together written, audio, visual and audio-visual matter and compiling the bibliography.

It is also the place where we can meet, maybe to talk about interests shared with like-minded folk, maybe just to chew the fat.

Email:

lamontheritageassociation@gmail.com

The Lamont Heritage Association (LHA) is a registered Scottish charity (No. SC055344 )

JOINING is easy - and painless (there's no subscription to be paid in this first year). Go here, fill in and submit the form and we'll let you know if your application has been successful. It's ideal if you are a Lamont or in some way connected to the Lamonts but not essential; you just have to be interested.

YOU can tell us about your family history, tell us about your country's heritage, ask for and offer help in growing a family tree, share common interests, make new friends, possibly even find new relatives and learn about your ancestral homeland and people. It's a community project.

Industry

Farming

Monuments

Transport From coracle to

The natural world

The land
Flora and fauna
The sea

Cowal pilgrimage trail

Strachur church

Old Smiddy Strachur

Toward Castle

Old Castle Lachlan

Kilfinan Church

Inverchaolain Church

Historic Kilmun

Cowal Archeological and Historical Society (now defunct)

Fishing

Food and drink

Sport

Soccer

Rugby

Shinty

Golf

Curling

Material features

The built environment
Manufacturing
Major industries

Pre 14thC Kingdoms of Strathclyde (E Cowal) and Dalriada (W Cowal)

Language

Scots, Gaelic, Norse influence

Culture

Art
Music
Drama
Dance
Language
Literature

Township to

If you want to know more about us, ask a question, make a suggestion ...... please contact us by email or by using the online form here.

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