The House of Vere

---

A brief outline of the last 200 years of our history.

Our Story starts with our surname, Weir, My grandfather was James Weir,  His Parents were Thomas Logan Weir and Annie McDonald, They moved from  Stoney Kirk Wigtownshire down to Sussex in 1908.  Thomas's Parent were John Weir and Mary Logan.  This line descends from the McColms and Sinclairs.

Annie McDonalds parents were Andrew McDonald and Sarah Grant. 

My McDonalds are from a cute little fishing village called Moidart, We descend from the Mcdonalds of Sleat and Castle Tioram.

The McDonalds were called the Lords of the Isles. 

The story of the MacDonalds of Castle Tioram is the story of Clan Ranald itself, the branch of Clan Donald descended from Reginald, son of Somerled, and from the powerful MacRuari heiress, Amy MacRuari. Castle Tioram, perched on its tidal island in Moidart, sits not as an offshoot of the Lordship of the Isles but as the centre of the old MacRuari inheritance known as Garmoran. When John of Islay, Lord of the Isles, put aside Amy to marry a Stewart princess, their son Ranald received the ancient MacRuari lands — Moidart, Arisaig, Eigg, Rum, and parts of Knoydart — and from him the Clan Ranald chiefs descend. The castle therefore symbolises a line that held its power not because of the later Isle of Islay connections but because of the older rights of the MacRuari line, a detail often omitted in modern clan accounts.

Tioram began to rise to prominence in the fifteenth century when the Clanranald chiefs established it as their principal seat. From there they controlled the western seaways, administered their lands, and asserted independence not only from the Crown but at times from the other branches of Clan Donald. Much of its early history is a constant cycle of feuding, raiding, and rebuilding. The chiefs fought their neighbours, their cousins in Glengarry and Keppoch, and sometimes their own internal rivals. In these years Tioram was burned, seized, retaken, and defended repeatedly, a maritime stronghold as much as a residence.

These families intermarry and intermingle many times over which lead ton other noble scottish line such as The Glens, Bruces, Stewarts, Hamiltons.

The Weirs of  Blackwood and Stonebyers in Lanarkshire represent one of the oldest and most established branches of the Weir family in Scotland. Holding their lands for many centuries, the Stonebyers Weirs appear throughout charters and local records as a respected Lowland lineage with strong ties to neighbouring clans and noble houses such as the McDonalds, Glens, Hamiltons, Douglases, Logans, and Muirs, Along with The Stewarts and Bruces.

Their presence along the Clyde formed a central part of Weir family identity, anchoring the clan firmly within the history of southern Scotland.

Within this lineage appears Ralph Vere, a figure whose surname reflects the long-standing connection between the Scottish Weirs and the ancient Anglo-Norman de Vere family — the house that produced the historic Earls of Oxford. Ralph is understood to descend from one of the cadet or collateral branches of the de Vere family: lines connected by blood to the Earls of Oxford but not inheriting the earldom itself.

In the medieval and early-modern periods, it was common for younger sons or junior branches of noble Norman houses to settle in Scotland, forming alliances through marriage, landholding, and service. The presence of Ralph Vere within the Stonebyers sphere reflects this pattern, showing how the Weir and de Vere lines came into close association long before the modern era.

This merging of the Scottish Weirs of Stonebyers with a collateral Vere line forms a key ancestral foundation for what becomes the House of Vere today — a heritage that blends ancient Scottish clan blood with one of England’s oldest noble dynasties.

The House of Vere is rooted in my own Scottish heritage through my father’s line, descending from the Weirs, MacDonalds, Logans, and Grants. These families form the backbone of my immediate paternal ancestry and are deeply woven into the history of Scotland itself. The creation of the House of Vere tartans — both the historic Blue Weir and the newly registered Red Weir–de Vere — is a continuation of that legacy, honouring the bloodlines that shaped my family for generations.