A Celtic clan their country was the western shore of Loch Lomond. They took their war cry from Loch Sloy, at the foot of Ben Voirlich. They are descended from Duncan MacGilchrist, mentioned 1296, brother of Mulduin, Earl of Lennox. His grandson was Bartholomew (Gaelic, Parlan), from whom the clan is named.
Malcolm received the lands of Arrochar in 1395, but the male line failed, and the lands were forfeited. Andrew MacFarlane married a daughter of the Earl of Lennox, and succeeded in 1493. Sir John MacFarlane fell at Flodden, and Walter MacFarlane of Tarbert was killed at Pinkie in 1547.
The clan fought against Queen Mary at Langside. In 1608 they slew Colquhoun of Luss, and were outlawed. In 1644-45 they fought for Montrose. Major-General MacFarlane gallantly captured Ischia, in the Bay of Naples, in 1809. In 1624 many of the clan settled in Aberdeenshire under other names.
The last Chief is supposed to have gone to America at the end of the eighteenth century. His house of Arrochar became the property of the Duke of Argyll, but Macfarlanes of the Kirton line claim the chiefship under a settlement by the last chief of the direct line.

Chief: Macfarlane of that Ilk (dormant).
Patronymic: MacPharlain.
Clan Seat: Arrochar.
Slogan: Loch Sloy.
Plant: Cranberry.
Pipe Music: MacFarlane's Gathering, “Lifting the Cattle."