Threadcount recorded by Ian MacNeil of Barra, Chief of the McNeils, in the Lyon Court Books (writs section), 122, 12 October 2001. MacNeil tartans appear in pattern books produced by William Wilson & Sons of Bannockburn since the early nineteenth century, with various changes being made to the sett. Notes relating to the portrait of Murdoch MacNeil painted by Macleay in 1868 refer to 'the newly designed MacNeill of Colonsay tartan.'