The claymore is one of the most recognizable swords in history. A uniquely Scottish hand-and-a-half style of sword, first appearing at the beginning of the sixteenth Century, it is almost certainly a development of the Scots-Irish single hand style of sword. Shorter and lighter, in general, than the continental Two-Hander, the average Claymore ran about 55 inches in over all length, with a 13 inch grip and a 42 inch blade. Fairly uniform in style, the sword was set with a wheel pommel often capped by a crescent shaped nut and a guard with straight, down sloping arms ending in quatrefoils and langets running down the center of the blade from the guard. Every able bodied man in the Highlands carried arms, as can be attested to by John Hume in the passage below written on his experience as a prisoner after the battle of Falkirk (1746). "Thy [the Highlanders] always appeared like warriors; as if their arms [weapons] had been limbs and members of their bodies they were never seen without them; they travelled, they attended fairs and markets, nay they went to church with their broadswords and dirks;"

The most recognized form of the Highland Claymore came into being around the end of the 15th century. Because there are so few original claymores in existence today, most of the information as to style and form comes from burial tombs that depicted the effigy of the buried person with a sword of that period.

By the end of the sixteenth century it seemed to be reaching the end of its active life and complex development. Although it probably continued in use well into the 17th century, the basket hilt sword was soon to replace it completely.

Today, the Claymore stands as a great symbol of Scottish heritage.