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Highland mercenaries in the service of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden during the 30 years war.

by Brian Wilton, Director, Scottish Tartans Authority. Copyright © 2023 Scots Connection Kiltmakers, Huntly.

“The garb is certainly very loose and fits men inured to it to go through great marches, to bear out against the inclemency of the weather, to wade through rivers, to shelter in huts, woods and rocks on occasions...”

From the language one can guess that we’re not talking about our ambassadorial Tartan Army on its way to a European football fixture but of earlier times - 1747 to be exact and the comments refer to that quintessential forerunner of today’s kilt - the Féileadh mór . . . the philamhor . . .the great kilt . .. the Scottish garment seen in drawings and portraits of chiefs and clansmen, of statesmen and soldiers over a period of at least a couple of centuries.

Made of up to 11 metres (12 yards) of single width cloth, cut in half and then sewn down the long edge, the ubiquitous great plaid was worn with - and then replaced - the traditional saffron robes of the 15th and 16th centuries - the wealthier inhabitants of the Highlands being the first to convert to tartan. Single width cloth (70cm / 27.5 inches) was the norm at that time and reflected the limits of the hand-weaver’s reach when throwing the shuttle from side to side.

Over the decades many thousands of tourists have applauded the demonstrations of just how the Highlander donned his philamhor: first laying his broad leather belt on the ground and then covering it with his plaid and carefully pleating the lower end of it. Then lying face upwards on it so that the bottom edge reached between the middle of his thighs and his knees. Then he would pull the flat bits of the plaid around his waist forming a kind of skirt and fasten the belt to hold it all in place. When he stood up, the bottom part of the plaid would look almost like today's kilt and the spare material would hang from his waist down to the ground. Then he would gather up the spare material, bunch it around his waist and hang the surplus over his shoulder. To keep it in place he would fix it to his shirt or jacket with a large silver bodkin ( a kind of pin) or a round brooch often decorated with precious stones.

As a piece of heritage theatre this goes down very well but as a slice of historical fact, it leaves more than a little to be desired! Finding such floor space in a tiny croft (one end of which was often inhabited by animals) would be nigh impossible, as would popping outside to lay on the ground amongst the mud, chicken droppings and other domestic detritus. If circumstances dictated a hasty exit (approaching redcoats or rent-seeking landlord) then any such dressing routine would have been unthinkable.

Highlander wearing the Philamhor belted plaid.

Only in the last few years has written evidence come to light to prove what historians suspected had to be the case, and that is that loops were sewn into the philamhor through which the belt (or if they were on the inside, a cord) would be threaded and the philamhor hung on a peg for the night. Donning the garment was then no problem and the lack of precisely folded pleats would not have bothered the Highlander one jot. Were he higher up the social scale then evidence suggests that his pleats would have been permanently sewn into the plaid.

Out in his natural environment of hill and moor, the Highlander’s philamhor was the Johnnie a’thing of outdoor clothing. Just by folding and tucking he could engineer pockets galore that would hold game birds or rabbits, tools or weapons and any other essential items. In hot weather the top could hang down off the shoulders and be tucked into the belt; in inclement weather the spare fabric formed the forerunner of today’s ‘hoodie’ and sheltered the wearer from wind, rain and snow.

The Highlanders were the hardiest of individuals and sleeping outdoors in all weathers and seasons was frequently the norm. Cocooned in his trusty philamhor, the Highlander could be as cosy as if wrapped up in a modern 15 tog duvet. Unlike a duvet user, if there was an icy wind blowing or snow in the air or on the ground, the Highlander would immerse his philamhor in a stream or lochan, whereupon the wool fibres would swell and form a near impenetrable barrier to the elements. It’s also reported that in sub zero conditions he would do the same which would result in the formation of a protective skin of ice on the outside of the philamhor whilst he, with his warm, moist breath, would remain snug inside.

Colonel Stewart of Garth in his zippily titled 1822 work Sketches of the Character, Manners and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland tells that in the historical novel Memoirs of a Cavalier, Daniel Defoe (of Robinson Crusoe fame) wrote of the Scots army in 1640:

"I observed that these parties had always some foot with them, and yet if the horses galloped or pushed on ever so forward, the foot were as forward as they, which was, an extraordinary advantage. These were those they call Highlanders; they would run on foot with all their arms and all their accoutrements, and kept very good order too, and kept pace with the horses, let them go at what rate they would."

Garth then went on to say: “This almost incredible swiftness with which these people moved, in consequence of their light dress, and unshackled limbs, formed the military advantage of the garb, but, in the opinion of the Lord President Forbes, it possessed others, which he stated in a letter, objecting to its abolition (in 1747), and addressed to the Laird of Brodie, at that time Lord Lyon for Scotland.

‘And it is to be considered, that, as the Highlanders are circumstanced at present, it is, at least it seems to me to be, an utter impossibility, without the advantage of this dress, for the inhabitants to tend their cattle, and go through the other parts of their business, without which they could not subsist, not to speak of paying rents to their landlords.’"

Vague throwaway references can be found in literature of the 18th century mentioning the little kilt as the preferred form of ‘undress’ for the military who would wear it when in barracks — an eminently sensible habit when considering that the bulk of the traditional philamhor was totally unsuited to casual wear indoors. History tells us that those ‘little kilts’ were frequently the remains of cut-down well worn philamhors rather than specifically tailored garments.

However, there is one widely quoted explanation of the appearance of the little kilt that has been seized upon by many observers seeking to prick the bubble of overblown Scottish patriotism. It’s a fascinating report if taken at face value but the problem has arisen when the bubble-pricking observers have used it as a cudgel to denigrate and devalue other areas of quite legitimate Scottish pride in the country’s heritage

A perfect example is the late Hugh Trevor Roper’s posthumously published book in 2008 entitled The Invention of Scotland: Myth and History, a critique written in the mid-1970s of what Trevor-Roper regarded as the myths of Scottish nationalism. There were many grains of truth in Trevor-Roper’s work but his apparent need to live up to his reputation for “pitiless sarcasm and devastating mockery” overshadowed much of the work. His authentication of the fictitious Hitler Diaries in 1983 severely dented his academic credibility but the ‘kilt invented by an Englishman’ genie was well and truly out of the bottle.

What of that 18th century report? In the Edinburgh Magazine of 1785 there was a letter - written 17 years earlier - by an Ivan Baillie of Aberiachan - who claimed that the new form of kilt had been invented in 1725 by an English businessman Thomas Rawlinson who had established an ironworks at Invergarry near Fort William. Charcoal was part of the smelting process and Rawlinson observed how cumbersome and inconvenient the philamhor was for his tree-felling workmen - especially in wet weather - and decided to ‘abridge’ it. A local tailor separated the upper and lower portions and thus was ‘born’ the little kilt. Rawlinson’s business partner was Ian MacDonnell, the Glengarry Chief who was so taken with the innovation that he actively promoted it far and wide.

MacIan print of Highlanders wearing kilts and plaids separately.

On the surface there’s no reason to question this story although a cynic could query why a 1725 ‘invention’ wasn’t documented until 43 years later and then wasn’t published until 17 years after that. One could also view with some suspicion, Rawlinson’s Highlanders agreeing to having their valuable philamhors sliced in half, rendering them useless for conventional wear. Perhaps they were rich enough to have two!

Common sense and historical evidence tells us however that the small kilt was an uneventful and natural evolution of the philamhor in many parts of the Highlands and the Glengarry episode - as the only documented explanation to have been discovered - has assumed an importance far beyond its real significance.

by Scots Connection, Specialists in Scottish tartans. Copyright © 2023

F SCOTLAND'S MANY ICONS, tartan is the most instantly recognisable. From the Highland Games circuits of North America and Europe to the fashion catwalks of Milan, its provenance is unmistakable. It is Scotland's very own international brand identity, and what makes this all the more remarkable is that no other country lays claim to it.

In the course of excavations at Qizilchoqa, a city that existed two millennia ago in the Taklimakan Desert, near Hami in North West China, three tombs were unearthed containing the mummified remains of four Caucasian men and two women. All were red headed and dressed in a tartan patterned cloth. Who were they? It's suggested that they belonged to a Celtic tribe who migrated along the silk road rather than taking the westward route favoured by most Celts, across Europe from the plains of Hungary, to colonise Spain, northern France, Ireland and parts of west coast Britain between the 1st and 6th centuries.

Similar ancient weaves attributed to the same Celtic provenance were discovered at Ancient Troy in Turkey, and are today in the collection of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. But does this provide incontrovertible proof that it was our ancient Celtic ancestors who invented tartan? Probably not, but it surely confirms that they were weaving and wearing it long before they set foot in Scotland.

Falkirk Tartan Textile Fragment

In 1933, during an archaeological dig at Falkirk, an earthenware pot containing Roman coins and two scraps of two-toned woolen fabric was unearthed. The coins dated from between 83BC and 230AD, so it was considered safe to assume that the cloth was from the 3rd century when Falkirk was under Roman occupation. But once again the questions arise. Was tartan design imported into Scotland by the Romans? Or was it already in use by the time they arrived?

Tradition has it that the Scots, a settled Celtic ethnic grouping from Northern Ireland, created Dál Riata (otherwise known as Dalriada) on the western seaboard of Scotland, a hundred years or more after the Romans departed. However, the time-span of their arrival in Kintyre, Lorn, and Cowal, is often disputed, and since Ulster is only a few sea miles distance across the North Channel, it seems only logical that there must have been constant earlier comings and goings through the centuries.

Pictish carvings, such as those found on bone at Burray (Fossil & Vintage Centre) on Orkney, the sculptured stones of fighting warriors at Glamis, or the fearsome Rhynie Man, depict male figures in tunics but none of these images suggest that their clothes were patterned.

From the earliest documentation, Scotland’s Highlanders were described as “savages”, referring to the bareness of their legs and general nakedness. However, it is patently evident that their everyday attire, or lack of it, was employed for practical use, hunting and fighting, not for show. It was not until the 16th century that the existence of patterned cloth in Scotland was confirmed by an entry in the Treasurer's Accounts of 1538 which tells us that King James V had ordered an outfit of “Hieland tartane”.

And ten years later, the French historian Jean de Beaugue observes that Highlander soldiers taking part in the Siege of Haddington were attired in “a light covering of wool of many colours.” Then in 1703, an account of how the ancient the garb of the Gael was created is given by Martin Martin, Macleod of Macleod's Skye-born factor. In Description of the Western Isles of Scotland, he observes that: “The plaid worn only be men is of fine wool, the thread as fine as can be made of that kind, it consists of diverse colours and there is a great deal of ingenuity required in sorting out the colours, so as to be agreeable to the nicest fancy. For this reason, the women are at great pains, first to give an exact pattern to the plaid upon a piece of wood, having the number of every thread of the stripe upon it.”

Portrait of Alastair Mhor Grant, Champion of the Clan Grant, c. 1714, Richard Waitt

It is the ingenuity of the thread count that gives a tartan its individuality, not so much the colours employed, and what makes this especially remarkable is that such a mathematically ingenious formula was being manufactured in remote communities which were largely dismissed as primitive by the more populous regions of the South. It furthermore indicates that a sophisticated tribal society was emerging and it would soon be possible to identify districts from the colour patterns manufactured from the plant dyes available locally.

And it was in this way, almost unintentionally, that clan tartans evolved. The majority of Highlanders would have made use of the material that was available to them locally, but others, especially those who travelled around the country, might easily have seen it as a fashion statement in much the same way that someone today selects a tweed. Look no further than the group of portraits commissioned by Sir James Grant of Grant from the artist Richard Waitt between 1713 and 1726. Each clansman is shown wearing a different tartan.

Sinclair Clanswoman, Robert Ronald McIan, 1845

Over the 19th century, the wearing of Highland dress on both formal and informal occasions, accelerated. With the British Royal Family annually in residence in Aberdeenshire, Scottish Highland dress acquired an unexpected sophistication. Consider, for example, R.R. McIan's fanciful series of the costumes of the clans drawn for the Highland Society in 1845. Tartan can make any plumage look dowdy while Scottish Highland dress is uniformly dignified and impressive and adapts to every occasion.

And by the early 20th century, great Scottish entertainers such as Sir Harry Lauder had carried the traditions overseas, connecting with the thousands of expatriate Scots who were, by then, established in the New World. The wearing of the kilt and its accessories, albeit occasionally caricatured and made comical, rapidly became an international symbol of Scotland's pride. Nowhere is this more impressive than in the Kirkin o' the Tartan traditions of North America.

Nova Scotia Tartan

In the third millennium, Scottish clans and families worldwide have a wide and colourful choice of patterns and colours to choose from, but not everyone needs to belong to a clan to be eligible to wear a tartan. Australia has its very own plaid, as does Canada, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec, Ohio, Texas, Washington and New York. Even Scotch whisky companies, fashion designers, membership organisations, airlines, and countless manufacturing and commercial interests have registered exclusive thread counts.

Pipe Bands, Gordon Street, Huntly, Aberdeenshire

In 1991, responding to action which had already been initiated by the Clans & Scottish Societies of Canada, the Ontario Legislature passed a resolution to create the 6th April, the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, National Tartan Day. America followed this example in 1998, when Senate Resolution 155 for a National Tartan Day, proposed by the US Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, was passed unanimously.

Tartan Day is therefore celebrated annually across Canada and the United States of America. However, in New Zealand and Australia, Tartan Day falls on 1st July, commemorating the date of the repeal of the Act of Prescription in 1782.

In 2008, the Scottish Register of Tartan Act received Royal Assent, and, in February 2009, the Scottish Register of Tartans was launched by the National Archives of Scotland (NAS). The Register is maintained by the NAS to provide an official focal point for tartan design and production, as well as for genealogical research. Data from the two private registers already in existence, the Scottish Tartan Authority and the Scottish Tartans World Register, has been amalgamated in the new Register. The Keeper of the Records of Scotland is now also the Keeper of the Scottish Register of Tartans, and the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms retains a supporting role.

The Scottish Register of Tartans Act 2008 specifies the criteria which new tartans are required to meet and the official vetting processes have been introduced to promote and protect the status of registered tartans.