History of Tartan

                     Tartan is described in the dictionary as:

a. Any of numerous textile patterns consisting of stripes of varying widths and colours crossed at right angles against a solid background, each forming a distinctive design worn by the members of a Scottish clan. 

Connotations of tartan include royalty and the upper class, Scottish clans, the working class and the punk rock movement. As well as the use of tartan in a historical context I have also been exploring the use of tartan in modern society, including in both the fashion and interior design industries.

History of tartan:
 Many people instantly think of Scotland when they think of tartan however according to the expert textile historian E.J.W Barber, the Hallstatt culture produced tartan like fabric in 100 BC to 400 BC. In her book Prehistoric textiles: The Development of cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Age she writes 'in Austria, Switzerland, Eastern France and unearthed in Salzburg's salt mines were tartans created from fibres of copper reds, blues and greens'.  Examples have also been found in Greece.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1830951/posts
Accessed Feb 2012

Up until the early 16th century there were no traces of tartan in Scotland. But in the late 16th century stripes and checks started to appear and tartan appeared to be gaining in popularity. 
The popularity of the tartan fabric increased when the George IV visited Edinburgh in the year 1822. He was the first monarch to visit Scotland in the last 171 years. A great event and festival was arranged and everyone was attending the festival wearing the tartan array which was the reason of the increased popularity of the tartan. Queen Victoria with her husband went to Scottish Highlands and hires an architect to re-design the estate. And there the Prince Albert himself made a great use of tartan. The queen designed the Victoria and prince designed the Balmoral tartan which is still used as a royal tartan.

The earliest documented tartan in Britain, known as the "Falkirk" tartan, dates from the 3rd century AD. It was uncovered in the mouth of an earthenware pot in Falkirk in Scotland, about 400 metres north-west of the Antonine Wall. This particular tartan is made of a simple check design, formed from natural light and dark wool.
 


http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/tartan-history.html- accessed Feb 2012

Early types of tartan like this are thought to have been invented in pre-Roman times, and would have been popular among the inhabitants of the northern provinces of the Romans.


It is not until the early 18th century that any kind of  tartan is associated with a particular region. In Martin Martin's book;  A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, published in 1703, he wrote that Scottish tartans could be used to distinguish the inhabitants of different regions. He also mentions that the patterns and colours of the various tartans varied from isle to isle. At this point he does not mention the distinction of patterns between families.
From 1725 the government force of the Highland Independent Companies introduced a standardised tartan chosen to avoid associations of certain patterns with specific clans, and this was formalised when they became the Black Watch regiment in 1739.



Examples of Scottish clan tartans-http://www.squidoo.com/Scottish-Clans accessed Feb 2012

In 1746 tartans were banned except for the Highland regiments of the British army.  The Act was repealed in 1782. By the 19th century tartan interest increased in popularity, mainly due to a visit by King George IV which brought a sudden demand for tartan cloth when he invited the chiefs to dress their men in their clan tartans, all ‘plaided and plumed' at his welcome pageant. Many clans had specific colours due to the availability of natural dyes in their particular region.
 
The Mclaren tartan (a name in my ancestry)
^{http://www.lochcarron.com/reiver/maclaren.html - accessed Feb 2012}