English Tartans?
©2008
Matthew A. C. Newsome, FSA Scot, GTS
originally published in The Scottish Banner, February 2008.
Tartan
is recognized the world over as being associated with Scotland. Though
people across the globe have woven material with a striped pattern running
warp and weft, only in Scotland has it taken on such a strong cultural
significance, to the point where a system has developed of wearing tartans
to represent one’s clan, family, or place of origin.
However, in recent years, the tartan phenomenon has spread beyond Scotia’s
borders. This is usually manifested in the creation of district tartans.
Prime examples would be places where the Scots have settled and made an
impact in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Other nations that
share a common Celtic heritage have also gotten in on the tartan game, most
notably Ireland and Wales. The tartan craze has even spread beyond the
British Isles to Europe, where one can find tartans for Brittany, Austria,
Germany and Norway, among other places.
Despite this rampant spread of tartan, people of English heritage have
always assumed they are left out of the club. Why would one expect to find
tartans for the English, who have been historic enemies of the Scots? The
truth is that Scotland has a long historical relationship with her neighbor
to the south. Even though that relationship has often been antagonistic, it
is reflected in many tartans for English regions.
Perhaps the oldest is the Northumberland tartan, otherwise known as the
Shepherd’s plaid. This simple black and white design has long been
associated with Scotland’s border region, and was subsequently adopted for
use by the Duke of Northumberland’s piper, possibly as early as 1760. Today
it is regarded as the proper district tartan for Northumberland, England’s
northernmost county, and is marketed by the Northumberland Tartan Company.
In
1982 a competition was held to select a tartan for Berwick-upon-Tweed, which
was won by Alison Wilkinson, a student a Berwick High School. Berwick is
England’s most northerly town, and is located in Northumberland. At various
times in history, it has been under both English and Scottish control. The
colors in this tartan were chosen symbolically. Black, red and gold are the
heraldic colors of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Grey represents the stone buildings
of the town. Blue represents the River Tweed, and green the surrounding
hills. This tartan has been produced in both symmetric and asymmetrical
forms.
The
second most northerly town in England is Norham-upon-Tweed. According to
legend it was here that St. Aidan crossed the Tweed on his journey from Iona
to Lindisfarne in 635 AD. Just across the river from Norham sits the
village of Ladykirk in Scotland. Many pupils from both Norham and Ladykirk
attend the Norham First School. At the request of the school a tartan was
designed for the Norham and Ladykirk area in 2001 by Ronnie Hek, a tartan
designer whose child attended the school.
While
we are in the north of England, there is a tartan for Yorkshire, as well.
The Duke of York tartan has its origins in the red Inverness tartan, which
was originally worn by Augustus, Earl of Inverness, and son of King George
III. A version of this tartan was later produced with a blue ground and
worn by King George V while he was Earl of Inverness and Duke of York. It
has been called both the Duke of York tartan and Inverness Hunting. Much
more recently Kinloch Anderson has produced a green-based “Duke of York
Hunting” tartan for the present Duke of York, HRH The Prince Andrew.
(Incidentally, my own surname of Newsome is of Yorkshire origin).
Durham County is bordered by both Northumberland and Yorkshire. Renowned
tartan weavers Wilsons of Bannockburn record a “Durham” tartan in their 1847
pattern book. Why it is named such is uncertain. It could be that they
produced this tartan for a client from Durham. In other records, this
tartan is called “Denholm,” which is a village in the Scottish Borders. An
older form of the name “Durham” is “Dunholm.” So some confusion exists as
to the exact origins of this tartan, but it could potentially be another
early English district tartan.
Wilsons of Bannockburn was not the only commercial producer of tartan cloth
in the nineteenth century. The firm of Bolingbroke and Jones produced
tartan (as well as other cloth), in Norwich, England, from about 1850 until
they closed in 1886. Some of the patterns they produced were identical to
those being woven by Wilsons of Bannockburn. Others were quite unique.
There is no official tartan for the Norwich/Norfolk region, but perhaps one
of these historic tartans could be adopted!
Further south one finds Devon, England’s third largest county. In 1984 Roy
Sheard designed two different Devon tartans. The original is worn by the
North Devon Pipes & Drums The colors of dark green, white, grey, brown and
yellow were chosen to be symbolic of the region. It proved popular enough
that a second companion tartan was also created, this one with a blue
background to emphasize the seafaring tradition of the region.
The
Devon tartans were themselves inspired by the success of the Cornish
tartans. There have been several tartans designed for Cornwall over the
years, but the most popular is the original yellow and black tartan created
in 1963 by E. E. Morton-Nance. In 1983 a green-based variation of this
tartan was introduced as the Cornish Hunting tartan. Other Cornish tartans
include the St. Piran and the St. Piran dress. The ancient Kingdom of
Cornwall was the last part of England to surrender to the Saxons in 838 AD.
It is named after the Celtic Cerniw people who sought refuge in this
region of southwest Britain during the invasion of the Angles, Saxons and
Jutes.
We
are nearing the end of our space for this month, but there are more English
tartans yet. If you or your family hail from Sheffield, Somerset,
Tweedmouth, or Tyneside, there is a tartan for you!
PICTURE: TOP TO BOTTOM: Northumberland,
Duke of York, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Devon
