Everything about Northumbrian Tartan totally explained
Northumbrian Tartan, sometimes known as "Shepherds' Plaid" or "Border Drab," is a design used in woven fabrics historically associated with
Northumbria and surrounding areas.
(External Link
)]
Northumbrian Tartan is a crossweave of small dark and light checks, much plainer than the better-known
Scottish tartans (External Link). Traditionally, the yarn for the light squares was simply untreated sheeps' wool and the darker yarn was the same wool dyed with simple vegetable dyes, such as alder bark or water flag, or the untreated wool of a black sheep.
(External Link).
Modern Northumbrian Tartans are almost invariably a bold black and white check, but historically the light squares were the yellowish colour of untreated wool, with the dark squares any of a range of dark grays, greens or browns; hence the alternative name of "Border Drab." At a distance the checks blend together making the fabric ideal
camouflage for stalking game.
The tartan is probably one of the oldest in existence and certainly predates all Scottish tartans
(External Link). Fragments have been discovered dating back to Roman times. In his "
Commentaries on the Gallic War" (
Commentarii de Bello Gallico),
Julius Caesar mentions a black and white check fabric worn by the northern
Britons.
Sir Walter Scott was famed for wearing trousers of Northumbrian Tartan, thus starting a fashion for checked clothing in Victorian London.
(External Link)
In
Sketches by Boz, a collection of short pieces published by
Charles Dickens, "The Shepherds' Plaid" is mentioned.
(External Link)
The Northumbrian Tartan has long been worn by the retainers of the
House of Percy. In
1760 it was adopted as the official tartan of the
Duke of Northumberland's piper. It is also the official plaid for pipers of the
Northumberland Fusiliers (External Link).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Northumbrian Tartan'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://northumbrian_tartan.totallyexplained.com">Northumbrian tartan Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
