Border tartan
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The current title of this article, Border tartan, is disputed. An alternate proposed title is Northumberland tartan. Alternate proposed titles are: Northumbrian tartan.
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Border tartan, sometimes known as "Northumbrian tartan", "Shepherds' Plaid" or "Border Drab," is a design used in woven fabrics historically associated with the Anglo-Scottish Border, including the Scottish Borders and Northumberland.
The modern Border tartan is a crossweave of small dark and light checks, much plainer than the better-known Scottish tartans [1]. Traditionally, the yarn for the light squares was simply untreated sheep's 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. [2].
Modern Border 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.
This style of tartan is one of the oldest in existence [3] as fragments of similar tartans have been found in Great Britain and Jutland.
One similar fragment was discovered in an earthenware pot filled with silver coins, at the Antonine Wall in Falkirk (giving it the name Falkirk Sett). The Falkirk tartan is one of the earliest check designs found in the British Isles and dates back to Roman times (around the 3rd century BCE). It is now kept in the National Museum of Scotland. The Celts were said by Roman scholars to wear bright stripes, that some have suggested are actually descriptions of the brighter variants of tartan. [4]]
Whatever its origins, the use of the Border tartan in the area can only be attested from the 15th century when it was in use by Shepherds in various parts of the Great Britain,[1] it being possibly the easiest tartan to create due to its use of natural colours and undyed wool[5] [6].
Sir Walter Scott was famed for wearing trousers of Border tartan, thus starting a fashion for checked clothing in Victorian London. [7]
In Sketches by Boz, a collection of short pieces published by Charles Dickens, "The Shepherds' Plaid" is mentioned. [8]
The Border 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 [9].
