Mythbusters: Campbell Tartan

[David Thorpe]

..with red stripes looks liek[sic] Atholl...

I have seen the Red Hackle tartan which is the Black Watch with a thin red stripe. Are there others with this feature? I know that there are many adaptations of Black Watch with various stripes added and/or color substitutions. Could Black Watch be the most "prolific" tartan ever in that respect?

[KenB]

I have seen the Red Hackle tartan which is the Black Watch with a thin red stripe. Are there others with this feature? I know that there are many adaptations of Black Watch with various stripes added and/or color substitutions. Could Black Watch be the most "prolific" tartan ever in that respect?

I'd be interested in seeing what Mr. Newsome has to offer as to the prolific nature of the Black Watch tartan. I also wonder if Royal Stewart isn't in the same boat.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I'd be interested in seeing what Mr. Newsome has to offer as to the prolific nature of the Black Watch tartan. I also wonder if Royal Stewart isn't in the same boat.

Certainly the Royal Stewart motif is repeated quite often, but not quite as prolifically as the Black Watch, and for different reasons. Many of the popular color variations of the Royal Stewart tartan retain the name Stewart (Dress Stewart, Black Stewart, Dress Blue Stewart, Camel Stewart, etc.). Others do not, such as Clodagh and Macbeth, but the origins of many of these lie in the fashion world rather than with the military or the clans themselves. There are a few so-called "Irish family" tartans that are simple color changes from the Royal Stewart, such as O'Farrell and Shaughnessy. I can imagine a weaver getting an request for a non-existing Irish name tartan and simply creating one to order by changing the colors of a preexisting tartan. (The popular Tara tartan is simply a color change of MacLean of Duart).

The many Black Watch variations were done with specific purpose in order to identify a particular military regiment, and in most cases these were later adopted by the clans. So we have tartan created for the Gordon Highlanders now regarded as the Gordon clan tartan. The tartan worn by the Seaforth Highlanders is now the MacKenzie clan tartan. The tartan designed for the Loyal Clan Donnachaidh Volunteers is now the Hunting Roberston tartan. Even the Black Watch tartan itself has been adopted by the clans Campbell, Munro, and Grant.