How many Colquhoun tartans are there?

[Steve Ashton]

Perhaps the best way to search Tartans is to go to the Govt. of Scotland "Scottish Register of Tartan".

You can search a-z, by color, date, designer etc.

https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/search

There are around 12,000 Tartans. All have some name. But a regional, corporate or even a fashion Tartan is just as real as one with a family name. And name is not all you look at. For example someone can carry the name Campbell and not be part of the Campbell Highland Clan. It really depends on where your people come from.

The vast majority of Scots lived in the cities and the lowlands. These people were not part of the Highland Clan system, may not have worn kilts, and may not have had a Tartan.


Now, about this naming thing. It all comes down to the fabric weaving companies.

See, when we design a Tartan we may say something like - "So many yarns of Green, followed by so many yarns of Black" For the Green we use the letter "G". It does not always specify which color Green.

So - One weaver chose to use the deep, vivid colors produced by the modern aniline dyes and call this the "Modern" color version.
They also change the colors to simulate what this Tartan may have looked like if using natural dyes and call this version "Ancient"
They then change the colors again to simulate what the Tartan may have looked like if left out in the sun and faded for many years and call this version "Weathered".

And yet all of these versions are the same thread count - so the exact same Tartan.

[figheadair]

In th eOP do you mean how many are there or how many are there available to the public? The two are not the same thing in this and many cases of traditional clan type tartans i.e. tartans associated with the larger clans.

Perhaps the best way to search Tartans is to go to the Govt. of Scotland "Scottish Register of Tartan".

The problem with the SRT is that it was formed from a combination of two older databases with some records from the Scottish Tartans Authority and others from the Scottish World Register of Tartans. The staff at the SRT have very limited knowledge about tartans and did (and continue to) do checking of the data. As a result there are many errors, duplications and omissions in the records. And so it is with the Colquhoun tartans. Their Colquhoun #2 and #3 are the same tartan and so do not require a separate entry. The so called origins and correct setting of the so called Fruin Colquhoun is a bit of a mystery with at least three different settings on record. I need to work this though when I have a moment.

In answer to the OP I would say 3.

1. The original sett per Wilsons of Bannockburn.
2. The Vestiarium version which was a variation on the first, either by error or design.
3. Colquhoun, Dress.

I'm not a fan of Dress tartans for men and would recommend sticking with the original. You then have a choice of the different colourways: Old, Modern, Muted, Reproduction and Weathered. None are as nice as the origianl Wilsons' shades but they are not available ex-stock and would need to be a special weave.

There are around 12,000 Tartans. All have some name.

Steve, that figure is a bit high (the SRT started their additions at 11,000 to keep a separation from the STA Db numbers they incorporated). We have around 9,700 on our Db, including all those on the Register.

It's also not the case that all have some name unless one regards entries such as Wilsons' No.21 as a name. Ditto all those in our database classified as Unnamed or Unidentified.