Hodden Gray tartan

[MacConnachie]

Hodden Grey is also mentioned in the song "The Star o' Rabbie Burns" (tho' he was but a ploughman lad, and wore the Hodden grey) in reference to the plain homespun dress of Burns.

Todd, is that the same as Is There For Honest Poverty (A Man's A Man, For A' That)?

Work for our local 2006 Burns' Nicht is proceeding ahead. Decorations this year will include a number of tartan samples, with the clans, districts, personages, etc. of each identified, for a' those wha be sae uninitiate.

Mac

[macwilkin]

Todd, is that the same as Is There For Honest Poverty (A Man's A Man, For A' That)?

Work for our local 2006 Burns' Nicht is proceeding ahead. Decorations this year will include a number of tartan samples, with the clans, districts, personages, etc. of each identified, for a' those wha be sae uninitiate.

Mac

Well, I'll swan...I forgot that RB mentions Hodden Grey in "A Man's a Man"! ;)

No, this is a song written in the 19th century, if memory serves me:

The Star o' Rabbie Burns

There is a star whose beaming ray
Is shed on ev'ry clime.
It shines by night, it shines by day
And ne'er grows dim wi' time.
It rose upon the banks of Ayr,
It shone on Doon's clear stream -
A hundred years are gane and mair,
Yet brighter grows its beam.

Chorus
Let kings and courtiers rise and fa',
This world has mony turns
But brightly beams aboon them a'
The star o' Rabbie Burns.

Though he was but a ploughman lad
And wore the hodden grey,
Auld Scotland's sweetest bard was bred
Aneath a roof o'strae.
To sweep the strings o'Scotia's lyre,
It needs nae classic lore;
It's mither wit an native fire
That warms the bosom's core.

Chorus

On fame's emblazon'd page enshrin'd
His name is foremost now,
And many a costly wreath's been twin'd
To grace his honest brow.
And Scotland's heart expands wi' joy
Whene'er the day returns
That gave the world its peasant boy
Immortal Rabbie Burns.

Chorus

--words by James Thomson and music by James Booth

Cheers,

Todd

[Moosehead]

Hodden was chosen by Lord Elcho so as not to suffer any fights amongst the tartaned Scots. That, and it was the standard homespun of the Highlands.

[Pleater]

The chestnut sort of colour I saw in some photos reminded me of the fleeces from Herdwick rams - they are a coarse wool sheep and the shepherds colour the rams using a red pigment - red ochre I think.

The natural colour is grey, which changes with the age of the beastie growing it - I think from dark to light.

I have some somewhere - but far too thick for weaving.

The red colour is very difficult to remove - it still comes through the process of cleaning and spinning - along with the smell of he sheep - so whenever the yarn is washed the water is tinged red and the air is - also tinged.

P.S.It is the same pigment used mixed with linseed oil to treat canvas sails and make them that dark reddish brown, and it was used to paint brickwork, particularly inside where it was important for hygene that the bricks are not absorbant - traditional dairy/farm buildings for instance.