Wrapping the Braveheart kilt

[Dughlas mor]

I`m fascinated by the discussion. It occurs to me that these ancient highlanders had homes, and I doubt they sought out opportunities to wrap themselves in their great kilts and sleep on the ground in sub freezing conditions. I believe cattle, for the most part, were worked from spring through fall. They were hardy souls, no doubt, but even hardy souls will die of exposure at some point. I`m sure they new the limits of their gear, and I would think that the great kilt would be, at most, the equivalent of a modern three season sleeping bag. I have slept in such at about -20F, and it wasn`t a very good sleep.

[Calgacus]

Re: the "Belted Plaid":
From: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...dsketches5.htm

"... they love chiefly purple and blue; their predecessors used short mantles, or plaids of divers colours, sundrie ways divided, and among some the same custom is observed to this day; but, for the most part now, they are brown, most near to the colour of the hadder, to the effect when they lye among the hadders, the bright colour of their plaids shall not bewray them, with the which rather coloured than clad, they suffer the most cruel tempests that blow in the open fields, in such sort, that in a night of snow they sleep sound."

" The belted plaid, which was generally double, or in two folds, formed, when let down so as to envelop the whole person, a shelter from the storm, and a covering in which the wearer wrapt himself up in full security, when he lay down fearlessly among the heather. This, if benighted in his hunting excursions, or on a distant visit, he by no means considered it a hardship; nay, so little was he disturbed by the petty miseries which many feel from inclement weather, that, in storms of snow, frost, or wind, he would dip the plaid in water, and, wrapping himself up in it when moistened, lie down on the heath. The plaid thus swelled with moisture was supposed to resist the wind, so that the exhalation from the body."

.. Seems to me that he is saying that the cloth was folded in half (i.e.: fold the Length in half, then wrap in it. ). There is also a painting of a clan piper ( which I can't find right now) that seems to show two edges, at the edge of the over apron, which would support this idea.

(Found an image of the painting; grant piper - notice, on his right side, how a fold clearly shows the fabric doubled?)
Attachment 21967
.. Just saying ....

Aha! My goodness, I can't believe I've not spotted this before, thank you so much!

The reason I say that is I believe that at least some belted plaids were worn with the cloth first doubled. I even brought up the possibility in a thread last year, though the idea was rather dismissed. I came to the conclusion after reading this article:-

http://www.scottishtartans.co.uk/A_H..._MacGregor.pdf

It seems to me that the only way this particular garment makes sense is if it were folded in half first. I realise this is a revival plaid, but I hope my argument stands.

I also happened to stumble over the same article last night that you have just posted and also wondered if this description was saying the same thing.

There is also a practical reason for folding the cloth in half first. This provides you with two layers of cloth over your upper body when it is worn as a cloak in bad weather, whereas the other method does not. In practice, I have found that on a typical Scottish wet day, the rain can saturate and penetrate one layer of woolen cloth, but not two. The lower layer gets a bit wet, sure, but most of the water is channeled off by the top layer, a bit like a double-skinned tent.

So, if the plaid were first folded in half, this means that the garment was now only 2-3 yards by 2 yards in size. Fold half a dozen pleats, slip a belt under, and strap it on. Not so hard really?

I shall post my original thread on this subject if I can find it.

*Edit* Here it is:-

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...g-plaid-80544/

[Calgacus]

I find the dimension of the great kilt interesting to wonder about, but only so-so. Also, I'm firmly in the match coat cap when it comes to the wearing of one.

I respectfully disagree, however see my post above about first folding the cloth in half. This brings the garment somewhat closer to a matchcoat in design. Maybe the two concepts are not quite as far apart as they might at first appear.

However, what bothers me the most is the idea that something said to be made of cloth the same weight as used in modern kilts was used for both shelter and a blanket. I just can't see it. I've a lot of experience sleeping outdoors on cold wet nights, even down to 20 or 30 degrees below zero F. If all I had was a double thickness of 16 ounce tartan to wrap in I'd use it, but experience has taught me that at some point during the night I'd freeze my off. Even a double layer of wool army blankets isn't enough to keep you warm once the temps go below freezing.

Hard though it is to believe, the physical and documentary evidence suggests that this is exactly what they did. Our ancestors must have been a hardy bunch indeed!

As a shelter, a double width of tartan cloth might be pitched as a lean-to to block wind and partially keep the rain or drizzle off, but it's going to become soggy, and who wants to put on cold wet clothes first thing on a cold damp windy day?

There's no evidence to suggest they used the cloth as a lean-to. Besides, in most parts of the highlands, then as now, there were no trees to use as supports. I shall post a couple of links below to contemporary accounts that explain how the plaids were used to create bedding. See also jhockin's post containing another account.

I know it sounds cool, that ye olde higlanders would use there woolen wrappers for shelter and bedding. But based on my own experience, I just can't get my head around it. I just can't imagine anything used for clothing, shelter and beding being any lighter than a blanket.

Yes, it is hard to believe but the evidence is there. We should remember that we are cosseted by central heating, air conditioning, and insulated homes. We travel everywhere in heated or cooled cars, trains and buses. These people spent their lives largely outdoors or in very basic houses, which by today's standards would be described as huts at best. I guess they were just used to it!

By the way, Wilde Weavery was know for producing the warmest wool blankets available. They cater to the reenactor trade. And a Wild blanket was considered the ultimate piece of gear. I'f I were going to live in a great kilt world, I'd try to get a Wilde blanket for starters.

You big softie

Oh! Just one more thought. Would the wool used in a great kilt have been made of wool that had the lanolin removed, like modern kilting fabric, or would it have been made of raw wool with the lanolin left in? That would make a lot of difference in its worth as outdoor shelter and bedding.

Interesting point. I think it's mentioned in one of the links I've already posted, but if not, I definitely read yesterday that the cloth used was 'raw' unwashed wool, not fulled and not waulked.

Finally, just wondering, has any off this informed the decision on how to costume the Scots in the production of McBeth.

I apologise to the OP for taking this thread quite some distance from its starting point, but I think the discussion has been an important one.

[Calgacus]

I`m fascinated by the discussion. It occurs to me that these ancient highlanders had homes, and I doubt they sought out opportunities to wrap themselves in their great kilts and sleep on the ground in sub freezing conditions. I believe cattle, for the most part, were worked from spring through fall. They were hardy souls, no doubt, but even hardy souls will die of exposure at some point. I`m sure they new the limits of their gear, and I would think that the great kilt would be, at most, the equivalent of a modern three season sleeping bag. I have slept in such at about -20F, and it wasn`t a very good sleep.

They did have homes, though they were very basic by modern standards. In winter, they lived in houses in the lower glens and tended their crops. Their cattle lived inside the house with them for mutual warmth, sectioned off at one end of the house. Here's a photo from inside one of these houses, now a museum-

normal_Blackhouse 2 Interior 2.JPG

In summer, they drove their cattle up into pastures called 'sheilings' high in the hills. There, they lived in huts called 'bothies' which may or may not have had stone walls, some being made of branches and covered with turf and heather, and shaped either like beehives or tepees.

The times when they would have had to sleep out of doors include travel, when herding the cattle in summer (the word for a herdsman is 'buachaille'), when droving cattle, which took place in the autumn (fall) and involved travelling from the Highlands to the lowlands, or even into England, buying cattle in ones and twos as you went, then selling them in the lowland markets at Creiff and Falkirk, or in England. Finally, they would have slept out of doors when reiving (cattle rustling) or when campaigning in battle. There as a campaigning 'season' which ran from roughly some time in April to some time in September, however they did fight outwith that season, as attested to by battles such as Culloden.

Here are a couple of excerpts which give a flavour-

"The garb is certainly very loose, and fits men inured to it to go through great marches, to bear out against the inclemency of' the weather, to wade through rivers, to shelter in huts, woods, and rocks, on occasions when men dressed in the low country garb could not endure. And it is to be considered, that, as the Highlanders are circumstanced at present, it is, at least it seems to me to be, an utter impossibility, without the advantage of this dress, for the inhabitants to tend their cattle, and go through the other parts of their business, without which they could not subsist, not to speak of paying rents to their landlords."


One from before 1597-

"They delight in marbled cloths,especially that have long stripes of sundrie colours; they lovechiefly purple and blue ; their predecessors used short mantles, orplaids of divers colours, sundrie ways divided, and among some thesame custom is observed to this day ; but, for the most part now,they are brown, most near to the colour of the hadder (heather), tothe effect when they lye among the hadders, the bright colour oftheir plaids shall not betray them, with the which, rather colouredthan clad, they suffer the most cruel tempests that blow in theopen fields, in such sort, that in a night of snow they sleepsound."


From 1822, pieced together from a number of older sources?-

"The point of personal decoration once secured, it mattered not to the Highlander that his dwelling was mean, his domestic utensils scanty and of the simplest construction, and his house and furniture merely such as could be prepared by his own hands. He was his own cooper, carpenter, and shoemaker, while his wife improved the value of his dress by her care and pride in preparing the materials. To be his own tailor or weaver he thought beneath him; these occupations were left to such as, from deficiency in strength, courage, or natural ability, were disqualified for the field or the chace.
One part of the Highland habit consisted of truis. These were both breeches and stockings in one piece, were made to fit perfectly close to the limbs, and were worn principally by gentlemen on horseback. The waistcoat and short coat were adorned with silver buttons, tassels, embroidery, or lace, according to the fashion of the times. But the arrangements of the belted plaid were of greatest importance in the toilet of a Highlandman of fashion. This was a piece of tartan two yards in breadth, and four in length, which surrounded the waist in large plaits, or folds, adjusted with great nicety, and confined by a belt, buckled tight round the body. While the lower part came down to the knees, the other was drawn up and adjusted to the left shoulder, leaving the right arm uncovered, and at full liberty.

In wet weather, the plaid was thrown loose, and covered both shoulders and body; and when the use of both arms was required, it was fastened across the breast by a large silver bodkin, or circular brooch, often enriched with precious stones, or imitations of them, having mottos engraved, consisting of allegorical and figurative sentences. These were also employed to fix the plaid on the left shoulder. A large purse of goat's or badger's skin, answering the purpose of a pocket, and ornamented with a silver or brass mouth-piece, and many tassels, hung before. A dirk, with a knife and fork stuck in the side of the sheath, and sometimes a spoon, together with a pair of steel pistols, were essential accompaniments. The bonnet, which gentlemen generally wore with one or more feathers, completed the national garb.

The dress of the common people differed only in the deficiency of finer or brighter colours, and of silver ornaments, being otherwise essentially the same; a tuft of heather, pine, holly, or oak, supplying the place of feathers in the bonnet. The garters were broad, and of rich colours, wrought in a small primitive kind of loom, the use of which is now little known, and formed a close texture, which was not liable to wrinkle, but which kept the pattern in full display, f The silver buttons were frequently found among the better and more provident of the lower ranks,-an inheritance often of long descent. The belted plaid, which was generally double, or in two folds, formed, when let down so as to envelope the whole person, a shelter from the storm, and a covering in which the wearer wrapt himself up in full security, when he lay down fearlessly among the heather. This, if benighted in his hunting ,excursions, or on a distant visit, he by no means considered a hardship; nay, so little was he disturbed by the petty miseries which others feel from inclement weather, that, in storms of snow, frost, or wind, he would dip the plaid in water, and, wrapping himself up in it when moistened, lie down on the heath. The plaid thus swelled with moisture was supposed to resist the wind, so that the exhalation from the body during sleep might surround the wearer with an atmosphere of warm vapour.

On dyeing and and arranging the various colours of their tartans, they displayed no small art and taste, preserving at the same time the distinctive patterns (or sets, as they were called) of the different clans, tribes, families, and districts. Thus a Macdonald, a Campbell, a Mackenzie, &c. was known by his plaid and in like manner the Athole, Glenorchy and other colours of different districts, were easily distinguishable. Besides those general divisions, industrious housewives had patterns, distinguished by the set, superior quality, and fineness of cloth, or brightness and variety of the colours. In those times when mutual attachment and confidence subsisted between the proprietors and occupiers of land in the Highlands, the removal of tenants, except in remarkable cases, rarely occurred, and consequently it was easy to preserve and perpetuate any particular set or pattern, even among the lower orders."



From 1878, but informative none the less-

"The life of a Highland poacher is a far different one from that of an Englishman following the same profession. Instead of a sneaking night-walking ruffian, a mixture of cowardice and ferocity, as most English poachers are, and ready to commit any crime that he hopes to perpetrate with impunity, the Highlander is a bold fearless fellow, shooting openly by daylight, taking his sport in the same manner as the Laird, or the Sassenach who rents the ground. He never snares or wires game, but depends on his dog and gun. Hardy and active as the deer of the mountain, in company with two or three comrades of the same stamp as himself, he sleeps in the heather wrapped in his plaid, regardless of frost or snow, and commences his work at daybreak. When a party of them sleep out on the hill side, their manner of arranging their couch is as follows:—If snow is on the ground, they first scrape it off a small space; they then all collect a quantity of the driest heather they can find. The next step is for all the party excepting one to lie down close to each other, with room between one couple for the remaining man to get into the rank when his duty is done, which is to lay all the plaids on the top of his companions, and on the plaids a quantity of long heather; when he has sufficiently thatched them in, he creeps into the vacant place, and they are made up for the night. The coldest frost has no effect on them when bivouacking in this manner. Their guns are laid dry between them, and their dogs share their masters' couch."

[figheadair]

Although not that interested in the OP, I've been watching this thread for a while and feel the need to comment on a couple of issues:

Yarn Weight - I have examined many 18th century pieces and the quality of the yarn spinning never ceases to amaze me. The yarn was generally 'singles' i.e. not plied. The woven weight of the extant specimens equates roughly to a range from 12-16oz. The Dunollie plaid for example is extremely fine and definitely at the lighter end. Such a fine plaid was undoubtedly the preserve of the gentry and so may be considered 'best clothes' and was not something intended to sleep out in.

Joined Plaids - joining two lengths of single width cloth was the only way to get a double width tartan before the mid-1800s. Therefore all old plaids were joined.

Finished Quality - All the old pieces I've examined have been in-the-grease to some degree; that is, the yarn still contained a lot of lanolin. I've even read references to plaids in the Western Isles being smeared with Fulmer oil to 'proof' them.

I`m fascinated by the discussion. It occurs to me that these ancient highlanders had homes, and I doubt they sought out opportunities to wrap themselves in their great kilts and sleep on the ground in sub freezing conditions. I believe cattle, for the most part, were worked from spring through fall. They were hardy souls, no doubt, but even hardy souls will die of exposure at some point. I`m sure they new the limits of their gear, and I would think that the great kilt would be, at most, the equivalent of a modern three season sleeping bag. I have slept in such at about -20F, and it wasn`t a very good sleep.

The point is well made. People generally live in houses so the only time that there would have been a need to sleep rough would have been if one was caught out on the hill or was away on campaign or stealing cattle etc. Even today under such circumstances (camping/on campaign not cattle thieving) one puts up with a level of discomfort that is not normal.

Double Plaids - I have some difficulty with the practical application of doubling cloth and to my mind it seems impractical and illogical. One has to be careful in interpreting the historical accuracy of portraits. Firstly one needs to remember that the artist was painting a form of dress that was completely foreign to them and the frequently get elements wrong, especially the tartan bits. Secondly, most of the portraits were produced as a form of social statement and so the 'costume' was sometimes arranged to reference an ancient style, often classical, so as to suggest a level of education and/or social standing. I know of no contemporary description of cloth being doubled and in the case of a draw-string plaid, I can't see how it would work.

[Calgacus]

Double Plaids - I have some difficulty with the practical application of doubling cloth and to my mind it seems impractical and illogical. One has to be careful in interpreting the historical accuracy of portraits. Firstly one needs to remember that the artist was painting a form of dress that was completely foreign to them and the frequently get elements wrong, especially the tartan bits. Secondly, most of the portraits were produced as a form of social statement and so the 'costume' was sometimes arranged to reference an ancient style, often classical, so as to suggest a level of education and/or social standing. I know of no contemporary description of cloth being doubled and in the case of a draw-string plaid, I can't see how it would work.

Thank you for taking the time to give input to this thread, Peter.

As for the practical application, to my mind doubling the cloth could be considered both practical and logical. Doubling the cloth makes it much easier to lay out and pleat on the ground. For a 6 yard plaid, assuming you are not pleating the aprons, you have to pleat about 5 yards of it. If you first double the cloth, you only need to pleat two yards of it, or about 6 pleats. When doubled, the cloth provides better weather protection than when in a single layer. The aprons are four layers thick, and when the upper portion is drawn up as a cloak, it is two layers thick instead of one.

I'm not saying all belted plaids were doubled, I suspect not, but I do think there is the intriguing possibility that at least some were.

I rather wish I had not sold my 6 yards of double width. I would happily have done a bit of 'living archaeology' experimentation to try out which configuration works best 'in the field'. As for the Macgregor plaid, I'd love to find the time to recreate it with cheap dust sheets to show you exactly how it would work. I think if you saw it you'd 'get it'.

As for the portrait of William Cunning, Piper to Lord Grant, 1715, yes it's a portrait and could be factually incorrect, but it shows the material to be apparently doubled in two areas as shown below-

Grant piper big highlight.jpg

As for descriptions, the best we have is " The belted plaid, which was generally double, or in two folds..." as posted above. This description seems to come from 'The Character, Manners and present State of the Highlanders of Scotland; With Details of The Military Service of The Highland Regiments', by Major-General David Stewart, dated 1822. Page 79. He appears to be recounting tales from the second half of the 18th century. He states that his grandfather always "wore the highland garb".

[Pleater]

In August each year I leave home for a week and in a hired van I go to a folk festival in the West Country.

I have done this for decades and the nights are warmer in these times, but the storms are more ferocious.

There are few nights when I do not have the side door of the van wide open and I usually close it part way to keep rain out only when the wind is blowing it inside. Duvets are not a good idea, as they become damp and unpleasant after a few days and I don't have time to air them. Woollen fabric is the ideal bedding and as top covers I use plaids as they can be taken with me and worn in order to air them. They really do make a very comfortable bed and I have twice laid down very cold and damp after being caught out in the rain on the way back from singing and woken warm and dry next morning, even if the weather had not improved.

Although I take a sheet with me I remove it if it is likely to get damp as wet cotton is very cold whilst damp wool seems to become warmer.

By the end of the week a lot of people are croaky and coughing after sleeping in their man made fibre sleeping bags which are getting damp and mouldy even in good weather, but I never have that problem.

I have caused astonishment on a couple of occasions by going into venues wearing layers of wet wool and steaming vigorously whilst others are shivering. Wet wool is more windproof than the same fabric when dry and a warm damp fug is easily developed under a couple of layers of it.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[IsaacW]

As for the portrait of William Cunning, Piper to Lord Grant, 1715, yes it's a portrait and could be factually incorrect, but it shows the material to be apparently doubled in two areas as shown below-

Grant piper big highlight.jpg

.

Maybe I am misunderstanding your point, but isn't that "doubling" simply the upper half of the plaid, drooping down over the belt before being pulled up to the shoulder??

[Calgacus]

Maybe I am misunderstanding your point, but isn't that "doubling" simply the upper half of the plaid, drooping down over the belt before being pulled up to the shoulder??

No, if you look very closely, you can see two parallel edges of the cloth depicted. This indicates a fold of cloth that is two layers thick.

*Edit* Here's the image highlighted in a different way. I have highlighted all the edges in the cloth in BLUE for the outer layer of cloth, and RED for the under layer of cloth.

Grant piper big edges.jpg

You'll have to click on the image to enlarge it and see the highlights. Anything not highlighted is folds, not actual edges of the cloth.

[IsaacW]

No, if you look very closely, you can see two parallel edges of the cloth depicted. This indicates a fold of cloth that is two layers thick.

Okay, I see what you are saying!