Irish tartans overview

[OC Richard]

There have been piles of threads here about Irish tartans but I thought I'd try to bring everything I can find together.

I've included some tartans which were created for individual Irish surnames, I've included some which are "top twenty" names.

There are many more Irish-themed bespoke tartans, for example woven for a specific wedding, which I didn't include.

I'll put it into a timeline as best I can.

c1580-c1620 Dungiven bog costume trews.

Dug up in 1956 so not included in the review of Irish bog finds reviewed in Old Irish and Highland Dress by HF McClintock.

Here's the trews (not much to look at) and various "reimaginings" of the tartan, dubbed "Ulster", which have been woven in at least three colourways.



1880 Clans Originaux.

A tartan swatch-book. Tara/Murphy is often claimed to originate here, but the pattern doesn't occur in the STA's copy. All the tartans therein are Scottish.

1967Tara unknown designer, MacLean of Duart given a green ground.

1971 Pendleton Woolen Mill (USA).

At least one tartan was associated with an Irish name, O Keefe.

1977Tara begins being also called Murphy.

1976 Martin.

Perhaps the strangest tale of an Irish tartan is that of Martin (the 10th most common Irish surname). It appears that kiltmaker Bob Martin made himself a kilt out of a random fashion tartan by North Carolina weaver JP Stevens, the cloth acquiring by association the name Martin. https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/ta...tails?ref=2841

1990s O Farrell unknown designer, Royal Stewart given a tan ground.

1996 House Of Edgar Irish County Range.

As far as I know this is the first large-scale weaving of Irish-themed tartans. Polly Wittering designed tartans for all 32 counties (the register lists 33 due to a duplicate) plus an Irish National tartan (not officially adopted by Eire).

These designs have colours and patterns chosen purely to create beautiful tartans. https://www.houseofedgar.com/product...ounty-tartans/

1997 Lochcarron All Ireland tartans.

Not to be caught napping Lochcarron introduced three Irish themed tartans, All Ireland Green, All Ireland Blue, and All Ireland Red.

2000 O Neill family tartan by Linda Clifford.

2003 Walsh by Christopher Walsh

2003 O Boyle woven (and possibly designed by) DC Dalgliesh.

2003 Irish American by Viking Technology/Scotweb/TartanWebb

2003 Irish Diaspora by Erica Randall of House of Edgar

2003 Scotch Corner Irish family range.

Scotch Corner, from what I can tell a shop in the Metro Centre mall in Gateshead (near Newcastle), designed, wove, and sold these.

O Brien
Butler
O Connor Dress
O Donoghue
Doyle Blue
Finnigan
Flynn
Gallagher Ancient
Kelly Dress
MacNamara
O Reilly
O Rourke
O Shaughnessy
O Sullivan

Here they are. Hmmm Kelly Dress... you can't go wrong with a Royal Stewart based tartan (I think I'll call it Mint Stewart).



2005/2006 Irish County Crest Range.

A full range of 32 Irish County tartans were launched, by Viking Technology/ScotWeb/Tartan Web, using the colours strongly associated with each County due to the popularity of GAA strip.

Additionally the Ireland's National tartan was created. https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/qR...chString=crest

BTW the rights to these tartans were acquired by USA Kilts in 2012.

2006 Irish Heritage by William Roeger III (USA Kilts)

2010 New World Irish by Colin McGuire and Mark Wright, marketed at the shop The Frugal Corner in Pennsylvania. (The shop appears to have closed around 2012.)

2018 Patrick King Woollens Irish tartans.

Robert Paterson of Patrick King Woollens (Edinburgh Scotland and Port Hope, Ontario, Canada) is said to have designed Spirit of Ireland which is sold by the firm.

Also sold, and possibly designed, by the firm is Cliffs of Moher which I can't find in the Register. https://patrickkingwoollencompany.co...UwrlD2CFXbdtYA

NB I'm using O (rather than O') to correspond with correct Irish usage; O isn't a contraction, but a complete word in Irish meaning "descendant".

[kilted2000]

Don’t forget the Irish Heritage and Tara/Murphy. The first I think is exclusive to USA Kilts I think.

[figheadair]

I'll put it into a timeline as best I can.

c1580-c1620 Dungiven bog costume trews.

Dug up in 1956 so not included in the review of Irish bog finds reviewed in Old Irish and Highland Dress by HF McClintock.

As mention in a separate thread, the dating is more likely 17th that 16th century.

1880 Clans Originaux.

A tartan swatch-book. Some of the tartans were misidentified as Irish and have been woven as such in modern times. I'm sure there are more, but I found

Murphy/Tara: MacLean of Duart given a green ground.

O Farrell: Royal Stewart given a tan ground.

Neither tartans are included in the STA's copy of Clans Originaux. The earliest reference to the Murphy as Tara that I can find is in 1967. During the 1977 International Gathering of the Clans in Edinburgh this sett was sold to an American visitor as Murphy which is the earliest reliable reference I have for it.

O'Farrell comes from the 1990s records of the now defunct US based TECA (Tartan Educational and Cultural Organisation). Again, there is no early record of this tartan and it appears to be a fashion design.

[OC Richard]

Don’t forget the Irish Heritage and Tara/Murphy. The first I think is exclusive to USA Kilts I think.

Thanks! Looking up Irish Heritage in the Register took me also to a few other tartans with "Irish" in the titles which I've added.

I changed the Tara/Murphy thing according to Peter's information.

[OC Richard]

Neither tartans are included in the STA's copy of Clans Originaux. The earliest reference to the Murphy as Tara that I can find is in 1967. During the 1977 International Gathering of the Clans in Edinburgh this sett was sold to an American visitor as Murphy which is the earliest reliable reference I have for it.

O'Farrell comes from the 1990s records of the now defunct US based TECA (Tartan Educational and Cultural Organisation). Again, there is no early record of this tartan and it appears to be a fashion design.

Thanks for clarifying that! I'll change it.

I'm trying to understand the Murphy/Tara thing more clearly. So the sett now known as Tara/Murphy first appears in 1967 simply as Tara?

Is it known who got the idea to weave MacLean of Duart with a green ground, and who wove it?

About the Clans Originaux mess, I took this

Later research suggests that none of the tartans included in Clans Originaux are Irish.

to mean that patterns in the book have been shown to be Scottish, not Irish, not that the patterns themselves weren't in the book, along the lines of "none of the accusations included in this report are true"

[OC Richard]

As mentioned in a separate thread, the dating is more likely 17th that 16th century.

For now I'm sticking with the dates given by Dr Audrey Horning (Queens University Belfast) "late 16th to early 17th century".

[figheadair]

Thanks for clarifying that! I'll change it.

I'm trying to understand the Murphy/Tara thing more clearly. So the sett now known as Tara/Murphy first appears in 1967 simply as Tara?

Correct

Is it known who got the idea to weave MacLean of Duart with a green ground, and who wove it?

Not that I know on either count.

[figheadair]

For now I'm sticking with the dates given by Dr Audrey Horning (Queens University Belfast) "late 16th to early 17th century".

Do you have Audrey Henshall's paper? If not, I can send via FB Msg.

[OC Richard]

Do you have Audrey Henshall's paper? If not, I can send via FB Msg.

No I don't, that would be wonderful, thanks!

[figheadair]

About the Clans Originaux mess, I took this

Later research suggests that none of the tartans included in Clans Originaux are Irish.

to mean that patterns in the book have been shown to be Scottish, not Irish, not that the patterns themselves weren't in the book, along the lines of "none of the accusations included in this report are true"

To be clear, those tartans are not in the book at all. Here is this list of the tartans.