FROM A PLAID FOUND AT CULLODEN.
Similar in history to the preceding illustration is the design now represented; but the fabric contains evidence of earlier manufacture than the date of Culloden. Indeed, with the exception of two plaids at Dunimarle, certified as having been at Sheriffmuir in 1715, the writer knows of no example so large in size, and possessing so much internal evidence of great age. It may, with every probability, be assigned to the first years of last century, if not considerably earlier. Nor is this incompatible with its appearance at Culloden, since the long periods such things have been, and still are, preserved in the Highlands have passed into proverb. The plaid, kindly lent by Mr Gourlay Steell, R.S.A., for reproduction, shows an intricate and unusual sett; and the single check, as here displayed, represents half of the plaid, and is merely repeated in the other half. When shown in exhibitions it has been catalogued “Highland Plaid, found on the field of Culloden the day after the battle.”
XLIV. From a Plaid found on Culloden Battlefield
BALMORAL.
The object of including this beautiful modern yet rare design in a collection of Old and Rare Tartans is that collectors may possess a pattern greatly desired by them. Hitherto, on account of the conditions imposed on Messrs Romanes & Paterson, Edinburgh, the manufacturers of tartans to the Royal Family, it has been impossible, even for the connoisseur, to procure an example of it. For the purposes of the present work, however, Her Majesty the Queen has not only granted permission for its publication here, but has also graciously afforded information concerning its inception in the early years of the reign, when the sett was designed by the Prince Consort. It has continued to occupy a conspicuous position in the dress and appointments of the Royal Family and its retainers, when these partake of a Highland character. On the occasion of a Royal marriage, Her Majesty’s gifts to the bride invariably include articles of costume of this tartan.
XLV. THE BALMORAL TARTAN
DESIGNED BY H.R.H. THE LATE PRINCE CONSORT