Tartan of the Month - August: What do you see?

[figheadair]

uThose that have been following these monthly threads and reading my articles should be getting their eye in by now so come on, have a bash. What do you see? Apart from the blindingly obvious of course.

[Knockagarran]

MacColl?
IF I'm correct, it's only because I'm referencing "The Tartan Weaver's Guide" by J. Scarlett.

[Morris at Heathfield]

Looks like it to me as well. There appear to be three different variations of the tartan on the tartan registers: ITI numbers 878, 899, and 968. According to the notes for #878 on the Scottish Register of Tartans, the tartan was first produced by Wilsons of Bannockburn in 1797 as "Bruce", later known as "Old Bruce" before it became a MacColl tartan. According to the notes for #968 on the Scottish Tartans Authority website, the tartan comes from the Glencoe Museum, where it was identified as a piece of Flora MacDonald's wedding dress, and was adopted as the MacColl tartan around 1930. The STA website identifies it as a pre-1750 tartan. There also seems to be some confusion between green and brown stripes.

Regarding the fragment itself, I'd say it's likely from a plaid. It apparently has a herringbone selvage on the right side of the photograph, although much of it is cut off (by the edge of the photograph). I see bright red and dark blue, but I'm not entirely certain whether there are one or two other colors. The dark stripes flanking the blue stripes appear to be a sort of medium brown, whereas the other dark stripes appear to be a darker shade, either of green or brown, or of some admixture between the two. I would say that ITI #968 (taken from the MacGregor-Hastie collection) captures the pattern of this fragment the best.

[figheadair]

Looks like it to me as well. There appear to be three different variations of the tartan on the tartan registers: ITI numbers 878, 899, and 968. According to the notes for #878 on the Scottish Register of Tartans, the tartan was first produced by Wilsons of Bannockburn in 1797 as "Bruce", later known as "Old Bruce" before it became a MacColl tartan. According to the notes for #968 on the Scottish Tartans Authority website, the tartan comes from the Glencoe Museum, where it was identified as a piece of Flora MacDonald's wedding dress, and was adopted as the MacColl tartan around 1930. The STA website identifies it as a pre-1750 tartan. There also seems to be some confusion between green and brown stripes.

Clearly this one is too easy . The STA notes for #968 are mine so this is the piece from the Glencoe Museum and as such it is neither MacColl or Bruce.

But there's more to discern from the fragment.

[Morris at Heathfield]

Well, it appears to have been hosted by Photobucket.

[figheadair]

Well, it appears to have been hosted by Photobucket.

MoH - you're on fire this morning

I'll post something later that will/should blown your mind

[Nighthawk]

Well, it appears to have been hosted by Photobucket.

My thought, too. I can't see it...

[Tony]

i thought it was two sides of one piece of cloth too.

Is it a comparison of a modern weave against a really old piece?

[figheadair]

So what have we got so far?

• Two pieces of a similar setting but in different colours.
  
• Both pieces have a herringbone selevdge.
  
• A suggestion that they are from the same era.
  
• The smaller piece is what is now called MacColl

Any more thoughts?

[Morris at Heathfield]

Two very similar tartans. One developed into the MacColl tartan. I have a hypothesis that the other one developed into a different named tartan, but I haven't been able to find evidence to back up my hunch. The closest tartans I have been able to find so far are the Robertson/Donachie tartan and the Culloden plaid, not to be confused with the Culloden (coat) tartan. Or maybe it's a highly irregular MacDonald of Sleat.