Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
I would very much like to see the (reputedly) old authentic West Highland tartan which is said to "resemble" the Allen's ungainly Cameron design.
I can't think which he ment.

In Setts Stewart states that the Lochiel design first appears in Smith (1850). Is it indeed in one of the Wilson pattern-books? Under what name? (Many of the early Wilson designs were known simply by number, or by fanciful names.)
In Wilsons' 1819 KPB it's named Locheil. In the Cockburn Collection (1810-15) it's named Locheil Cameron but why is not exactly clear beyond the fact that historically the clan controlled the area and so it may have been adopted by some Camerons as 'their' tartan during the Regency era. There is no evidence for the design before about 1790 although there is a much older, similar design surviving - the subject of a forthcoming paper.[/QUOTE]

Were I a Cameron I would not hesitate to wear Erracht, an authentic 18th century tartan, instead of the four-stripe Allen creation.
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