Thoughts on Dalrymple

[Benning Boy]

I'm set to place an order with Marton Mills of a short run of Dalrymple of Castelton #2. Being Dalrymple on my mother's side, I claim the "right" to it.

The sett is based on a 1720 portrait of Sir Robert Dalrymple. I'm not sure how I'm related to him. The Dalrymples are generally said to be a familty not a clan, and lowlanders to boot. However, if you look at a clan map of Scotland you'll see a few recognized clans surrounding Dalrymple home territory in Ayrshire. There are tartans associated with these clans, like Wallace. The Dalrymples of old may or may not have worn the kilt, but through the portrait there is evidence some of the family at least wore tartan. As today the kilt is generally recognized as the native attire of all of Scotland, and not just the Highlands, above some imaginary line on a map, I think it acceptable to have made and to wear a kilt of Dalrymple tartan



Here are two examples of the sett provided by MM's designer. One in muted colors



and the other in modern colors.



I had to greatly shrink and degrade the images to get them to upload, so the quality, to my eye, isn't the best. The colors aren't accurately reproduced here from the MM designer's CADs, but maybe you'll get the idea. The green in the muted version should be more of a mossey green. The colors in the modern attachement are closer to what was mailed me.

I asked for the muted version colors to be what one might have had from Wilson's. The modern colors are what would normally result from the use of chemical dyes.

Now, to choose between the two and place an order. What are your thoughts on the options?

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