*
In the 15th century shepherds herding their sheep
and performing other menial tasks in the
brutal weather of Great Britain, be they in Scotland,
England, Ireland, or Wales often wore
long pieces of cloth, called plaid, which they
wrapped around their waists and shoulders to
protect them from the elements. Sometimes
they used the large cloth as a blanket when
sleeping in the fields. The shepherds made the
fabric from the material which was most
accessible to them: the undyed wool from black
and white sheep.
Textile historians believe that the Shepherd's
check, as it was then known, is the first plaid
fabric ever designed. The Shepherd surname, derived
from the task it so pointedly describes, (and from its earliest use in
scripture when speaking about the 'shepherds in the field' and those 'attending
to their flocks') is prevalent in Great Britain, and particularly in Scotland
and northern England where the wearing of the large cloth is believed to
have found its origins.
While the earliest of shepherd's wearing the 'Shepherd
Check' (tartan), took ownership of the
'Shepherd' surname and made it their birth right,
many other 'sheep herders' in Great Britain also wore this same tartan
and have since claimed it as a symbol of their family's as well.
In 1538, James
V of Scotland called for an order of "tertane" which was likely the
basic
black and white or brown and cream checks that
Lowland shepherds wove from the pure
wool of their sheep. The Highland clans
claim to have invented the tartan, but they merely
stole the patterned fabric that the Lowland shepherds
used to keep warm. In fact, when
Lowland shepherds moved to the north after the
Highland clearances, their tartans were
adapted by states which added single colors to
the basic black and white check. The simple
state tartans were precursors to the clan tartans.
By the late 17th century brigades of
Highland soldiers were wearing identical tartans
as part of their uniforms. The
Jacobite
uprising
clans had also adopted the use of the checked tartan pattern as their
symbol of family
pride, identification and honor. It wasn't until
the higher society Highland clans were stripped
of their names and tartans, that the romantic
tartan significance we know today evolved.
By 1760 the Duke of Northumberland's piper adopted
the Shepherd's Check as his official
tartan. Northumberland
pipers traditionally wear the plaid today. Often the tartan is
referred
to as the Northumberland Tartan. Other
names for Our Shepherd Family Tartan are:
The Border Tartan or Check, and The
Border Reivers Tartan.
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