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We know something of the way that the early Highlanders dressed from the stone carvings that still exist. From these carvings we can tell that the Scoti, who came to Scotland from Ireland in the seventh century AD, brought a style of dress with them. This was a close-fitting smock, called a "leine" (pronounced Ienu) and a woollen cloak worn over It, called a "brat". We know, too, that the Picts, the mysterious people of Scotland's distant past, probably wore similar clothes.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century Highland men were wearing:
Cloak
A cloak, called a "brat", which was generally plain coloured or woven in tartan. It sometimes had a hood: |
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Shirt
A large padded linen shirt or smock, known as a "leine chroich" (pronounced lenu croich). In English this means,, saffron shirt". Saffron, which is "crochach" in Gaelic is a shade of yellow brown, or a tawny colour:
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Jacket
A short jacket. Sometimes this was plain, and at other times it was fancy with slashed sleeves that allowed the sleeve of the shirt to hang through:
Trews
These were close-fitting trousers like tights in modern times! Highlanders often wore trews, especially in winter. Highlanders could wear them for horse-riding. Trews (spelt "triubhas" in Gaelic) were often made from tartan cloth:
Brogues
These, called "brog", were an early form of footwear, made from untanned hide, often deerskin. They were laced with thongs. The Highlander would often pierce the brogues, to let water out, when walking through boggy land, for instance. If the water could not escape, his feet would become very sore. (During the Falklands campaign in 1982 many British soldiers suffered from wet feetóthey called the soreness "trench foot"):
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Hose
These, called osain , were stockings made from well cut material, sometimes tartan. They were held up with garters, each about a metre long, which were wound round each leg and stocking. The garters ended in a special knot, called the "snaoim gartain" (pronounced snym gartan). Early Highlanders used to tie lengths of straw around the top of their hose to keep them up. |
Cuarans
These were another form of early footwear made of untanned hide. The "cuaran" was laced up to below the knee, rather like a boot.
We should remember that many Highlanders were too poor to buy much clothing, and went barelegged and barefooted. Other Highlanders simply preferred not to wear hose or footwear of any kind.
Belted Plaid
By the end of the sixteenth century, or perhaps before that time, a further garment, the Belted Plaid, was certainly being worn by many Highlanders. The Gaelic name for the Belted Plaid, "Plaid" meaning "blanket", is "breacan an fheilidh" (pronounced breckan an fela). It was a loosely worn, comfortable garment. A Highlander could wear it to protect himself from the Scottish weather. He could pull a part of it over his head, and use it as a blanket when he had to sleep outside. The Belted Plaid was a rectangle of material, 5 feet (1.5 metres) wide and 18 feet (5.5 metres) long. It was made of two pieces of material, sewn together, edge to edge.
To put on the Belted Plaid, the Highlander laid his belt on the ground. On top of it he placed his plaidóand pleated the lower portion of it. He then lay down on the plaid and fastened the belt around his waist. Fixed to his belt was his plain leather pouch, or sporran. Finally, he stood up, and the top part of his Belted Plaid was fixed to his shoulders as he wished. Sometimes it was used as a cape. The lower pleated half could be very short. In 1723, a writer called John MacKay visited Crieff, in Perthshire. There he met some High landers who were "all in Belted Plaids, girt like Women's petticoats down to the knee; their thighs and half the leg all bare". John MacKay, like many other people who met Highlanders in those days, was full of admiration for the way in which they braved the cold by having bare legs. Highlanders became known not only for their toughness, but also for their polite, gentlemanly manners, their songs and their poetry.
Another name for the Belted Plaid was the "feile-mor" (pronounced fela-mor) or "great kilt". It was a very useful garment, especially for a cold night on the moors.
During the 1746 Jacobite Rising many of the clansmen refused to use tents. Some deliberately soaked their plaids in water, wrung them out, and the warmth of their bodies generated a kind of steamy heat.
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Little Kilt
Around this time the "feile-beag" (pronounced fela-beg) or "little kilt" appeared, and this was more convenient to wear than the Belted Plaid. This was much more like the modern kilt, although at that time it was still not sewn. The skirt-part was a separate piece, belted at the waist, and pleated behind. The pleats were then stretched into position. A plaid was still worn gathered over the shoulders, but it was separate from the kilt.
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Sporrans
One thing that neither the Belted Plaid nor the Little Kilt could provide was a pocket, but the plaid was worn in such a way that little bags of meal could be tucked-in, high up. We know this from battle references, and particularly the accounts of plaids and bags of meal being left on the field at Sheriffmuir. Oatmeal mixed with cold water, called drammach, was a campaigning dish, and is still used in harvest fields today.
The first sporrans were just plain leather bags containing musket balls and pistol ammunition, and they closed with drawstrings. One was hung from a Highlander's belt. Some Highlanders used the hides of small animals to make sporrans. "Sporan" is the Gaelic word for a purse.
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The Bonnet
The Highlander traditionally wore a blue bonnet. In his bonnet (called a "boneid") he would often wear a sprig cut from a plutocrats holly, hawthorn, fir or any other plant. Much later, small sprigs like these were sometimes worn as "clan plant badges" each clan using a particular plant.
Jewellery
A Highlander would often wear a brooch to fix his plaid to his shoulder. Wealthier Highlanders sometimes used silver plaid brooches or ones made from iron, brass, bone or antler.
As Highlanders did not care much for coins, the brooches could sometimes be used to pay for burials if they died away from home.
Source: Tartans of Scotland.
The official register of all publically known tartans.
Used with permission.
Copyright © Tartans of Scotland
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