Shepherd Tartan Origins Scottish Borders

Generic

Shepherd Tartans Page

The shepherd tartan is likely to be the oldest of our tartans. Originally this could be woven from the wool taken directly from white and black sheep, meaning that no dye was required to create the pattern.


店舗検索 Shepherd Tartans From Curtains to Clothing, use the filters below to navigate through everything we offer in Shepherd Tartans

ShepherdTartans

2 variations

Each tartan can have multiple variations, the most common of which are Ancient, Modern, Weathered, Hunting and Dress

About tartan variations

  • Ancient
  • Modern
  • Weathered
  • Hunting
  • Dress

Ancient Tartan

Before 1860 fabrics were coloured using animal and vegetable dyes. This produced the softer colours typical of the Ancient tartans, mossy greens and sky blues, a more orangey red and some would say showing off the pattern to much greater effect as as the contrasts are much brighter than the Modern tartans. The pattern or sett remains the same across all variations of a single tartan, and only the shades or tones vary.

Helpful Advice

Post 1860 chemical dyes replaced the natural animal and vegetable dyes and the Modern Tartans were born with their stronger and bolder colours. The soft greens and blues become bottle green and navy blue, reds are scarlet.

Modern Tartan

Before 1860 fabrics were coloured using animal and vegetable dyes. This produced the softer colours typical of the Ancient tartans. Post 1860 chemical dyes replaced the natural animal and vegetable dyes and the Modern Tartans were born with their stronger and bolder colours. The soft greens and blues become bottle green and navy blue, reds are scarlet.

Helpful Advice

The Modern tartans are often the more subtle combinations such as the classic Black Watch Modern

Weathered Tartan

Before 1860 fabrics were coloured using animal and vegetable dyes. This produced the softer, more earthy colours typical of the Weathered tartans, reminiscent of bolder colours subjected to wind, rain and sunshine producing beautiful faded tones, olive greens and browns, and very light blues with reds that are more pink than red.

Helpful Advice

Some mills refer to the Weathered tartans as Muted.

Hunting Tartan

The Hunting Tartans are the camouflage tartans and some clans don't have these variations because they are already predominantly green or brown and don't need amendment to blend in with nature's colours. The Black Watch or Gunn tartans are examples of these, whereas a tartan such as the Fraser is predominantly red and would not provide much cover for men out hunting.

Helpful Advice

One thing to remember if you are ordering your tartan to match an existing kilt or accessory is that although the sett and colours are the same, there can be a slight difference in colour from one mill to the next. This is purely down to yarn dying so if you need an exact match we suggest you order a swatch to double check.

Dress Tartan

The Dress Tartans were designed as the name suggests for celebrations and highland dance. The sett or pattern of the tartan remains the same and the main colour is changed to white, or extra white is added to the pattern to give it a brighter, more "fancy" appearance. The Scots do like to bend the rules and occasionally instead of white thread, yellow is used and this is where the rather wild MacLeod Dress Modern and Barclay Dress Modern came from.

Helpful Advice

One thing to remember if you are ordering your tartan to match an existing kilt or accessory is that although the sett and colours are the same, there can be a slight difference in colour from one mill to the next. This is purely down to yarn dying so if you need an exact match we suggest you order a swatch to double check.

Shepherd Tartan Origins Scotland

From the start

Shepherd Tartan Origins & History

What's in the name?

It is not known when this tartan was originally woven, as it is thought to be way before records even began. However, now it is woven for the use of those that bear the surname Shepherd.

Shepherd Tartan Sheep

No Dye

The shepherd tartan is likely to be the oldest of our tartans. Originally this could be woven from the wool taken directly from white and black sheep, meaning that no dye was required to create the pattern.

Border tartan

The Shepherd tartan is also known as the Nothumberland, Border, Border Reiver tartan, due to being associated with the shepherds in the Scottish Borders. It's the official tartan of the Nothumberland County and Shepherd family. In addition to these names it is also known at the Falkirk tartan because a piece of cloth with this pattern was discovered on the neck of a jar containing roman coins dated to 260 AD.


Explore More...