Clan Primary Image Eildon

District

Eildon Tartans Page

The Eildon tartan is predominantly green, blue, light blue and yellow. Unlike other Border towns, Melrose does not have its own tartan named after it. However, the Eildon tartan is generally regarded as the town's tartan. A mixture of colours representing those seen on the slopes of the Eildon Hills make up this extremely attractive plaid. Green represents the lush green grass fields, yellow for the whins, brown for the scree slopes, and shades of blue for the River Tweed which runs in the valley below.


Shop Eildon Tartans From Curtains to Clothing, use the filters below to navigate through everything we offer in Eildon Tartans

Eildon Tartans

0 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.

Eildon Hills Scottish Borders

From the start

Eildon Tartan Origins & History

Eildon Hills 190802 105814

Explore the history

How it all started

Territories

The three shapely summits of the Eildon Hills are perhaps the best known landmark in the Scottish Borders region. Located just behind the small town of Melrose and they make up part of the Eildon and Leaderfoot National Scenic Area.

Clan Chief

The Eildon tartan is a district tartan and therefore does not have a Clan Chief.

Let's talk about tartan

The Eildon tartan is predominantly green, blue, light blue and yellow. Unlike other Border towns, Melrose does not have its own tartan named after it. However, the Eildon tartan is generally regarded as the town's tartan. A mixture of colours representing those seen on the slopes of the Eildon Hills make up this extremely attractive plaid. Green represents the lush green grass fields, yellow for the whins, brown for the scree slopes, and shades of blue for the River Tweed which runs in the valley below.

Eildon Hills

Eildon Hills

The Eildon Hills make for a fine half-day hillwalk from the attractive town of Melrose, or if you are the energetic type you can enter the Eildon Three Hill race which takes place every year in June, a 7.2km run with 480m climbing. They used to only climb 2 of the hills but it obviously wasn't hard enough as the route was changed in 2013 to include all three hills.

The highest peak of the Eildon Hills is 422m.


Explore More...