The Durham Tartan and another tartan mystery

I mentioned the Durham tartan in my last blog so I thought that I would give you more details about this lovely fabric. But first of all I must tell you the story of how I found it.

My friend Richard sent me a picture of a set of Northumbrian small pipes.  These pipes had been made in 1800 by R Reid in North Shields which is just north of Durham.  They had been in a museum in London but unfortunately they were stolen and all that is left are two black and white photographs of the pipes.

The description of the pipes shows that it must have been a special commission because of the materials used.

The stolen pipes

This is a luxurious object.  The chanter and drones are made of ivory and there are 7 silver keys.  The ends of the drones are carved in a lovely thistle pattern.  The bellows are silver mounted. The two photographs were taken using different processes so the black and white images are slightly different.

The stolen pipes picture two.

The picture is not very clear. The description of the bag says that it is an old velvet tartan.  I scoured the books about tartans but could not find anything resembling this pattern.  Tartan velvet was and is a luxury fabric and although the photograph is in black and white it is possible to make out the plaid pattern. The warp and weft are different but it has a very distinctive set of white or light coloured stripes which may make it possible to identify a particular tartan or plaid pattern.


I tried to make a drawdown from the black and white photographs of the pipes.  This is not an accurate tartan pattern but gives some indication of the distinctive white stripes. This may help in identifying a possible pattern. Of course, there is no indication of the actual colour of the velvet tartan bag. The white stripes are the only feature which could assist in any identification. The warp and weft colour order is different, which is also unusual.

My attempt at a drawdown from the black and white photographs.

These pipes were a luxury item made as they are from ivory, silver and tartan velvet.  It would seem probably that they were made for a specific client but who and exactly when we do not know.  If the tartan could be identified this may give another clue as to the reason these pipes were made.

If anyone has any idea what the tartan might be, do get in touch.

If we could identify the tartan, it might give some clues as to where the pipes were used.  Velvet is a luxury material so the velvet tartan might have been a special commission. It is probably made of silk. Nowadays, velvet tartans are used for the waistcoat to match a kilt.

The Durham Tartan.

What I did find in my search for the old tartan pattern, was the Durham tartan.  There is no reason why Durham should have a tartan. The Durham district tartan first appears in the record books of Wilsons of Bannockburn in 1819.  It is an early tartan.

Why it is called the Durham tartan is a mystery.  It may have been named after a person not the county of Durham or Durham city.

Here is the pattern.

The Durham tartan

It is in 2/2 twill.  The warp colour order is as follows.

Red                            4
Blue                     12      12
Black             12                   12
Green       12                               12
Black   4

It is a lovely pattern.


County Durham has not made much of use of this tartan, but I gave the pattern to Douglas in the Durham Guild and he has woven it many times.
Click here for a useful link which shows the range of District tartan patterns:
http://www.scotclans.com/scottish-clans/tartan-pattern-book/district-tartans/


Susan J Foulkes August 2015

Durham Guild Exhibition: Looking Back, Going Forward

I belong to the Durham Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers.  In July 2015, we are holding an exhibition in the Galilee Chapel in Durham Cathedral.  This is a prestigious venue and we are thrilled that we have been granted space for our exhibition.

Last year was the Guilds 35th year. Everyone thought that it would be wonderful to celebrate the event.  It was decided that an exhibition of work would be a good way of advertising what we do and hopefully attract new members.  Durham Cathedral offered us the Galilee Chapel for July this year.

This is wonderful timing as the Magna Carta exhibition is in Durham University Palace Green Library from June-August and many visitors are expected.

Our Guild exhibition is more modest.  The title Looking Back, Going Forward for our exhibition reflects our past and also celebrates our future as a Guild.

I decided to submit two pieces for the exhibition.  The first is a blue wool scarf.  It is the first item that I wove.  It is small and not particularly well designed but when it came off the loom I was so proud!  I had created cloth!

From that moment on I was hooked.  Weaving became my passion.  My only regret is not finding out earlier as there seems to be a lifetimes worth of things to discover about this amazing craft.

The second item is a scarf that I wove this year.  I hand dyed the silk and designed the pattern carefully to echo the patterns and colours of a set of shells.  Far more complex but still as rewarding. Look at my previous two posts for details about this textured silk scarf.

I was asked to submit my Handfasting Bands which were displayed in the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers exhibition last year.  I described these bands in my first blog post.This exhibition is held biennially.

On Thursday  2nd July we set up the exhibition.

Durham Cathedral

The Galilee Chapel at the west end.

Exhibition being organised.  There were lots of items still to be displayed.

When we arrived in the Cathedral, the prospect of displaying all the work seem a huge task.  Angela is very experienced in putting up exhibitions and she soon organised her helpers.  We all took charge of various tasks, even the humble one of cleaning all the display cabinets.

We unpacked all the items and then sorted them by colour and theme.  The coats, scarves, rugs jewellery, spun wool samples and dye samples were then distributed to the various display cabinets and boards. There were also covered chairs and stools.  This stool by Douglas, is covered with the Durham tartan.

The work of the Guild looks both back and forward.

Cloth Seals

One fascinating exhibit is a collection of lead medieval cloth seals. These were found by Gary who whose hobby of diving has now led him to studying for a PhD. His topic is A cultural, scientific and technical study of the Durham lead cloth seal collection AD1450-1820.  Diving in the river Wear he has found many artefacts and the cloth seals are rewriting the story of medieval textiles in Durham. He has recovered 266 cloth seals amognst other items.   Below the Cathedral is the Fulling Mill where he has been doing underwater archaeology.

Click on this link to one of his reports.  Medieval and post medieval artefacts from the River Wear.

Here is the Fulling mill below the cathedral.

Durham cathedral and Fulling mill.

A fascinating book about medieval textiles and the economy is:
Textiles and the Medieval Economy: production, trade and consumption of textiles 8th - 16th centuries edited by Angela Ling Huang and Carsten Jahnke 2015 by Oxbow Books.

In the evening, myself and Angela gave a talk to the Durham Guild about our trip to Sweden and the Weave Fair in Umea last September.

It was lovely to share the wonderful time that we both had.   In Mora, I had the opportunity to meet Barbro Wallin the author of the beautifully produced book Moraband.

Part of the display of bands and books from the Baltic region

She contacted me later to show a band she had woven with 97 motifs. It is 5.4 metres in length. The photograph of her band is on the table. It took her two weeks to weave.

Today I have been helping to stewarding the exhibition.  I took my small loom which was a focus of interest for children.

Happy Weaving

Susan J Foulkes July 2015