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Hodden
Hodden is a coarse, undyed cloth made of undyed wool, formerly much worn by the peasantry of Scotland from prehistory. Hodden, with wadmal, represent two similar cultural fabrics in Scottish history. Hodden is an early-modern period name for a primarily Gaelic fabric, earlier named lachdann in Gaelic, and even earlier lachtna in Old Irish; while wadmal was a Scandinavian fabric, in the now-Scottish islands and Highlands. Both are usually woven in 2/2 twill weave but are also known in plain or tabby weave. Both are a thick, coarse, fulled homespun cloth typically made of natural undyed wool of the vari-coloured Northern European short-tailed sheep breeds. The Scots preferred to breed strains of sheep in various areas to provide the local preferred colour of natural wool used for cloth to protect the poor and rural peasants from the elements.
For centuries, hodden (lachdann) kept Scottish peasants of Highland, Islands and Lowlands warm and dry. Hodden (lachdann) was common to all clans: a symbol of class and status mandated by Celtic and Gaelic custom and Scottish law from prehistory until 1698. The earliest known samples of Celtic cloth come from the Hallstatt salt mines of Austria, date from 800 to 600 BCE, and are principally single colour natural wool cloth brightened by decorative bands of dyed wool added to cuffs and necklines.
The Gaels invaded Scotland from Ireland in the 4th – 5th century CE. They brought with them their oral customs and traditions, fortunately written down by Christian monks in the 8th century, as the Brehon Laws including the Senchus Mor, a tract on status. Natural coloured vegetable and animal fibres, generally called lachtna in the Old Irish of the Senchus Mor and lachdann in the later Gaelic, became the Gaelic dress codes for the common people. After Scottish independence, these early dress customs or codes requiring the common people to wear undyed cloth were then enacted in medieval Scottish law in 1458. These dress laws were repealed in 1698. Only then could the common Scot wear modern, dyed tartan legally.
The term hodden appears In Lowland Scots in the 16th century, replacing lachdann, which remained in use in the Highlands. Homespun hodden’s use declined in the 18th century. Hodden, as a manufactured fabric, declined in the early 19th century. Resurrection in the form of a tweed mixture cloth came in 1859 on its selection by the Commanding Officer of the London Scottish Rifle Volunteers (LSRV). Progressively darker over time, hodden grey is still worn by the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s Own) as their ceremonial uniform.
Gaelic and Brythonic custom dating back into prehistory required the Celtic peasant class to wear undyed clothing. The ancient proto-Celtic culture was very status conscious, continuing concepts of the Indo-European peoples that migrated from the Middle East to Europe in the third millennium BCE. The Celtic culture migrated to the British Isles about 500 BCE and the Proto-Celtic culture much earlier. The Gaels and Britons of the British Isles shared a common language and culture at some point.
Gaelic (Goidelic) ‘breacan’ and the Welsh (Brythonic) ‘brychan’ both describe a cloth or garment that is ‘flecked, mottled, speckled or piebald’. The breacan / brychan was a winter or foul weather garment for gentry, nobility and royalty in both cultures in addition to general purpose clothing for the peasantry. The root word is breac describing a trout, salmon-trout or salmon but now has acquired an association with chequered (two colours) and the sett (more than two colours) of modern tartan. The similarity of the word and meaning infers that there was a common ancestor in prehistory before the Goidelic / Brythonic split of the Insular Celtic languages.
Prior to the industrial revolution, homespun fabrics, were cheaply made of necessity because of the time constraint of the process combined with the uncertainty of what, and how much colour, would be attained from the few sheep permitted to be raised by a peasant. Spinning and weaving wool for clothes, blankets, rugs, etc. was just part of the daily domestic routine, usually made on small hand-looms by the peasants.
The better qualities of hodden (lachdann) or wadmal could be made of selected white wool and dyed or selected natural colours spun into single coloured yarn, but this was a time-consuming and expensive process in a domestic craft economy that existed into the 14th century in England and Wales, and even later in Scotland. Peasant fabrics were much coarser than those for the gentry and their retinue, made of materials at hand, and mixing whatever natural colours were at hand into multi-coloured (mixture) yarn. The resultant overall colour commonly became a shade of beige or grey – in Victorian times described as the range of warm and cold greys.
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Hodden
Hodden is a coarse, undyed cloth made of undyed wool, formerly much worn by the peasantry of Scotland from prehistory. Hodden, with wadmal, represent two similar cultural fabrics in Scottish history. Hodden is an early-modern period name for a primarily Gaelic fabric, earlier named lachdann in Gaelic, and even earlier lachtna in Old Irish; while wadmal was a Scandinavian fabric, in the now-Scottish islands and Highlands. Both are usually woven in 2/2 twill weave but are also known in plain or tabby weave. Both are a thick, coarse, fulled homespun cloth typically made of natural undyed wool of the vari-coloured Northern European short-tailed sheep breeds. The Scots preferred to breed strains of sheep in various areas to provide the local preferred colour of natural wool used for cloth to protect the poor and rural peasants from the elements.
For centuries, hodden (lachdann) kept Scottish peasants of Highland, Islands and Lowlands warm and dry. Hodden (lachdann) was common to all clans: a symbol of class and status mandated by Celtic and Gaelic custom and Scottish law from prehistory until 1698. The earliest known samples of Celtic cloth come from the Hallstatt salt mines of Austria, date from 800 to 600 BCE, and are principally single colour natural wool cloth brightened by decorative bands of dyed wool added to cuffs and necklines.
The Gaels invaded Scotland from Ireland in the 4th – 5th century CE. They brought with them their oral customs and traditions, fortunately written down by Christian monks in the 8th century, as the Brehon Laws including the Senchus Mor, a tract on status. Natural coloured vegetable and animal fibres, generally called lachtna in the Old Irish of the Senchus Mor and lachdann in the later Gaelic, became the Gaelic dress codes for the common people. After Scottish independence, these early dress customs or codes requiring the common people to wear undyed cloth were then enacted in medieval Scottish law in 1458. These dress laws were repealed in 1698. Only then could the common Scot wear modern, dyed tartan legally.
The term hodden appears In Lowland Scots in the 16th century, replacing lachdann, which remained in use in the Highlands. Homespun hodden’s use declined in the 18th century. Hodden, as a manufactured fabric, declined in the early 19th century. Resurrection in the form of a tweed mixture cloth came in 1859 on its selection by the Commanding Officer of the London Scottish Rifle Volunteers (LSRV). Progressively darker over time, hodden grey is still worn by the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s Own) as their ceremonial uniform.
Gaelic and Brythonic custom dating back into prehistory required the Celtic peasant class to wear undyed clothing. The ancient proto-Celtic culture was very status conscious, continuing concepts of the Indo-European peoples that migrated from the Middle East to Europe in the third millennium BCE. The Celtic culture migrated to the British Isles about 500 BCE and the Proto-Celtic culture much earlier. The Gaels and Britons of the British Isles shared a common language and culture at some point.
Gaelic (Goidelic) ‘breacan’ and the Welsh (Brythonic) ‘brychan’ both describe a cloth or garment that is ‘flecked, mottled, speckled or piebald’. The breacan / brychan was a winter or foul weather garment for gentry, nobility and royalty in both cultures in addition to general purpose clothing for the peasantry. The root word is breac describing a trout, salmon-trout or salmon but now has acquired an association with chequered (two colours) and the sett (more than two colours) of modern tartan. The similarity of the word and meaning infers that there was a common ancestor in prehistory before the Goidelic / Brythonic split of the Insular Celtic languages.
Prior to the industrial revolution, homespun fabrics, were cheaply made of necessity because of the time constraint of the process combined with the uncertainty of what, and how much colour, would be attained from the few sheep permitted to be raised by a peasant. Spinning and weaving wool for clothes, blankets, rugs, etc. was just part of the daily domestic routine, usually made on small hand-looms by the peasants.
The better qualities of hodden (lachdann) or wadmal could be made of selected white wool and dyed or selected natural colours spun into single coloured yarn, but this was a time-consuming and expensive process in a domestic craft economy that existed into the 14th century in England and Wales, and even later in Scotland. Peasant fabrics were much coarser than those for the gentry and their retinue, made of materials at hand, and mixing whatever natural colours were at hand into multi-coloured (mixture) yarn. The resultant overall colour commonly became a shade of beige or grey – in Victorian times described as the range of warm and cold greys.