Carmichael on Kilts

It really should come as no surprise that an inveterate wearer of the kilt, as Alexander Carmichael most certainly was, expressed an opinion or two about the so-called ancient dress of the Highlanders. A lecture entitled ‘Bards and Bardism of the Highlanders’, which Carmichael had been working on over several sessions while he was resident in Cornwall, contains the following aside about kilts which deviates from the main thrust of the rest of his essay. Some of the purple prose pouring from Carmichael’s pen can be discerned from this extract but mercifully this has been kept to a minimum. Perhaps the exuberance of youth as well as a man still honing his skills and reaching to find his own voice are but some of the legitimate excuses for some of Carmichael’s stylistic excesses:

Some are for maintaining that the

kilt is but a modern dress. It is strange

what ready credence anything dem[ons]tr[a]ted to the High[lands]

is received. However distorted the facts and uniform

ed the story if it makes against the High[lands]

it receives easy credence. And on the

other hand again any thing said as

an antidote to this however respectable

the authority and well confined is

received with distrust.

There are many indisputable facts

that confirm the antiquity of the

kilt. There is an abbey in the Island

of Harris which is believed to be one of the

oldest pieces of architectural remains

in Scotland. The abbey is called Saint

Clemens = “Cill-a-Chliamain.”

Among curious figures on the

tower of this old abbey is a sculp-

tured figure of a Highlander. The

dress is exactly like that worn at the

present day. The kilt comes to the

cap of the knee while the rest of

the dress corresponds with that now worn.

Another impression is that tartan

is not old. This is another erroneous

impression. Tartan is old. In a Gaelic

M.S. of the 10th century the term breacan

literally chequered tartan is expressly

used. It is some what strange that

the English should pronounce the word

plaid more like the original G[aelic] pronounci

ation than the Scotch do. The English

pronounce the word as if written plad

while the Scotch pronounce it according

to the orthography. The original of the

word was plaide now confined

to the blanket. In ancient times when the

Highlanders were more given to hunt-

ing and fishing and battles and

perchance to creach lifting than they

are today their plaids joined their

blankets. Rolled up on these they slept securely

their bed the purple heath[er] and the curtains

the blue azure vaults of heaven.

It is likely that Carmichael is referring to a carved panel inset in the Irish manner (and possibly earlier than the actual church) which includes a kilted figure, that had formerly been mounted on the medieval parapet on Tùr Chliamainn or St Clement’s Tower as can be seen in the above image of Rodel Church, isle of Harris.

References:
CW 107, fol. 5r–6r
Image: Rodel Church, Harris