Talk by tartan historian Peter Eslea MacDonald about a 1500-1600 AD tartan fragment preserved in a Glen Affric peat bog.
Peter Eslea MacDonald is speaking at The Royal Scots Club on Monday 14 December, with the talk starting at 19:00. The whole thing centres on a fragment of tartan found in a peat bog in Glen Affric, in the north-west Highlands, more than forty years ago. It's a small piece of cloth, but it's a big deal: scientific analysis identified its colours and Carbon14 testing dated it to around 1500-1600 AD, making it the oldest known surviving specimen of a true tartan in Scotland.
Because it was preserved in the peat, it's still in remarkably good condition. The cloth is high-quality, expertly spun and woven, which suggests it belonged to someone of status. It also predates the invention of clan tartans, so it's a glimpse into a version of the tradition that existed before the clan associations we recognise today took hold. MacDonald will be talking through that discovery and what it tells us about the history of the craft.
MacDonald is an internationally recognised tartan historian who's spent forty years studying the subject. He's the honorary Head of Research at The Scottish Tartans Authority, and he's the one who designed the King Charles II Charles III tartan for the King. He was awarded an OBE in the King's 2025 Birthday Honours for services to the tartan industry, so he's as close to the source as you can get on this.
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The venue itself is The Royal Scots Club, at 29-31 Abercromby Place in the New Town. It was founded in 1919 as a tribute to those who fell in the Great War and stands on one of Edinburgh's finest Georgian streets. Tickets are £9.38 via Eventbrite, and the talk starts at 19:00 on Monday 14 December.
