10.4.3.3 Clothes and Dress

A range of evidence survives for this period, including actual items and illustrations. For the earlier post-medieval period researchers rely primarily on the latter, although a few survivals of clothing items are known. These include a 17th-century woollen knitted cap from Tarvie, Easter Ross and clothing found on a bog body at Quintfall Hill, Barrock Caithness, dated to the 17th century by the coins in the individual’s purse. Clothing and part of a shoe from human remains found in a moss at Culrain, Ross-shire, in 1880 and woollen cloth from Loch Laggan on the Great Glen are less easy to date. Most of these objects are wool, but one of the Loch Laggan cloths was probably linen or perhaps hemp or nettle (Henshall 1952). While most illustrations depict the upper classes, there are exceptions such as Edmund Burt’s sketches (Burt 1754). From the late 19th century there are also photographs.