The role that archaeology plays in understanding post-medieval clothing and dress is slightly different to earlier periods. In Scotland far more images and texts recording details of clothing survive from the 17th and 18th centuries than they do for earlier times – and some questions about costume (especially the types of dress worn by elite men and women) are perhaps better answered by these alternative types of evidence. That being said, archaeology undoubtedly still helps to answer key queries about the forms of dress prevalent in South East Scotland between 1600 and 1800 – especially amongst the less wealthy residents of the region.
Portraits and written records disproportionately record the clothing of aristocratic families and prosperous town dwellers. This group also dominates the small number of coats, waistcoats, dresses, and other valued items of clothing passed down through families, and now often preserved in the nation’s museums (Taylor 2013). In comparison, the clothing of less wealthy Scots, and in particular the rural poor, are much less well recorded or researched. There remain significant unanswered questions about the costume of the people who inhabited the villages and countryside of South East Scotland during the 17th and 18th centuries. Indeed, such fundamental issues as the extent of shoe-wearing in rural areas remain unclear.
Physical remnants of the clothing of ordinary people are often small isolated items such as buttons, pins, and buckles. Metal detecting activity often produces small finds of this type. More work could perhaps be undertaken comparing these different finds and building up typologies. Research in North America has demonstrated the potential that items such as buttons and buckles have in revealing overlooked aspects of 18th-century society, including providing insights into the lives of marginalised groups such as slaves (Heath 1999). It should perhaps be noted that Alice Blackwell and Susanna Kirk have argued that some post-medieval dress-related finds, and in particular glass beads, have often been incorrectly identified as relating to earlier periods. Among other findings, Blackwell and Kirk suggest that two groups of wound beads from Morham Kirkyard in East Lothian have been assumed to be Anglo-Saxon, when scientific analysis and comparison with other beads from Scotland and the Netherlands suggest a 17th or 18th century date (Blackwell and Kirk, 2015). Further comparative studies of small finds associated with post-medieval dress would be desirable.
Archaeology has the potential to cast new light on the processes by which clothing and accessories were made. Indeed, excavations at the former bishop’s house at Stow revealed evidence for the property being used as a tailor’s workshop around the end of the 18th century – something that was also attested by local historical traditions (Cox et al 2000). The archaeological evidence of tailoring and sewing is often based on quite small finds, such as thimbles, pins, and needles, and this aspect of a site’s history can on occasions be overlooked. A project studying locations where needles and other sewing items have been found and integrating this information with written evidence could be of interest. The 17th and 18th centuries are often thought to have seen changes in who created items of dress, including the rise of new female dominated occupations such as millinery and mantua-making. Whilst the archaeological record is unlikely to firmly identify the gender of the people who created specific clothing items, consideration of the extent to which the places where clothing and other items of dress were being made altered during the post-medieval period could illuminate wider societal changes.
The post-medieval period of course saw new approaches to the manufacture of textiles. During the mid-18th century linen production expanded significantly in South East Scotland, with the British Linen Company establishing bleachfields at Salton near Haddington around 1750 (Johnston 1794, 258). Further archaeological research into the region’s linen industry, including the study of potential sites of retting ponds and bleachfields would be desirable. A greater degree of mechanisation in textile production came in during the late 18th century, with innovations such as stocking frames being adopted in Hawick and other Border towns. Associated with these shifts there was a harnessing of water power in cloth production, leading to the establishment of larger textile mills and a move away from production in the home. Further research into post-medieval changes in the lives and work of the people who made Scottish clothing should be a priority.