Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 12:32:20 -0700 From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> Subject: [IRELAND] Dress in Ireland - Earliest Times To: <IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com> SNIPPET: "A sandstone weight of spindle-whorl form, found in Ballyalton, Co. Down, suggests that, from neolithic time, wool was spun and woven in Ireland. The earliest clothing fragments extant are pieces of woollen cloth of about 1000 BC found in Killymoon, Co. Tyrone, in 1995, and wool cloth and a horsehair belt found in Cromagh, Co. Antrim, in 1904 and dated to about 750 BC. These pieces show that in the late Bronze Age vertical weighted looms, as well as looms for braid, were in use to weave fabrics in plain and sophisticated designs. According to the 'Annals of the Four Masters,' Tighearmas, king of Ireland, was the first person, in 1538 BC, to dye clothes purple, blue, and green, while eight years later Eochaid Eadghadach (Eochaid the cloth designer) ordered that the colours of clothes should denote the wearer's rank in society. The dating is suspect, but the substance carries weight, as in early Ireland the colour and length of the brat (mantle) worn was related to a person's rank in society. Status was also suggested through embroidery and the application of decorative braids, particularly to the colourful brat. The white or gel (bright or unbleached) tunic worth throughout the early historical period suggests a Roman or classical influence, as does the introduction and development of fibulae which indicate the use of fine cloth, possibly linen. The Roman code of hygiene may also have influenced the dictate that certain classes in society had their clothes washed every day. Class rather than gender was thus the main distinguishing feature in dress styles in early Ireland. The less well-off workers wore short tunics and skimpy mantles or tight trews with a small jacket, all dyed in less expensive colours. As elsewhere throughout Europe, from about the 8th century women in Ireland began to wear layers of tunics and married women started to cover their heads. Men of all ranks changed to favour the styles worn throughout the Viking world: trews with about knee-length tunics. Irishmen also wore a cochallo or hooded mantle and a large mantle overall. By the 10th century the regular supply of Andalusian and Byzantine silks, satins, and gold braids added luxury to the homespun and locally dyed woollens and linens. In the late 12th century the Anglo-Normans introduced technical improvements such as horizontal loom and probably the fulling mill, spinning wheel, and carding, much of the machinery known to this day. They also introduced a new dress style. The wealthy followed the modes of London and western Europe: men wore breeches, kirtles (a sleeved full-length garment worn over the smock and under the surcoat), and surcoats (a long, loose outer garment), while women wore a chemise under a kirtle of fine wool. Mantles, tied with a lace on the chest, were worn by both sexes, although of different lengths for each. The clothes worn by both sexes were colorful and the belts were frequently heavy, ornate, and expensive. The clean-shaven, short-hair appearance of the male contrasted with the native Irish who favoured facial hair and a culan hairstyle in which the front of the head was shaved and the hair left long at the back. The adoption by the colonists or their descendants of native styles in dress and hair was condemned in the Statute of Kilkenny and other medieval enactments." -- Excerpt, Mairead DUNLEVY, "Dress in Ireland" (1989).