Tartan Details - The Scottish Register of Tartans

19 April 2024

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Tartan Details - Mary, Queen of Scots

The information held within The Scottish Register of Tartans for the "Mary, Queen of Scots" tartan is shown below.


STA ref:	5969
STWR ref:	none
Designer:	Not Specified
Tartan date:	01/01/1800
Registration date:	This tartan was recorded prior to the launch of The Scottish Register of Tartans.
Category:	Other
Restrictions:
Registration notes:	From the Dalgety archives: Margaret MacDougal (Inverness Museum) noted: 'This sett is taken from a piece of very old hard-spun tartan which was used to cover the seat of a 16th century chair known as Mary, Queen of Scots chair, said to have come from Holyrood House. Now in the possession of Messrs Parker Knoll of Bucks. Sept 2005. Scottish Tartans Authority contacted Parker Knoll's family member who explained that the Mary Q of S reference was a bit of kite flying by his grandfather Tom Parker (circa 1878 -1964) who bought the chair in the 1920s, took the seat cover off to smarten it up and found an old piece of tartan covering underneath. He apparently said ' Wouldn't it be fun if we could prove that this belonged to Mary Queen of Scots?' and thus the story was born! Parker Knoll collection sold in 1997 at Sothebys and the family managed to buy back about 170 chairs (50% of the collection) but not this particular one. A piece of the tartan was cut off circa 1950s and sent to a 'society' in Scotland which presumably is where this threadcount came from. The count is said to be slightly suspect and an additional note says that the azure is indistinct and may be a faded light green. Sett size about 8 inches. Note similarity to #1674 (original Scottish Tartans Authority reference) ~ Holyrood Chair.

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Please note

Where tartans were recorded before the establishment of the Scottish Register of Tartans (SRT) on 5 February 2009, the original Scottish Tartans Authority (STA) and the Scottish Tartans World Register (STWR) reference numbers have been retained. The new SRT reference number can be found in the address box on your browser (url).

The registration criteria now applied by the Register conforms to the Scottish Register of Tartans Act 2008. These criteria are different to those previously applied by either the STA or the STWR. You may wish to refer to the STA website for further information on the original recording of this tartan.

National Records of Scotland, H.M. General Register House, 2 Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3YY
email: [email protected].