Maud (plaid)

[4] Her view seems to be backed by an old poem in Gaelic, "The Tale of Connal", recorded in Ross-shire in 1859, which has the line, "And wrapped my maundal around".

Drawing from barony records of Stichill, Roxburgh from 1655-1807, he said, "The maud, or shepherd's plaid, and the blue bonnet marked the peasant's dress."

A Cumberland Shepherd, painted by Joshua Cristall in 1816 shows a short maud carried wrapped around the waist.

The Shepherd's Sweetheart by Thomas Brooks (1846) and The Craigy Bield, above, show a medium-length maud carried over the left shoulder and tied in a half-knot at the right hip.

Scott's second description, above, describes the carrying of a long maud, wrapped around the waist and passed diagonally over the chest to fall behind the left shoulder.

This romantic revival may have prolonged the use of the maud and saved it from extinction; writing in 1808, Allan Ramsay said, "The wide great-coat, and the round hat, are, frequently, adopted for the grey checked plaid or mawd, and the broad blue bonnet with its scarlet rim;" (p.

He was fond of clothing himself in honest homespun of the thickest texture, and of wearing huge broad-soled boots, guiltless of polish.The garment is also associated with Northumbrian smallpipes.

In 1857, William Green played at a dinner of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne:[19] Nor must we overlook the music—which, as it ought to be, was ancient—the orchestra consisting of a couple of bagpipes.

In more recent decades, mauds have seen a modest revival as a part of Border Scots and Northern English traditional dress.

One has produced mauds in non-traditional and fashionable colours (such as light and dark orange, jade and red) in an attempt to attract modern buyers whilst another has positioned their product as a traditional Northumbrian collectable.