Known history of blanket… It came from the home of Chrissy Morrison when it was cleared after her death in about 1985. She was a lifelong friend of Mrs Jean Allen living at Greenhill Farm Tibbermore. The blanket came to Mrs Allen and then went to her brother at Kinvaid near Bankfoot. He used it to cover the holes in an old Chesterfield sofa. On his death, the blanket came with other ’rags’ back to Greenhill. When John and Peter (Mrs Allen’s twin farming sons) purchased a new Land Rover in 1987 they decided to throw an old rag over the back seat to prevent it from getting oily, the blanket being large and thick was an ideal choice. The central seam was opened in two places to allow the seatbelt fittings through.
On 29th of August Kate Grierson at Newmiln Farm Tibbermore - the neighbour of Greenhill- was taken together with her horse to the Pony Club cup day at Caol, Auchterarder. After leaving Kate and the horse trailer at Caol , her father Sandy Grierson's car broke down on the way home. Since this left no vehicle to go and collect the horsebox he asked for the loan of the Greenhill Land Rover. On their return from Pony Club Su Grierson, Kate’s Mother, was admiring her daughter's first ever trophy for the ‘Senior dressage’ which was lying on the back seat of the Land Rover when she spotted the blanket. Being herself very involved with natural dyes and textiles she admired the blanket and then explained its possible importance to John and Peter. Being impressed
that it might be rather more than a land rover ‘rag’ they kindly offered it as a gift for some more research to be done. Although slightly dirty by this time it was otherwise in excellent order. They commented that it was just as well they had not had a sick cow lately as they had been thinking it would make a fine sick cow blanket.
Although the origins of the blanket are not known, Chrissy Morrison had apparently come from ‘the Glens’ and her father is believed to have worked as a manager at the Mills at Huntingtower although he had died when she was young. She also had family connections with Fort William and Aberfeldy. So the blanket could have originated in either place.
Details of blanket
Length 80 inches
Width 68 inches
Weight 7 lb
Woven in two sections of 34 inch width the blanket has a central seam. The ends of the blanket are bound over with red stocking braid. At one end the braid looks quite fresh and new, but at the other end it is very faded although the blanket itself is not. The faded end also has two strips at each end, which are even more worn and faded. (Perhaps the braiding was all added later with one length being new and the other bound with older found material)
This is a heavy thick blanket clearly hand spun and hand woven in red and blue wool. The overall pattern is ‘goose eye’ and there is a wide pattern strip down the outside selvedges. It is quite similar to a blanket I have seen and photographed in the attic at Blair Castle.
The dyes have since been analysed by Dye Chemist Dr G W Taylor at York Archaeological Trust and he found the blue to be from from Indigo and the red rather surprisingly from Lac (an Indian insect die). While Lac was imported to Scotland one would have expected the dye to be either Cochineal or Madder.