The Strathearn Tartan

This is evidently a district tartan . The strath which gives it its name is situated in Perthshire. It commences on the east border of Balquhidder parish at the head of Loch Earn and expands into brilliant strath in the western vicinity of Crieff, and thence in opulence of lowland beauty, proceeds into mergence with Strathtay at the mouth of the Earn . With Menteth it formed the ancient province of Fortrenn , and was the seat of an ancient Celtic earldom. It formed a stewartry in the hands of the Earls of Perth, till the abolition of heritable jurisdictions in 1748, and it gave the title of Duke, in the peerage of Scotland, to His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, father of the late Queen Victoria. With reference to this tartan Messrs Smith of Mauchline, in their Authenticated Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland ( 1850), remark, “ When the Duke of Kent was commandant of the 1st Royals ‘ ( 1812), a piece of old tartan Called the ‘ Strathearn Tartan ’ was sent to Messrs Wilson, Bannockburn , with orders for clothing of a similar pattern to be made for the gallant corps, accordingly this Regiment was for a time dressed in this tartan.”