Cornish Kilts and Tartans

Cornish kilts and tartans are thought to be a modern tradition started in the early to mid 20th century. The first modern kilt was plain black, and other patterns followed. It is documented that a garment known as a bracca (a reddish checkered tunic) was worn by Celtic races that inhabited the British Isles, the term indicating its appearance. The Welsh word brech means 'checkered' (compare the cognate Scottish Gaelic breac, 'variegated, freckled'), and the word bracca is derived from the Welsh or Cornish word brythen which in English translates as 'striped' or 'checkered'."

Cornish historian L.C.R. Duncombe-Jewell was the first to prove that plain kilts were in use in Cornwall. He discovered that carvings of minstels dressed in kilts and playing bagpipes on bench ends at Altarnun church dated from circa 1510. Some, however, contend that these images are more likely to be medieval belted tunics that were common throughout Europe. The earliest historical reference to the Cornish kilt is from 1903, when the Cornish delegate to the Celtic Congress, convening at Caernarvon, L. Duncombe-Jewell, appeared in a woad blue kilt. John T. Koch in his work Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia mentions a black kilt worn by the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in combat; however, no historical reference is provided to support this claim.