Fairy Flag - Description

Description

In the 19th century, the writer Rev. Norman Macleod (1783–1862) recalled seeing the Fairy Flag during his childhood around 1799 (see relevant section below). He described the flag as then having crosses wrought in gold thread, and several "elf spots" stitched upon it. N. Macleod recollected that when the flag was examined, bits were taken off it from time to time; so much so, that later in his life he did not believe the flag still existed. In August 1814, Sir Walter Scott visited Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye, and wrote of the visit in his diary. One of several items he mentioned seeing was the Fairy Flag. Scott described it as "a pennon of silk, with something like round red rowan-berries wrought upon it". John Francis Campbell saw the flag in 1871, and described it as being "made of yellow raw silk with figures and spots worked on it in red". In 1927, Roderick Charles MacLeod described the flag as then being square and brown. He measured it as about 18 inches (46 cm) squared. He considered the flag to have originally been much larger; and remarked on its extreme fragility and the requirement for careful handling, if it should be handled at all. R.C. MacLeod noted N. Macleod's description of the flag, but observed that it now only contained the "elf spots"—there was then no evidence of any crosses upon what remained of the flag. R.C. MacLeod also observed that several tears in the flag had been carefully mended.

The flag was examined in the early 20th century by A.J.B. Wace of the Victoria and Albert Museum, who concluded that the silk was woven in either Syria or Rhodes, and the darns were made in the Near East. It was his opinion that the flag, in its original state, would have been quite precious, possibly a relic like the shirt of a saint. The belief at the time of this examination was the MacLeods were descended from Harald Hardrada, who spent some time in Constantinople in the 11th century. In line with this belief, it was suggested that the flag may have passed from Harald Hardrada down to the eponymous ancestor of the clan—Leod. The MacLeod Estate Office (Dunvegan Castle) website claims that experts have dated the flag to the 4th and 7th centuries—hundreds of years before the Crusades. The flag is currently held in Dunvegan Castle, along with other notable heirlooms such as the Dunvegan Cup and Sir Rory Mor's Horn.