
The Welsh hat () worn by women as part of
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, of or about Wales
* Welsh language, spoken in Wales
* Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales
Places
* Welsh, Arkansas, U.S.
* Welsh, Louisiana, U.S.
* Welsh, Ohio, U.S.
* Welsh Basin, during t ...
national costume
Folk costume, traditional dress, traditional attire or folk attire, is clothing of an ethnic group, nation or region, and expresses cultural, religious or national identity. An ethnic group's clothing may also be called ethnic clothing or ethnic ...
is a tall
hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
, similar to a
top hat
A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...
, or the
capotain
A capotain, capatain, copotain, copintank or steeple hat is a tall-crowned, narrow-brimmed, slightly conical "sugarloaf" hat, usually black, worn by men and women from the 1590s into the mid-seventeenth century in England and northwestern Euro ...
. It is still worn by Welsh folk-dance women, and schoolgirls, in
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
on
St David's Day
Saint David's Day ( or ), or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD.
Traditional festivities include wearing daffodils and leeks, ...
, but rarely on other occasions.
Two main shapes of Welsh hat were made during the 19th century: those with drum shaped (vertical sided)
crowns were worn in north-west Wales, and those with slightly tapering crowns were found in the rest of Wales.
History

The Welsh hat first appeared during the late 1700s; it became widely popular in the 1830s and over 380 examples are known to have survived. The Welsh hat was part of a
traditional Welsh costume
The Welsh traditional costume () was worn by rural women in Wales. It was identified as being different from that worn by the rural women of England by many of the English visitors who toured Wales during the late 18th and early 19th centuries ...
propagated by
Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover
Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover (21 March 1802 – 17 January 1896), born Augusta Waddington, was a Welsh people, Welsh Beneficiary, heiress, best known as a patron of the Welsh arts.
Early life
She was born on 12 March 1802, near Abergavenny, ...
(1802–1896) but it is unlikely that she had much influence on anyone other than her friends and servants.
The hat may have developed from a number of types of tall hat including the riding hat, which ladies wore during the early part of the 19th century, (as illustrated in the Llanover prints) but no evidence has been discovered which explains why, during the 1830s, the tall hat with the stiff, flat brim, which is unique to the Welsh hat, replaced the other types of men's hat worn by many rural women in Wales at the time.
By the late 1840s the Welsh hat had become an icon of Wales and was used in cartoons to represent Wales as a nation. It brought forward the image of a happy, hearty, healthy, hard-working Welsh woman. It became part of the national identity and was normally worn with the other elements of Welsh costume, especially the gown or bedgown (Welsh: ''gŵn'' or ''betgwn'').
It continues in use as an icon of Wales in tourist literature.
By the time
Sydney Curnow Vosper
Sydney Curnow Vosper RWS, RWA (29 October 1866 – 10 July 1942) was an English painter and etcher of landscapes and figure subjects. His later work has a close association with Wales and Brittany. His most famous work is '' Salem'' (1908), w ...
painted the iconic
Salem
Salem may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Salem, Ontario, various places
Germany
* Salem, Baden-Württemberg, a municipality in the Bodensee district
** Salem Abbey (Reichskloster Salem), a monastery
* Salem, Schleswig-Holstein
Israel
* Salem (B ...
in 1908, the hat was no longer fashionable, but Vosper still felt the women he painted should wear the now iconic hats. The hat was so rare by the early 20th century that it is thought Vosper could only find one in the local area, and had to share it amongst the models, painting the same hat into the composition four times.
Battle of Fishguard
During the
War of the First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI, constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French First Republic, Frenc ...
, France attempted an invasion of Britain.
During the February 1797
Battle of Fishguard
The Battle of Fishguard was a military invasion of Great Britain by Revolutionary France during the War of the First Coalition. The brief campaign, on 22–24 February 1797, is the most recent landing on British soil by a hostile foreign forc ...
, Colonel
William Tate an Irish-American commanding French and Irish troops, landed near
Fishguard
Fishguard (, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,400 (rounded to the nearest 100) as of the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Modern Fishguard consists of two parts, Lowe ...
in
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
.
English and Welsh militia and civilians under the command of
John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor
John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor, FRS, FSA ( – 1 June 1821) was a British politician and military officer who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1777 to 1796.
Biography
John Campbell was born in Wales , the son of Pryse Camp ...
hastily assembled to defend the town.
When discipline began to break down among Tate's troops and their attempted invasion slowed down, Tate asked for surrender terms that would permit his command to leave.
Instead of offering terms, Cawdor demanded unconditional surrender.
As Tate and his subordinates considered Cawdor's demands overnight, Cawdor backed up his bluff with several deceptive measures.
According to local lore, these included having women in
traditional Welsh costume
The Welsh traditional costume () was worn by rural women in Wales. It was identified as being different from that worn by the rural women of England by many of the English visitors who toured Wales during the late 18th and early 19th centuries ...
s and Welsh hats line the cliffs near the French camp.
from a distance, the women appeared to be British soldiers in
red coats and
shako
A shako (, , or ) is a tall, cylindrical military cap, usually with a visor, and sometimes tapered at the top. It is usually adorned with an ornamental plate or Cap badge, badge on the front, metallic or otherwise; and often has a feather, hackle ...
s.
Convinced that he was outnumbered, Tate surrendered and his troops were taken prisoner.
Dating Welsh hats
It is difficult to date silk Welsh hats; they were being produced in significant numbers during the 1840s and it is possible that they went out of production only a decade or so later. Unlike other fashionable hats, the Welsh hat may have been worn by its owner for many years and then passed down to succeeding generations. The large numbers of surviving hats implies that they were invested with much more than being just an expensive
fashion
Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...
item.
Manufacture
19th-century Welsh hats were made in the same way and with the same materials as top hats. Most surviving examples were made by
Christy's of Stockport and London, and Carver and Co of Bristol who also made top hats. Some were made by hat makers in Wales.
The shell was made of buckram (linen fabric), strengthened with shellac or resin and covered with black silk plush (sometimes confusingly known as beaver) but some were made of
felt
Felt is a textile that is produced by matting, condensing, and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic fiber, acrylic or acrylonitrile or ...
(originally beaver fur, but later fur from other animals). During the 20th century most Welsh hats for adults were made of card covered in black fabric but a few were made of felt especially for Welsh dance teams and women's choirs. Welsh hats for children are made of felt and are normally worn with a
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
or
lace
Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...
cap underneath or may have lace attached to the underside of the brim.
Cockle hat
There is an 'alternative' women's hat for those who consider the traditional Welsh hat unflattering, in the form of a "
cocklewoman's hat", a flat felt hat tied with ribbons on which women balanced the heavy baskets of cockles which they gathered from the coast around Carmarthen Bay when taking them home to cook, and thence to market.
Alternative usage
A derived meaning of 'Welsh hat' is an ancillary stack, usually black in colour and slightly conical, attached to the funnel of a
ship
A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...
to ensure cleaner disposal of exhaust from the engines. This arrangement was used in several passenger
liners
"Liners" is a horticultural term referring to very young plants, usually grown for sale to retailers or wholesalers, who then grow them to a larger size before selling them to consumers. Liners are usually grown from seed, but may also be grown ...
by the
Orient Line
The Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, was a UK, British shipping company with roots going back to the late 18th century. From the early 20th century onwards, an association began with P&O (company), P&O which bec ...
in the 1950s.
See also
*
List of hat styles
Hats have been common throughout the history of humanity, present on some of the very earliest preserved human bodies and art. Below is a list of various kinds of contemporary or traditional hat.
List
See also
*List of headgear
References
...
References
{{Hats
1830s fashion
1840s fashion
Hats
Welsh clothing
Victorian fashion