Published 2nd Apr 2025, 06:00 BST

A unique horsehair hat made more than 3,000 years ago and later found in a Highland peatbog is having its extraordinary story unravelled.

The hat, which is believed to be the oldest recognisable garment in Scotland, was discovered in Kirtomy in Sutherland by Donald John Mackay while he was cutting peat with his daughter 70 years ago.

As his spade turned up a tangle of hair, little did he know that he had found an item now described as having “international significance” given it is the only hat made from horsehair ever found in Britain and Europe.

Held by National Museums Scotland, fresh analysis of the hat is shedding new light on the late Bronze Age in the far north of Scotland - and who may have worn such a valued, well-made piece of clothing around 1,000 BC.

Fine detail from the horsehair hat, which was first made around 3,000 years ago and is now being reconstructed. PIC: Sandy Scullion. | Sandy Scullion

Tantalisingly, the hat also offers some of the earliest evidence of the presence of domestic horse in Britain.

After months of research, a reconstruction of the hat is now well underway and will be unveiled at an archaeological conference in Edinburgh next month.

Dr Susanna Harris, an archaeologist at Glasgow University who specialises in analysis of textiles and leather, said: “The hat is hugely important for Scotland’s textile heritage and it is the earliest recognisable garment in Scotland - by a long way really.”

She said the hat had been “beautifully made” using a technique called wrapped twining, which is usually found in basket weaving.

Dr Harris, whose research into the hat was funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, added: “We haven’t seen this before certainly in Britain and I haven’t seen it looking further afield across Europe. It is a really unusual technique and that is combined with the unusual material .

“Making clothing from horsehair using this technique is really unique.”

The hat was found by Babette Mackay , 10, and her father DJ Mackay (pictured here with his wife) while they were out cutting peats. PIC: The Mackay family. | The Mackay family

The hat was discovered by Donald John Mackay and his daughter Babette, ten, on the Skelpick Estate at Kirtomy in Sutherland in 1953.

Mr Mackay and his daughter took it home to Kiltorny schoolhouse, with Mr Mackay, a foreman with an engineering firm, later describing it like a straw “boater”, with pleated hair around the outer edge of the brim.

Highly regarded archaeologist Audrey Henshall was informed of the find by the headmaster of Bettyhill School, with the hat then acquired by the-then National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland in 1961. When it arrived, the item was in a “confused and dilapidated state”, Ms Henshall wrote, with parts of it held together only by peat.

The hat offers some evidence of the earliest horse ownership in Britain with horses during the Bronze Age similar in size to the New Forest Ponies (pictured). CC. | CC

Ms Henshall, who died in 2021, took close interest in the object, disentangling the horsehair, working out the technique used to make it and then constructing a version in paper.

A mock-up of the Bronze Age hat made in paper by revered archaeologist Audrey Henshall, who died in 2021. PIC: A Sheridan. | A Sheridan

However, her research at the time was dominated by her seminal book on megalithic monuments in Scotland, and the hat remained in the museum stores for several decades.

The object came to light once again as items were moved between stores at NMS, with Dr Alison Sheridan, former principal curator of prehistory at National Museums, reigniting research into the garment.

Last year, Dr Sheridan teamed up with Dr Harris and Lilja Husmo, a Glasgow-based historical costumier, who is reconstructing the hat, which will be presented at the Archaeological Research in Progress 2025 conference, organised by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in Edinburgh on May 3.

Dr Susanna Harris (left) an archaeologist and textiles expert at Glasgow University and Dr Alison Sheridan (right), former Principal Curator of Prehistory at National Museums Scotland. | Contributed

Ms Husmo said reconstructing the hat had taken several months of experimentation. She said the hat would have been a “valuable item” given the material used and the time taken to make it.

Ms Husmo, who has worked on costumes for Outlander, said: “The is definitely something I think would be valuable to the person who made it, as well as the person who wore it.

“Whether someone in the settlement was a hatmaker or someone made it for themselves or for loved ones, making this hat definitely takes a lot of work. Your hands also get really sore working with horsehair.

“So it would definitely be a valuable item, even if you already know how to do it and can do it quite quickly.”

She added: “The hat definitely took a lot longer than I originally thought it would. I am a bit of a perfectionist.”

Hair was gathered from the tails of two horses for the reconstruction. At the time the hat was originally made, horses were only just being domesticated and would have been similar in stature to New Forest ponies.

Dr Sheridan said: “The hat is over 3,000 years old. It is among the earliest evidence for the presence of domestic horse in Britain

“Horses would have been very valued possessions around this time and we strongly suspect some horses were being harnessed to draw some kind of vehicles around this time.”

On whether ownership of a horse signalled a high status in the community, Dr Sheridan added: “It is something that we have been wondering about. We can’t be sure as there is so little evidence for horses at that time, but it is certainly a possibility. We assume that they were probably rare and they would have valued.”

The research into the hat comes amid further evidence of horse ownership in Scotland during the late Bronze Age following the discovery of the ‘Peebles Hoard’, a collection of 500 pieces of the period that includes a jingle pendant.

These would have been fixed fixed to a horse or cart to make a noise when on the move, and are the first to be found in Scotland. They are more commonly found in Denmark, northern Germany and northern Poland and illustrate Scotland as being linked to an international network of communities across the North Sea.

The Peebles Hoard is being researched by Dr Matt Knight at NMS.

Tickets are now available for the Archaeological Research in Progress 2025 conference, a hybrid event that is being held both online and at the Augustine United Church on George IV Bridge on May 3.

Updates will also be given on a Bronze Age hoard from the Highlands, a ‘lost priory’ in Perth and Orkney’s Neolithic Ness of Brodgar.

The 3,000-year-old horsehair hat found in a Scottish Highland peatbog

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