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  1. #1
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    Downton Abbey: Journey to the Highlands

    I'm way behind in Downton Abbey, just now saw the Series 3 Christmas special A Journey To The Highlands.

    I looked at the old Downton Abbey threads, none seemed to go into much detail about the Highland Dress seen.

    Our first encounter with Highland Dress is when the main characters are met by Hugh MacClare (Peter Egan) at Inveraray Castle.

    It's set in 1921, just at the time our "traditional Highland Dress" had come into being. His outfit is accurate to the time and wouldn't look out of place at a current Highland Games.

    I'm not quite sure what to make of his tartan, that is, to the specific weaver and colourway. It has tones more or less like House Of Edgar's "muted range".



    The sporran is a lovely original piece, not unlike this one



    I can't find any photos online of Hugh MacClare's lovely Evening outfit. He's wearing a Victorian-looking goathair long sporran, a traditional doublet, all in all the sort of outfit someone of his age would have worn since his youth in Victorian times.

    I did find this "making of" video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJRac4kUQJc&t=319s

    At 2:05 there's a doublet. Keep in mind that in 1921 the Prince Charlie Coatee was quite new, so it's appearance isn't really to be expected. Thank goodness they didn't stick all the men in Prince Charlies like most filmmakers do.

    At 2:43 it looks like a plain tweed kilt.

    From 5:11 to 5:18 you can see the dancing at The Ghillies' Ball.

    There's a doublet which has a couple buttons in the wrong place. We can see Ancient Tartan kilts, which were fairly recent and quite popular in 1921.

    However we also see a gent wearing a Weathered Tartan kilt, which didn't appear until after WWII. Filmmakers love their Weathered tartans!! And films set in any time-period whatsoever tend to have them (Rob Roy, Outlander, etc).

    Now the piper. Obviously the sound we hear was recorded at a different time, and perhaps played by a different person. You can see his fingers not matching the playing, and besides a film set is an eerily silent place. Certainly he has his drones and chanter corked off, and is silently keeping the bag full and fingering the chanter. It's hard to tell if his finger positions are proper from this photo, though to me he seems like an actual piper due to his posture etc and not merely an extra who got handed a set of pipes.

    His outfit would be perfectly acceptable for pretty much any time from the mid-19th century to today, due to this piper's kit resisting change. However his bag-cover is a style which only appeared within the last decade or so.

    This blurry photo was the only one I could find showing most of his outfit.



    Here's a clearer closeup, the only semi-focused photo I could find of him. The pipes look like nice silver-mounted pipes perhaps by Naill.

    Last edited by OC Richard; 28th June 21 at 05:29 AM.
    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

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  3. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
    Now the piper. Obviously the sound we hear was recorded at a different time, and perhaps played by a different person. You can see his fingers not matching the playing, and besides a film set is an eerily silent place. Certainly he has his drones and chanter corked off, and is silently keeping the bag full and fingering the chanter. It's hard to tell if his finger positions are proper from this photo, though to me he seems like an actual piper due to his posture etc and not merely an extra who got handed a set of pipes.
    Knowing just a very small amount about production, I imagine he was only asked to pretend to play a song of his choosing, and neither he nor the production crew knew what song would eventually be added to the soundtrack...or perhaps they had a song in mind, and it got changed in post. As you said, a set is an eerily quiet place, and it's mostly because all the sounds and music get added in later.

    Either way, pretty cool if they tapped an actual piper to play the part. I wonder what the story is behind the contrasting tartans on his shoulder and breast.

  4. #3
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    Over the weekend, I just happened to see an episode of "Great Estates Scotland" on PBS, featuring Inveraray Castle. (Originally aired in 2014). In the episode, the piper in question, Iain Campbell, is mentioned at 9:35. The Duke of Argyll, His Grace Torquhil Ian Campbell, mentions that he and his brother played at their (the current Duke and his wife's) wedding.
    John

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  6. #4
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    Thanks for that!

    He did look like "a real piper".

    TV and film productions are inconsistent. Sometimes they dress up an extra and give him a set of pipes and the result never looks convincing. Sometimes, knowing that an extra faking it will look like what it is, will hire an actual player.

    One advantage is that the "real piper" will probably provide his own costume and know how to wear it, looking more authentic than something the Costumer throws together.

    About what's heard on the sountrack that's inconsistent too. I've played for several films and TV shows. Sometimes I appear onscreen and they have me go into a recording studio before, or after, the day they shoot the scene.

    I've done things where they have used a piper for the shoot, and I'm recording over them (in effect).

    The oddest thing is when they've hired me to play uilleann pipes while the scene shows a Highland piper! I've done that several times.
    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

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    Iain's brother would be Donald Campbell. Donald often plays at the castle. I don't know about Iain.

    The only time I was there was years ago (OK, 1983) when Ronnie McCallum was piper to the then Duke. He showed me the house pipes from the castle. Somewhere I have a slide of him playing those pipes with Argyll's banner. His job was to play in the great hall every morning at 8 AM, then take care of the gardens.

    After church Sunday morning I was on the castle grounds. I heard someone ask if the Duke had been in church. Mrs. Ronnie spoke up "I don't know if the Duke was, but the Duke's piper wasn't!"

  8. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
    I'm way behind in Downton Abbey, just now saw the Series 3 Christmas special A Journey To The Highlands.

    Our first encounter with Highland Dress is when the main characters are met by Hugh MacClare (Peter Egan) at Inveraray Castle.

    It's set in 1921, just at the time our "traditional Highland Dress" had come into being. His outfit is accurate to the time and wouldn't look out of place at a current Highland Games.

    I'm not quite sure what to make of his tartan, that is, to the specific weaver and colourway. It has tones more or less like House Of Edgar's "muted range".
    Agreed, it looks like HoE's Muted Range and so not accuarate for the period.

    I can't find any photos online of Hugh MacClare's lovely Evening outfit. He's wearing a Victorian-looking goathair long sporran, a traditional doublet, all in all the sort of outfit someone of his age would have worn since his youth in Victorian times.
    This one?
    Peter Egan - Downton Abbey-2.jpg

  9. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by figheadair View Post
    Yes! I hunted online using the character's name and titles (Hugh MacClare, Marquess of Flintshire) the actor's name (Peter Egan) the castle's fictional name and real name, and I came up empty.

    To me that outfit is perfect for a man of his age in 1921. He may have been born around 1860 and might have acquired all or part of that outfit in the c1880-1910 period.

    In 1921 a young man keen to have the latest fashion might appear in a Prince Charlie coatee with the new small sealskin Evening sporran, but a mature man would likely wear the fashions of a few decades earlier.

    I do quibble with the Ghillies, which seem out of place unless they had buckles. I would expect buckled Evening shoes.

    For comparison here are Edinburgh Scots in 1910

    Last edited by OC Richard; 29th June 21 at 05:16 AM.
    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

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  11. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by EagleJCS View Post
    the piper in question, Iain Campbell, is mentioned at 9:35. The Duke of Argyll, His Grace Torquhil Ian Campbell, mentions that he and his brother played at their (the current Duke and his wife's) wedding.
    On the castle's Facebook page I found a video of Iain Campbell playing in the same outfit he wore on Downton Abbey.

    https://www.facebook.com/inverarayca...=page_internal

    There are only two anachronisms in the outfit Iain Campbell is wearing in Downton Abbey

    1) the bag-cover is a style that appeared around 20 years ago, with the lace ordinarily used for doublets replacing the traditional fringe.

    2) the doublet is a style that isn't seen at that time, more ornate than even the most ornate military Pipe Major's doublet. That style became popular with military-style civilian pipe bands from around 1970 onwards.

    Here are three pipers of around the Downton Abbey period. Note that the piper on the left, who appears to be a military Pipe Major, wears a rather plain doublet. In truth I would have dressed the Downton Abbey piper like the piper to centre in typical civilian piper's dress of the period. The piper to right appears to be a civilian in a semi-military outfit (civilian pipe bands wearing military-style dress often wear the following badges of office: Pipe Sergeant, Drum Major, and Drum Sergeant).



    In the army, the Pipe Majors of some regiments wore rather plain doublets while other regiments tended to the ornate. I think the only doublet of that period to have full gold lace everywhere was that of the Pipe Major of the Gordon Highlanders



    Iain Campbell's doublet is similar to this civilian one, with full gold lace including the loops on collar and cuffs



    here being worn (with silver lace) by The Red Hackle Pipe Band in the 1970s

    Last edited by OC Richard; 29th June 21 at 05:23 AM.
    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

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  13. #9
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    I just skimmed through the episode and got a couple of screenshots of Shrimpy at the ball




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  15. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by McMurdo View Post
    As OC Richard has observed, the outfit is a pretty good representation of the period but I doubt anyone played snooker, or billiards, wearing a plaid.

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