North British Sword DAncers

Not just a hobby, but a lifestyle choice.

Tweed

The finest, most versatile textile known to man, tweed is essential to the North Briton, and all that is best in this cloth is represented by Harris Tweed, which has for many years supplied North Britons with their jackets, trousers, underwear, and bedlinen.

 

 

Click the logo to find out about the Harris Tweed Authority

Tweed is, however, not the sole preserve of the north country.  It is a well-kept secret that Sussex has its own tweed-related traditions.  Many  Sussex pubs still bear a row of hooks just below the bar.  These are traditionally known as tweddocks, or tweed-hooks.  This is where the yeoman farmer would hang his jacket when mixing with his farm labourers, so as to avoid the accusation of flaunting his tweed.

 

One notable Sussex tradition which survives in the seaside town of Hastings is Tweeding the Winkle.  By the fishermen’s huts, on Winkle Island, is a statue of a winkle, and every four years, on the first Saturday in May, the winkle is covered with tweed in a ceremony whose origins are now forgotten, but which is thought to symbolize thanks for the survival of the winkle population through the storms of another winter.  Twice now, in 2005 and 2009, North British have had the honour of Tweeding the Winkle (see photograph below of 2009).