The Cornish National Tartan  Designed by Gwas Gwethnoc – Tony Morton-Nance    [Design rights: Cornish Tartans]  Designed in the 1950’s the Cornish National Tartan was the first Cornish tartan; black and gold were the colours of the Kings of Cornwall, the red is for the beak and legs of Cornwall’s national emblem - the Cornish Chough, central to the tartan is Cornwall’s flag, surrounded by the blue of the Atlantic and the River Tamer. The original kilt cloth was registered and described as "old gold", the ladies cloth was a smaller set and a brighter yellow and registered as "Saffron".

Today there are 14 registered Cornish tartans, four of these are “National Tartans”.- we design tartans. The “National Tartans” (as Scottish, Welsh and Irish tartans) have elements which represent the history of the Cornish nation

references made in this document are based on or quoted directly predominantly from the un-published historical research notes of Gwas Gwethnoc—E.E.Morton-Nance, designer of the original Cornish National Tartan but also from “Cornwall: A History” - Prof. Phillip Payton : Cornwall Editions Ltd. 2004 and “West Britons” – Prof Mark Stoyle - University Press Exeter 2002 . CornishTartans accept that there are variations of opinions about some aspects of Cornish History because of the loss or destruction of many early sources of Cornish History but regard these two sources as perhaps the most accurate available.

Cornish Tartans, a family business,  was set up in the early 1960''s is the original Cornish Tartan marketing company, Cornish Tartans aims to make Cornish tartans accessible to the Cornish by maintaining reasonable prices. Although we need to make a modest living the company policy is to keep costs to the customer as low as possible, particularly with kilts, which “Tony” [E.E.Morton-Nance, designer of the Cornish National Tartan] championed and thought Cornish men and women should be proud to wear. Current prices start from about £130.

The design rights and copyrights of several of the original and genuine Cornish tartans belong to the family of Gwas Gwethnoc, this includes the Cornish National (both the Old Gold and the Saffron) , St Piran Dress, Cornish Atlantic Blue, the Cornish Day Tartan, the Blatchford and the Pengelly. These are available in our shop The Cornish Tartan Centre   in Redruth's Fore Street. Although Cornish Tartans will endeavour to maintain prices we reserve the right to alter the cost of items if the need arises, but will inform customers of any changes before accepting orders.