The story of Lovat and 200 years of Tweed

In the Scottish Borders town of Hawick, which gave this most versatile of cloths its distinctive character and name, its far-reaching success is a source of pride.

At Lovat Mill – the Home of Tweed – it is an ongoing passion, 200 years in the making.

Today as the only tweed weaver in the town, Lovat Mill’s artisans are custodians of a cloth-making tradition that dates from the dawn of the industrial age.

They embody the vigour and inventiveness of their Hawick forebears who, in the 18th century, transformed textile production in the town.

An ingenious system of sluices and culverts gave the River Teviot’s fast-flowing waters the extra impetus needed to power the emerging mill technologies of the day. Suddenly, a whole new array of creative possibilities had opened up.

Soon a brilliant generation of cloth makers could capture as never before, in subtly-coloured twists and yarns, the essence of Scotland – its heather and hills, its bracken, bluebells and birch trees.

Hawick quickly made a name for itself as a notable producer of ‘tweel’ – the Scots word for twill – a hardwearing patterned cloth made famous by literary superstar Sir Walter Scott.

The celebrated novelist had wowed London society by wearing trews made of black and white checked tweel, which were based on plaids worn by Borders shepherds.
Checked trousers became a fashion sensation overnight. The mills on Hawick’s bustling new thoroughfare of Commercial Road were inundated with orders from London’s leading cloth merchants.

Before long, fabrics were being produced in heather and granite colours for shooting and deer stalking.

Tweel’s marketability was further enhanced by a stroke of good fortune that is part of Borders folklore.

The term ‘tweed’ was first coined quite by accident when a London cloth merchant, James Locke, misread a label marked ‘tweel’ on a delivery from Watson’s Mill on Commercial Road.

When the merchant next presented the mill with an order for more ‘tweeds’, proprietor William Watson wisely chose not to correct their mistake.

Instead, he adopted the word as a descriptor of his product – one which evoked visions of the River Tweed gently flowing through the Borders countryside. A simple error had produced an incomparable brand name.

With Watson’s Mill now demolished, its former near neighbour, Lovat Mill, is recognised as the home of Scotland’s tweed-making tradition.

Lovat Mill’s workforce is steeped in tweed’s rich heritage, schooled in the complexities of warp and weft and immersed in the craft of textile production.

A collective wisdom, drawn from the great practitioners of the past, is equipping a new generation of tweed makers to compete in the modern marketplace.

Within this knowledge base are tantalising glimpses of Lovat Mill’s distinguished history. Once, when clearing out some storerooms, an employee struck gold by uncovering a set of designers’ notebooks dating back to 1880.

The books contained meticulous instructions for hundreds of designs, each inscribed with notes on how to perfect them. What looked to most like hieroglyphics was, for Lovat Mill’s design team, a discovery akin to the Rosetta Stone.

The skill and attention to detail that were trademarks of past designers are now prized assets, inspiring those who follow in their footsteps today.

Tweed making remains the ultimate craft industry, partly a work of art and partly a feat of precision engineering. Visit Lovat Mill and you can appreciate it is also a labour of love.

At the design stage, things move slowly and precisely. Colours are chosen with reverence; yarns twisted with care.

The whole process is akin to the distiller’s art, each fibre influencing the outcome just as different grains shape the character of fine whisky.

On the factory floor, the pace quickens, the noise intensifies. Computerised looms weave at speeds unimaginable to previous generations of cloth makers.

Watching tweed being made is an engrossing experience. Each strand of cloth has meaning. Look closely and you can discern the motifs of land and sky, which have been part of this tradition since its earliest days, as they take shape before your eyes.

Then, in an adjacent room, behind a closed door, employees check every inch of tweed in a sanctuary of calm, correcting loose threads, bumps and flaws with painstaking precision – in much the same way it has always been done.

Some of the old patterns linked to the great ducal estates and army regiments have been faithfully recreated while others have formed the base for new designs, many created as privately owned sporting estates have changed hands.

The delight of these designs is in the detail. A photograph of an estate during shooting season might, for instance, inspire a designer to mirror its colours in cloth – grey slate on the roofs, lichens in the walls and the muted tones of the hillsides.

Tweed – unlike its highland cousin, tartan – is not constrained by strict patterns.

Combining colours is part of the designer’s art, but the creators of new patterns must stick to the rules of design as well. Nothing ever comes out of nowhere.
Previous generations of tweed makers would be mesmerised were they to see how cloths have changed.

Historically, weight has meant warmth, weatherproofing and durability, but modern technology allows Lovat Mill to weave hard-wearing, lightweight rain-resistant fabrics, containing Lycra or nylon filaments.

This weaving together of tradition and innovation is, as William Watson demonstrated 200 years previously, nothing new but its impact is significant.

Modern, dynamic yet mindful of the past, Lovat Mill continues to set exacting standards – its foundations in former centuries; its focus on the here and now.

Tweed’s appeal has proved as enduring as the land it seeks to reflect. Two hundred years on from William Watson’s bold vision – Lovat Mill is the torch bearer of his legacy, recutting its cloth as it embarks on a third century of unsurpassed production.
 
Hawick, January 2026