James Watt Commemorative tartan on sale
Merchandise featuring the newly created James Watt Commemorative tartan is now on sale. Ties, rosettes, umbrellas, travel mugs and pens are already available with the potential to expand the range to include kilts.
The James Watt Commemorative features dark grey to represent industrial works and tools; light grey to represent steam; orange to represent the signage and colours within the James Watt Institution and teal to represent Inverclyde Council.
The tartan is now available through the council’s suppliers, Ingles Buchan, and it’s expected local shops will soon be stocking items featuring the tartan.
The Beacon Arts Centre is currently selling a selection of the James Watt merchandise. A similar range of products will be available from the James Watt Institution when it reopens towards the end of the year.
The tartan was created by Inverclyde Council as part of its plans to mark the 200th anniversary of James Watt’s death (1819).
Councillor Martin Brennan, Provost of Inverclyde, said, “We are delighted to be able to share our new James Watt Commemorative tartan with local residents and the wider world. It is great to be able to celebrate James Watt’s birth place in such a creative way. We have been able to gift tartan ties and rosettes to a wide range of people associated with James Watt from as far as Birmingham, London and Canada.
“James Watt is one of Inverclyde’s most famous citizens. His impact on Britain and the world was enormous. He was a hugely accomplished scientist and inventor and we felt it was appropriate that there should be a tartan named after him.”
The James Watt Commemorative is listed on the Scottish Register of Tartans.
Under the Scottish Register of Tartans Act 2008 all new tartans have to be registered but, paradoxically, cannot include the word ‘tartan’ in their name. A unique design, a threadcount and an image of the proposed tartan are required before it can be registered.
The James Watt Commemorative tartan can’t be used in any form without the council’s permission.
James Watt (19 January 1736 – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer and chemist, who was born in Greenock. He improved on Thomas Newcomen’s 1712 steam engine creating his own version in 1781. This was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both Britain and the rest of the world. He developed the concept of horsepower, and the SI unit of power, the watt, is named after him.