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Home » The Domestic Sphere » Dress and personal accessories » Headwear

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  • There were cap makers in Monmouth in 1449, but the knitted-cap industry in the town flourished under the Tudors. The earliest surviving example of the use of the term 'Monmouth Cap' is in a letter dated 1576. By this time the Monmouth industry was at its height, but other towns had taken up the manufacture, encouraged by legislation protecting the knitted woollen cap industry throughout the sixteenth century. Monmouth caps were essential equipment for seventeenth century soldiers and sailors, although they were no longer made in Monmouth. Monmouth caps were so familiar and widely used that they were taken for granted. Everyone knew what was meant by a 'Monmouth cap', so there was no need to describe it in writing. We can be sure, from the few references we have, that they were knitted, brown in colour, round in shape, with a 'button' on top. The hat shown here is believed to be an original Monmouth cap, the only surviving example, dating from the sixteenth century. Source: Display boards, Nelson Museum & Local History Centre.
Monmouth cap, 16th century
  • Mrs Annie Watkin, Muriau, Cricieth, is seen wearing the distinctive clothes and headwear associated with the Victorian age.
Mrs Annie Watkin of Muriau, Criccieth, 19th century
  • This photograph shows the members of Salem chapel, Pwllheli, on a social outing. The members are all dressed in their best outfits, and a number of the women are wearing large, ornate hats.
Members of Salem chapel, Pwllheli, on an outing (n.d.)
  • A tall Welsh hat with a wide band around the base of the crown and purple quilting on the lower half of the inside to which two black ribbons are attached for tying around the chin. The label reads 'Carver and Co. Extra Best'. The hat dates from the second half of the nineteenth century and was probably made by one of the main London-based makers of such hats.
Welsh costume: woman's hat, 19th century [image 1 of 2]
  • Broad-brimmed Welsh hat dating from the second half of the nineteenth century. The original owner of this hat was a Mrs Edwards of Llanilar (born c. 1850). Hats such as these would have been fashionable during her youth but fell increasingly out of favour as the century progressed. By the end of the nineteenth century they would have been something of a curiosity, reserved mainly for St David's Day and other patriotic occasions. A few elderly women, however, remained attached to the hats of their youth and continued to wear them on occasions as part of their 'best' attire. As an elderly lady, Mrs Edwards, dressed in her Welsh hat, was seemingly taken by her daughters on a train trip to a local town (presumably Aberystwyth) as a special treat. According to the surviving anecdotal evidence, whilst in town, they were accosted by a group of local boys who asked whether they were going to the races. One of the boys enquired where the races were being held and another jokingly replied 'Around the brim of the old lady's hat'. Mrs Edwards was so upset that she immediately went into a local shop to purchase a more fashionable bonnet. It would appear that she resolved there and then never to wear the hat again. The hat was donated to Ceredigion Museum many years later by a member of her family. Description based on information supplied by Ceredigion Museum.
Welsh costume: woman's hat, 19th century
  • Broad-brimmed Welsh hat dating from the second half of the nineteenth century.
Welsh costume: woman's hat, 19th century