The Costume

The bondagers wore a very distinctive costume, which for the period was very practical. It also made the bondagers stand out as a very attractive addition to the countryside.

The costume consisted of a shady hat, usually with a wimple or heid hankie beneath. This kind of head covering had a long history, as the wimple and straw hat had been worn by country women for centuries in Britain and Europe. The long-sleeved blouse was of printed cotton and over this was worn a woollen shawl or tweed waistcoat. The skirt, reaching to just over the knee, was made of striped drugget and covered by an apron. Black woollen stockings and heavy boots completed the outfit.

In this short film Lesley Bentham wears the bondager costume and demonstrates its details:

Thank you to Lesley Bentham and Peter Ellis, Patsy Healey for the voice over and Bob Maddox for the music. Also to Johnny Moore for the old photograph of West Fenton Cottages.

Click here for more about Lesley Bentham’s work

The bondager costume was still worn long after the bondage system had died out. In some places it was worn right up to the beginning of the Second World War in 1939. The women were still called bondagers and referred to themselves as bondagers although the term ‘women workers’ was also used

The costume was worn very much as a uniform for work, but despite this, the bondagers liked to lavishly decorate and individualise their hats. There was quite a competition to see who could have the prettiest hat.

Another shady hat, called the East Lothian Ugly, was also worn by the bondagers. Latterly this was worn, in particular, in East Lothian, hence its name but there are references to the ugly being worn in Northumberland in the 19th century. The ugly was a cotton bonnet of a very distinctive shape. The unusual shape of the bonnet was supported by canes, sometimes as many as 20, which were slotted through channels stitched into the cotton. It had the shape of a pram hood or covered wagon.

In the photographs Sarah (left) is wearing the East Lothian Ugly and Shannon is wearing the Berwickshire Hat.

The East Lothian Ugly has a long and interesting history with its beginnings in the late 18th century when fashionable ladies wore what was called a Calash. This was a folding hood or bonnet supported with canes or whalebone.

A wimple was worn with the ugly although it is not always easy to see this in old photographs.

Ion Jamieson, a retired factor with a keen interest in Scottish Country Dances, trained a team of dancers called Langshaw Bondagers and they represented Scotland at the English Folk Dance Festival in the Albert Hall, London in 1935. The cine film on the Ion Jamieson page shows the dance team rehearsing at Langshaws.