A Scottish Historian has published a book for the National Museums of Scotland in which he claims the Highland bagpipe was actually invented less than 200 years ago, primarily for urban audiences. And what’s more, it was largely created using money from wealthy Scots emigres living in London. The Guardian says: Contrary to popular myth, the great Highland bagpipe never led the Scots clans into battle against the English, nor did kilted pipers carry them around the castles of Highland chieftains, playing laments to the fallen.

Hugh Cheape, a leading Gaelic historian and expert piper, argues that the origins of the instrument have been confused by decades of mythology and deliberate invention; even, he hints, by deception. He writes:

The written and received history of the great Highland bagpipe reflects in many of its parts the triumph of sentiment over fact … an orthodoxy has emerged from surprisingly modest origins in the first half of the 19th century and it was elaborated by repetition, speculation and guesswork in the second.

A Highland Myth?

The full article is well worth reading and I would very much like to read the book, but the new book raises a very important question: does it matter that a symbol of Scottish identity and myth is only 200 years old? In my opinion, the answer is a definite ‘no‘. The image to the left of Scottish hero, William Wallace, is slightly less than 200 years old and has become another icon of Scottish myth. Should we decry the film for its historical inaccuracies or praise it for bringing the awareness of Scottish myth, legend and history to the world at large?

To me, each and every myth or story in the world of Celtic mythology is a joy to hear. If a fallacious myth brings one new person to search for other myths, to begin to study the lore and history of the Celtic nations and to gain a sense of identity and belonging, I consider the venture worthwhile.

Those who wish to study and seek further will do so. To them the joys of the rich tradition slowly unfold and they become capable of seeing the flaws within the myths, such as the 200 year old Highland pipes. Discussion and discovery for the truth becomes an enjoyable quest, but let us not slander the images and icons that started us on the quest in the first place. Everyone is a Learner Driver once; we should be patient.

The History of the Pipes

The bagpipe was not invented and discovered in Scotland. It seems likely that the bagpipe was developed from (and coexisted with) an instrument similar to a hornpipe or shawm. In several different piping traditions today - in Brittany, Galicia, Italy, Aragon, Catalonia, Asturias, Istria, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, Prachens (in Bohemia) and Macedonia - the bagpipe is played alongside a shawm-like instrument. Where or when a bag was first attached to one of these instruments is likely to remain a mystery.

Prior to the 12th century, only a few Pictish and Irish stone carvings record the continued existence of bagpipes during this time. [wiki]

So, if Mr Cheape is right, and the Great Highland Pipes were a development 200 years ago, what were the original pipes like? Does the fact that the instrument has developed over the years and has a pedigree of its own devalue the myth?

I don’t think so.

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