Ganseys

The navy blue wool Gansey sweater, along with navy blue trousers was the traditional ‘uniform’ of fisherman in the Cockenzie and Port Seton villages of East Lothian and in many other fishing communities around Britain. There are variations in pattern – families often handing down their own pattern through the generations, mother to daughter - but many featuring traditional motifs such as rope. Wives incorporated in each sweater an element unique to each so that they could identify bodies washed ashore in the event of an accident. Only a handful of women still knit these in Cockenzie and Port Seton.

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Retired Cockenzie & Port Seton fisherman, Archie Johnston in his Gansey
Retired Cockenzie & Port Seton fisherman, Archie Johnston in his Gansey

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