Sunday Hat
Cromarty Courthouse Museum

Nowadays, the practice of wearing hats for church is uncommon. Named as her Sunday hat, however, this was clearly a special item for its owner, Mrs Hogg of Cromarty.   

Sunday hats, like other Sunday clothes, were kept for best. Church services were where all sectors of the community came together and there would have been substantial peer pressure to be well turned out. This very respectable late-Victorian hat tied under the chin with a long ribbon. The additional colourful embellishments may have been removed or swapped.  

Covering the head is church is rooted in the Bible. In a letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul urged women to cover their heads during worship so as to honour God.