The traditional Welsh costume is a costume worn by rural women in Wales. The costume was identified as being different from that worn by the rural women of England by many of the English visitors who toured Wales during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is very likely that what they wore was a survival of a pan-European costume worn by working rural women. This included a version of the bedgown, originally worn by the gentry in the 17th and 18th centuries. The bedgown survived in Wales for longer than elsewhere in Britain. The unique Welsh hat, which first made its appearance in the 1830s was used as an icon of Wales from the 1840s.