Encyclopaedia Morningtonia: Hatch

Hatching is a technique for representing colours in cases where they would otherwise be unavailable. The method arose during Tudor times, and was fully established by the end of the 16th Century. During this period, the main colours used in a game of Mornington Crescent followed the heraldic system. The colours Or, Argent, Gules, Azure, Vert, Sable, Purpure, and Orange mapped to the modern Chartreuse, White, Red, Blue, Green, Black, Puce and Orange respectively, and they were commonly represented using a system of hatching, wherein a particular line pattern in a copper-plate engraving represented a particular colour.