Are you ready for this? It may freak you out, and contrary to what Liz may say, I wasnee around then. During the Devonian period (419 – 359 million years ago), Scotland lay south of the equator. Scotland was all above sea level and was in parts very mountainous. The Devonian saw the final stages [...]
Connel – the centre of the world. The thing you cannee miss in the village is Connel Bridge, a cantilever bridge that spans Loch Etive at the Falls of Lora. It was built to carry the Callander and Oban railway's branch line to Ballachulish that opened in 1903. Apart from the bridge, there is a [...]
MACGREGORS AND COLQUOUN Fought near Loch Lomond in 1603, the Battle of Glen Fruin left at least 140 men dead and led to an unparalleled punishment against the MacGregors, with their name banned in Scotland for a total of 150 years. The battle was supposedly fought on a large flat piece of ground near Auchingaich [...]
After a few excellent Scottish whisky drams, drift back a few thousand years, allow yourself to look out over the hills of Bar Hill Roman Fort. Today only a few stones are remaining, of this ancient fortification on the Antonine Wall. Unlike its stone-built southern neighbour, Hadrian’s Wall, the rampart of the Antonine Wall was constructed [...]
A first in a series of our wee isles. One wee island in the Inner Hebrides, Tiree is twenty-two miles west of the nearest point on the Scottish mainland, Ardnamurchan. The same latitude as southern Alaska and same longitude as the border between Spain/Portugal, just over ten miles long, five miles wide and half a [...]
The Virgin Mary (& Paul) re-appear in Melrose Four medieval statues – Virgin Mary, Saint Paul, Saint Peter and Saint Andrew are once again adorning the walls of Melrose Abbey, Scotland. Scots king David I founded Melrose Abbey, the first Cistercian monastery in Scotland, in 1136. The Cistercians were drawn to this fertile spot beside [...]
The Ross Fountain restoration – Edinburgh. Something I have passed on numerous occasions and not really paid much attention to it. However, each time I pas now, I stop and gawp! The £1.9m renovation of the West Princes Street Garden fountain. The renovation was commissioned by the Ross Development Trust, supported by Edinburgh World Heritage. [...]
Prison makeover away in Shetland The prison at Fort Charlotte, Lerwick, Shetland is a wee single storey building, closed for many years – however, there is a plan to attract more visitors. The whole buildings needs tlc, hoping for a late spring/early summer 2019 opening. Fort Charlotte overlooks the strategic Sound of Bressay. It was [...]
Gaels, clans and drams at Lagavulin Bay Dunyvaig Castle sits on a peninsula close to Lagavulin Distillery. Funds for the excavation were raised during the distillery’s 200th anniversary celebrations, which saw the sale of more than 200 rare bottles of Lagavulin generate around £500,000. WELL DONE DIAGEO. The castle was built on the site of [...]
There is no genetically pure or original Scot. There is no common ancestral or genetic heritage that links the peoples of Scotland. Ancient Scotland was made up of four separate groups: Angles, Britons, Picts and Gaels (or Scoti), who each spoke a different language. Kenneth McAlpin (810–858) was not, as is popularly claimed, the first [...]
