Wallace & the Battle of Black Earnside - Perthshire One of the lesser known battles of the War of Independance (Scotland against the English aggressors) took place in the neighbourhood of Newburgh/Lindores Abbey (approx. 11 miles from Perth where I live just now), within the 'Forest of Irnsyde'. Historians find difficulty in reconciling the [...]
Bonnie lad beats English at Culloden What if? Battle of Culloden The Scottish people (Scots: Scots Fowk; Scottish Gaelic: Albannaich) or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or Alba) in [...]
Who is Scotland’s greatest hero? With many tours under my belt over 20 odd years, it’s a question I have been asked many times. Here I list a few of the main contenders; in no particular order. I have a shortlist of my own, but how about you? All these are SCOTS. King Alexander [...]
Blood & Guts – Spartans of the North Who are the Macleans? Clan Maclean Scottish Gaelic: Clann MhicIllEathain is a Highland Scottish clan. They are one of the oldest clans in the Highlands and owned large tracts of land in Argyll as well as the Inner Hebrides. Many early MacLeans became famous for their [...]
Kintyre: castles and history speak volumes Kintyre extends 40 miles from Mull of Kintyre in the south, to Tarbert in the north. The peninsula is no more than ten miles wide, at Tarbert it’s just a mile. The name in the Gaelic Tairbeart, literally translated as "draw-boat" and as "isthmus", Tarbert was important for the [...]
PAUL GOES TO AM PLOC - PLOCKTON One of my favourite places in Scotland; the picture skew harbour settlement of Plockton on the west coast of the stunning Scottish highlands. Plockton is a truly unique village, on the North Atlantic drift (or, when I was at school it was called the Mexican Drift), palm [...]
Born near the Little Bay Oban OH-bən; not oh-BAN which a lot of people pronounce it as. An t-Òban in Scottish Gaelic meaning The Little Bay, is a town in Argyll and Bute. Despite its' small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William. During the tourist season, the town can hold [...]
Vikings on Loch Lomond Not as daft as it first seems, Loch Lomond is an INLAND loch, so what were Vikings doing there? More to the point, how did they get there? And aye, they caused bloody mahem. The Vikings in Strathclyde: The Hidden Heritage project commissioned a report by Dr. Elizabeth Pierce (Glasgow [...]
Clan Mackay Clan Mackay (Scottish Gaelic: Clann Mhic Aoidh, pronounced Mak Eye) is an ancient and once-powerful Highland Scottish clan from the Scottish Highlands, with roots in the old kingdom of Moray. They supported Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century. In the centuries that followed they were [...]
Ancient history, clans and wildlife, on Oronsay, the smallest island in Scotland Oronsay has furnished archaeologists with invaluable information about the Mesolithic period of prehistory, particularly about the diet of human beings for years. Three middens (waste tips) opened in the 1880s and have provided a piece of bone carbon-dated to 4600 BC and [...]
