Scotland March/April 2022

ANCESTRY • HISTORY • HERITAGE • TRAVEL

The world’s leading Scottish-interest magazine

Castles & gardens Special places to see in 2022

Mary, Queen of Scots

WIN a holiday worth £5,000

Codes & ciphers used to plot her escape

THE RUM LIFE Where community is everything

THE GREAT GLEN WAY

Explore this epic route

THE OTHER JACOBITE HEROINE

World Heritage Sites Scotland’s six wonders

ISSUE 121 March/April 2022 £4.95

‘Colonel’ Anne Mackintosh and her brave stand

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Spring is in the air and it always makes me want to get out and about more, exploring our fine country, and I’m lucky to have plenty of inspiration at my fingertips thanks to the wonderful travel articles in this issue.

By the time you read this, I will have returned from a family holiday in Argyll, and I’m currently planning my itinerary based on some of the beautiful places highlighted by Robin McKelvie in Get your kicks on Kintyre 66 (p14).

Elsewhere this issue, Douglas Milne recounts a walking holiday he undertook with his wife in The Great Glen Way (p70). I have to admit, when I visited the area, I took things a little easier and travelled by boat.

If you’ve had enough of admiring castles, stately homes and their exquisite grounds from afar, then I can thoroughly recommend some of the places featured in Gentry does it (p22), where you can see for yourself how the other half lives. When I visited our cover star Ballindalloch Castle last year, I couldn’t believe such an incredibly handsome castle existed that I’d never even heard of. But that’s Scotland for you: we’re never short of a castle or two.

This year marks Scotland’s Year of Stories, so it’s only right that our history boffins have been busy researching some of our nation’s most intriguing tales. First up, in Mary’s Secret Code (p30), we reveal how Mary, Queen of Scots communicated with her supporters while imprisoned in England, while in La Belle Rebelle (p57), we give the ‘other’ Jacobite heroine, ‘Colonel’ Anne Mackintosh, the recognition she duly deserves.

Enjoy!

ANCESTRY • HISTORY • HERITAGE • TRAVEL

The world’s leading Scottish-interest magazine

Castles & gardens Special places to see in 2022

Mary, Queen of Scots

WIN a holiday worth £5,000

Codes & ciphers used to plot her escape

THE RUM LIFE Where community is everything

THE GREAT GLEN WAY Explore this epic route

THE OTHER JACOBITE HEROINE

‘Colonel’ Anne Mackintosh and her brave stand

World Heritage Sites Scotland’s six wonders

001_UK_COVER_SM121 v6.indd 2

ISSUE 121 March/April 2022 £4.95

© ALEXANDER NIKIFOROV/ALAMY

Simon Temlett, Awards Director simon.temlett@chelseamagazines.com

Editor’s letter

09/02/2022 13:01

COVER IMAGE:

Ballindalloch Castle in Speyside © Damian Shields/North East 250/ VisitScotland. Inset: Mary, Queen of Scots © The Artchives/ Alamy

SALLY COFFEY

Editor

editor@scotlandmag.com

@Scotland_Mag

facebook.com/ScotlandMagazine

@scotlandmagazine

Scotland 3

57 World Heritage Sites p62

Littleferry p68

14

Ballindalloch Castle p22 Isle of Rum p44

Great Glen Way p70

Rose Street p42

Mull of Kintyre p14

CONTENTS ISSUE 121

12 We’ve got mail Your letters and stories of Scotland

14 Get your kicks on Kintyre 66 Explore Scotland’s latest touring route on the Kintyre peninsula, lined with history, beaches and great malts

03 Editor’s letter 06 The Clan Courier Scotland news and the latest travel tips

09 Dates for your diary This season’s best events on both sides of the Atlantic

10 Notes from the isles Kate Francis is still beaming with memories of a family reunion in the Outer Hebrides

22 Gentry does it Scotland’s most impressive stately homes and gardens, which some lucky people call home

30 Mary’s secret code How Mary, Queen of Scot’s communication with supporters through coded, locked letters, ultimately contributed to her downfall

Win a great British holiday

36 Competition Your chance to win a luxury holiday to Britain, including free flights to the UK

44 By partaking in the trail, worldwide visitors will rediscover Scotland’s unique treasures

62

© NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND/ALLAN WRIGHT/ALAMY/REUTERS/VISITSCOTLAND/PAUL TOMKINS/ KENNY LAM/ILLUSTRATION © MICHAEL A HILL

22 38 Hide and seek Meet the master craftsman who employs traditional saddlery techniques to create the finest leather products

42 Rose Street Discover the ups and downs of one of Edinburgh’s most famous streets and the characters who frequented it

44 The Rum life Take a peek into the picture-perfect island of Rum, and hear from some of the people who live here

52 Art for all The Edinburgh art gallery celebrating its 180th year that champions Scottish artists old and new

57 La Belle Rebelle The remarkable story of Jacobite Anne Mackintosh’s fight to restore a Stuart to the British throne

62 Out of this world As Scotland becomes the first nation to link its UNESCO sites in a digital trail, we visit its six wonders

68 Battle of Littleferry With a memorial stone set to mark the site of the 1746 Jacobite battle, we tell its largely forgotten story

70 The Great Glen Way Follow Douglas Milne as he traverses the magnificent Highlands landscape, from Fort William to Inverness

76 Scottish societies Find contact details here if you’d like to become a member of a real Scottish clan

80 The story behind...

A fascinating delve into the life of George Heriot, royal Goldsmith during the reign of King James VI

Scotland 5

News & events

CLAN COURIER

© JOHN PETER PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY

Perfect summer gardens, a queen’s letter from captivity, and old links remain strong

[ AT T RAC T I O N S ]

SECRET GARDENS This spring and summer, you can visit some of Scotland’s most beautiful gardens as they hold special open days through the charity-run Scotland Garden Scheme.

There are around 40 castles and stately homes with gardens to choose from, such as Perthshire’s Drummond Castle Gardens (pictured), plus gardens that are normally closed to the public. scotlandsgardens.org

Scotland 7

[DIASPORA]

OVER THE OCEAN FROM SKYE A chance meeting between a Gaelic singer and an Australian farmer has unearthed a deep connection between the cleared Skye village of Greaulainn in Kilmuir, and a farm in Geelong, Victoria.

In 1852 Donald and Anne MacPherson boarded a ship to Geelong to fight for a new life in the New World, having been forced out of Skye during the Highland Clearances.

[CAMPAIGN]

BIG WIN FOR BOOK FANS

An international appeal to keep important works of British literature for public enjoyment has been successful, thanks to support on both sides of the pond.

The Blavatnik Honresfield Library, a private collection that includes an early volume of poems by Robert Burns – the First Commonplace Book –as well as the only extant letter from the bard to his father; Sir Walter Scott’s private travel journal, and manuscripts of both Rob Roy and The Lay of the Last Minstrel Minstrel, will no longer be sold at open auction.

Thanks to a concerted fundraising campaign by The Friends of the National Libraries, the National Trust for Scotland, Abbotsford, and the National Library of Scotland, which attracted generous contributions from both UK and American donors, £15 million has been raised to buy the collection.

The works will now be shared among libraries and cultural institutions across the UK. fnl.org.uk

8 Scotland

The couple took with them the clothes on their backs, the family bible, and their cooking pot hook.

Singer Anne Martin (pictured above) said: “I met Stuart MacPherson [their descendant] by complete chance when I was singing at the Port Fairy Folk Festival in Victoria in 2007. He just happened to tell me that his people were from Skye, and it just so

happened that his people were not just from Skye but from the abandoned village behind my property.

“Stuart told me about the family heirloom, the slabhraidh (chain), which was taken from Greaulainn by his ancestors all the way to Australia and passed down through the generations to end up with him on his farm, along with the bible. To the family, the hook is a poignant reminder of their journey to the other side of the world.”

Now, this story, along with others, will form part of a new project, An Tinne (The Link), led by Scottish performing arts charity SEALL and supported by EventScotland and Creative Scotland, as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022.

Through songs, stories and objects, An Tinne will show how Gaelic culture has endured across time and distance.

SEALL interim director, Sara Bain, said: “We hope An Tinne will inspire people to come forward with more of the real stories from Skye and Raasay that still remain untold.”

The project also aims to inspire visitors with roots in the Northwest Highlands to visit the lands of their ancestors and experience the real stories behind the lore. seall.co.uk

News & events [ANCESTRY]

ARE YOU RELATED TO ROBERT THE BRUCE? Scientists have discovered a new genetic marker, which they say is carried by descendants of Robert the Bruce.

Genealogy researchers at the University of Strathclyde found the marker in the Y chromosome DNA of two different lines of descent from Robert Bruce, 2nd Baron of Clackmannan. This Robert lived in the second half of the 14th century and is thought to have been closely related to King Robert the Bruce.

Graham Holton, principal tutor on Strathclyde’s Genealogical Studies Postgraduate Programme, said: “DNA tests taken by descendants of two of Robert of Clackmannan’s sons, show that they both carry the marker FTB15831. This means it may also have been carried by King Robert.

“This discovery means that anyone living who carries the marker is descended from King Robert.”

These results can now be compared with any Y-DNA extracted from the supposed remains of King Robert to confirm their identity.

Strathclyde’s Genealogy Team is currently seeking further funding to upgrade DNA tests for its Scottish Clans and Families project. strath.ac.uk

[ H E R I TAG E ]

© ALISATIR JACKSON/SOTHEBYS/THE ROYAL EDINBURGH MILITARY TATTOO

A QUEEN’S PLEA

A letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots, less than two months after her escape from Lochleven Castle, has sold at auction for almost twice its valuation.

In the letter, dated 26 June 1568, Mary asks Queen Elizabeth’s French Ambassador, Monsieur de la Forest, for a loan for George Douglas – the bearer of her letter – to travel to France, along with assurances that his passage would be safe.

Written while she was at Carlisle Castle under armed guard, it is believed Mary wanted Douglas to meet with the French royal family to help secure her freedom.

Including six lines in Mary’s own hand and signed “Votre bien bonne amye, Marie”, the letter, valued at £14,000, sold for £32,000 when it went up for auction with Lyon & Turnbull in February 2022.

Turn to page 30 to read about how Mary secretly communicated with her supporters.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY As the world slowly reopens, here are some forthcoming events you might want to mark on your calendar

SCOTLAND 26-29 May 2022 ORKNEY FOLK FESTIVAL, ORKNEY Stromness comes alive once again in a lively celebration of folk music. orkneyfolkfestival.com 27 May to 4 June 2022 THE ISLAY FESTIVAL, ISLAY No longer a virtual event, visitors flock to the Whisky Isle to fill up on island life. feisile.co.uk 28-29 May 2022 ATHOLL HIGHLANDERS PARADE & GATHERING, PERTHSHIRE Blair Castle welcomes this annual Highland games back for the full weekend in 2022. blair-castle.co.uk 11 June 2022 DRAMBUSTERS WHISKY FESTIVAL, DUMFRIES Meet the whisky makers, and enjoy a wee dram or two. drambusters.com 23-26 June 2022 ROYAL HIGHLAND SHOW, EDINBURGH The best that Scottish food and farming has to offer. royalhighlandshow.org 16 July 2022 TOMINTOUL HIGHLAND GAMES, BANFFSHIRE Traditional games including quirky, lesser-known events like barrel racing. tomintoulhighlandgames. co.uk

5-27 August 2022 THE ROYAL EDINBURGH MILITARY TATTOO, EDINBURGH Showcasing the power of ‘voices’ through music, dance and military precision. edintattoo.co.uk 25-27 August 2022 COWAL HIGHLAND GATHERING, ARGYLL The world’s biggest games, complete with Highland Dancing Championships. cowalgathering.com

US & CANADA

17 June 2022 ST ANDREW’S SOCIETY OF TORONTO SPRING DINNER, TORONTO A night of modern Scottish fare courtesy of Chef John Higgins. standrewstoronto.ca 25-26 June 2022 SAN DIEGO SCOTTISH HIGHLAND GAMES AND CLAN GATHERING, CA These games celebrate

Scotland in all its glory. sdhighlandgames.org 25 June 2022 KINGSVILLE HIGHLAND GAMES, ONTARIO Don your kilt and experience these traditional games. facebook.com/ kingsvillehighlandgames 7-10 July 2022 GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN HIGHLAND GAMES, NC A four-day Scottish fling in the MacRae Meadows. gmhg.org 29-30 July 2022 GLENGARRY HIGHLAND GAMES, ONTARIO One of the largest of its kind, this is a feast of Scottish pageantry. glengarryhighlandgames. com 13 August 2022 THE 79TH CENTRAL NEW YORK SCOTTISH GAMES & CELTIC FESTIVAL, NY The Onondaga Lake is the setting for pipe bands and Highland dancing. cnyscottishgames.org

Scotland 9

JOURNAL

| Window into Scotland

Notes from the Isles

Memories of Christmas still linger in the heart of our friend, who made it back to the family home in the isles this year Words by KATE FRANCIS

I

shall treasure Christmas 2021 for the rest of my life. My daughter Mary and I left here at 5am on 23 December to catch the ferry from Uig, on Skye, to our family base in the Outer Hebrides, for four days of phenomenal joy.

There were 24 of us: eight of my immediate family were absent on in-law duty, so we were only nine in the house, including my recently widowed brother-in-law, whose children and their families were in three cottages nearby.

When we bought the house, 50 years ago, it had been the trade centre for the southern end of the island. It enclosed three sides of a courtyard: one wing was residential; one held the post office with bedrooms above, and the third was the shop with a flat above. The corner linking the post office and the shop was a byre, filled with cattle pens. All the goods were shipped to the pier at the end of the garden. The shop had been moved elsewhere a couple of years before we arrived, and the whole building was in need of a drastic restoration.

The byre is now a large, comfortable sitting room with a fire fuelled by driftwood foraged from the beach; the shop is a ping-pong room, and the post office is the main entrance and hallway.

Part of the pleasure of those few days was reminiscing back to the

10 Scotland

days when we had no electricity, just oil lamps and candles, and our whisky-coloured water, speckled with shreds of bracken, came from a burn up the hill. We remembered the time when our parish priest came to stay and announced at breakfast on his first day that his room was haunted, and he must bless the house. He organised a ceremony, and that evening we found a heap of gifts on the doorstep: crucifixes, little statues of Our Lady, rosaries, phials of holy water... signifying the relief of our neighbours in the glen, who had all known about the ghost but hadn’t liked to say.

Over Christmas, each family took on responsibility for

Window into Scotland |

one of the main meals, but what was particularly impressive was the planning and administration by my daughter Victoria and her husband, Andrew, who now own the house. Somehow, they managed to pack us all around several amalgamated trestle tables in the kitchen. Careful thought had gone into seating plans for each meal so that all the cousins and second cousins, some of whom live as far away as Hong Kong, had a chance to get to know each other properly.

On Christmas Eve, we had a barbecued lunch in the dunes on a favourite beach, followed by an energetic football match on the sand. Cronie slipped away onto the grassy machair, where rabbits kept her busy until she was so exhausted that she consented to obey my frantic whistling just as darkness approached. That evening our pre-supper snack was two buckets of oysters, which had come over on the ferry from the new oyster farm in Barra, followed by slices of the biggest ham I’ve ever seen.

Cronie and I had a quick walk through the glen after breakfast on Christmas Day and then we met up with all the cousins for Gaelic Mass. Despite the earlier Midnight Mass, the church was well filled. Each family then dispersed to their various dwellings for present opening, ours taking place round the sitting-room fire, sustained by champagne and smoked salmon.

A biting north-easterly wind resulted in a unanimous vote: we didn’t indulge in that traditional Christmas Day swim in the Atlantic that I had so rashly predicted in my last column.

I have to confess I was greatly relieved.

Everyone re-assembled in the house for tea and cake. Most of the 13 younger members of the family took over a table at one end of the sitting room and played riotous card games that I’d never heard of, while the two older generations sat around the fire endlessly reminiscing. Then the 24 of us had our turkey dinner with all the trimmings and Andrew poured a silver ladle filled with flaming brandy over two Christmas puddings while we sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

This was followed by a selection of exotic cheeses brought from Belgium by one of the cousins.

The Boxing Day ping-pong tournament involved the entire family, aged from eight to 85, with a complicated sequence of matches devised by my grandsons. I was delighted to be eliminated in the first round and was then able to sit back and enjoy watching some very skilful play.

JOURNAL

That evening our pre-supper snack was two buckets of oysters, which had come over on the ferry from the new oyster farm in Barra Robbie, 16, won the championship and was duly presented with a £10 note.

That night we feasted in the rustic setting of the newly restored old pier house. All the tables, chairs, china, glass and cutlery had been carted quite a distance down the garden from the house, and the curried leftovers, cooked and served by the oldest family of cousins, were enjoyed by candlelight, under rafters hung with greenery and fairy lights.

Towards the end of the meal, I heard pipes approaching across the garden. Andrew had arranged for the 16-year-old son of a local, famous piping dynasty to come and play for us, escorted by his father who stood beside him beaming with pride.

One of my weaknesses is that when I hear pipes in the distance, I weep. It was the only time I broke down at my beloved Douglas’s funeral, when the piper walked slowly away from the grave, playing Lochaber No More. This time there was no grief – quite the opposite: just strong emotion.

Knowing my frailty, Victoria had been watching me and she came and stood behind me, hugging me till I was able to mop my tears and enjoy the music.

Mary and I departed the next day and sat on the ferry, listening to the Gaelic exchanges between the other passengers, as we swapped our happy memories of Christmas 2021.

This column sends my very best wishes to all my readers for a wonderful 2022. S

TOP LEFT: Kate and Cronie, her Border Terrier LEFT TO RIGHT: Relaxing in the dunes; Kate’s family tucks into freshly caught oysters; a festive candlelight supper; strolling along the craggy beach; (inset) Kate’s family base in the Outer Hebrides

Scotland 11

MAILBAG

| Your letters

WE’VE GOT MAIL A selection of messages from our readers across the globe

BURNT NIGHT

Can’t see yours or want to read more letters? Go to scotlandmag.com/ yourviews

THAT’S THE BONNET!

I recently read with much interest the article The Bonnet Toun (Issue 118). While I’m quite familiar with the Black/Diced Glengarry, I was wondering if you had any specific information regarding the Glengarry in this photo (above)?

I inherited it from my mother, and it was given

to her by her brother, after he spent time in Scotland during WWII. Douglas Kenyon, USA REPLY: This is a Toronto Glengarry. We have actually been making this style/colourway for the Canadian MOD for the past few years. Ours is trimmed with ribbon, but this one looks like leather. You can find out more about it at pipesforfreedom.com Paula Wilson, team manager, Robert Mackie of Scotland

WELCOME ARRIVAL

I came home, took the dog to the dog park, and then had to do some shopping. When I finally got back for the evening, I was tired, hungry, and grumpy. Then I found the January 2022 issue of Scotland. I was still tired and hungry, but much less grumpy. I love the magazine and I always read it from cover to cover. It keeps me entertained and dreaming of my next visit to Scotland. Keep up the braw work.

Susan Armour, Bellevue, Kentucky, USA

The Editor, Scotland, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ

12 Scotland

editor@scotlandmag.com facebook.com/ScotlandMagazine

@Scotland_Mag @scotlandmagazine

© WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO EDIT LETTERS FOR PUBLICATION/VISIT SCOTLAND/LUIGI DI PASQUALE

This Burns Night I had haggis and a wee dram to celebrate the bard, which reminded me of growing up in a village close to the Scottish border in Northumberland.

We had a scout troop, and one summer our camp was in Moffat across the border. One night for dinner, haggis was the menu. We put the haggis in the can to boil on our campfire.

Shortly after we started to cook the haggis, a local Moffat scout in a kilt came running around, shouting at the top of his voice: “Dinna forget to prod yr Haggis!”

We lifted the lid of the can, but it was too late! The skin of the haggis had burst, and we ended up with a can of haggis stew!

I moved to the US in 1987 but still follow the traditions of home, including First Footing and celebrating Burns Night. This Burns Night I enjoyed my haggis, and I made sure it didn’t burst.

Alan Brown, Georgia, USA

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travel

| Kintyre 66

Get your kicks on

Kintyre 66

Visit the places that inspired Paul McCartney along Scotland’s latest touring route, on the Kintyre peninsula, where you’ll find history, beaches and whisky galore Words by ROBIN McKELVIE

14 Scotland

Kintyre 66 |

travel

Scotland 15

H

ow do you fancy a road trip with Paul McCartney, an adventure alive with big skies, sweeping beaches, award-winning whisky distilleries, remarkable local produce and Scotland’s oldest purpose-built cinema?

Welcome to the Kintyre 66, Scotland’s newest driving route – the country’s very own Route 66.

If you explore it soon, you can savour this region without the crowds, as I discovered when I took to its empty roads with McCartney’s Mull of Kintyre blasting out of the car’s stereo.

The hugely popular North Coast 500, this is not. The lesser-known Kintyre 66 started as a bit of a joke, as Niall Macalister Hall, owner of the peninsula’s Beinn an Tuirc Distillers, tells me as I sample one of his crisp gins while overlooking Kintyre.

“The more we thought about it, the more the Kintyre 66 was the perfect way for people to explore this criminally ignored peninsula,” he beams, delighted people have instantly taken to his creation in a part of Scotland that has long been off the main tourist map.

Kintyre hasn’t always been ignored. This peninsula was once a fulcrum of the embryonic Scottish nation – an anchor of the Scotti tribes, long before Robert the Bruce and Bannockburn.

The starting point of the Kintyre 66 is on the peninsula’s northern tip, in Tarbert, on the shores of Loch Fyne. It’s ideal – the fishing fleet still busies in and out of the working harbour, and I enjoy boat-fresh scallops and lobster in the Starfish restaurant on the historic waterfront.

Robert the Bruce joins me, or at least his ghost, who still haunts the rugged ruins of Tarbert Castle just above the village. I unfurl a map of the route, which is handily circular, and plan stops and which of the six spurs off the main loop to tackle.

I track the A83 south, out of Tarbert, in the wake of the Vikings, who dragged their

The fishing fleet busies in and out of Tarbert’s working harbour, as I eat boat-fresh scallops and lobster in the Starfish restaurant

16 Scotland

© DENNIS HARDLEY PHOTOGRAPHY/VISIT SCOTLAND/PAUL TOMKINS/SCOTPHOTO.COM ILLUSTRATION: © MICHAEL A HILL

PREVIOUS PAGE: Looking out onto the pontoons in picturesque Tarbert Harbour TOP RIGHT: Panoramic view of the medieval Tarbert Castle BOTTOM RIGHT: One of Scotland’s most beautiful beaches, Westport Beach, also boasts the Machrihanish Dunes, a Site of Scientific Interest

Kintyre 66 |

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| Kintyre 66

CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: Aerial view of Dunaverty Rock at the southern end of Kintyre; master distiller Iain McAlistair’s Glen Scotia Double Cask was named the world’s best malt in 2021; the striking £3.5m refurbished Campbeltown Picture House

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longships across the narrow isthmus from the Atlantic and claimed Kintyre as their own ‘island’.

It brings me to the ocean and a necklace of white sand beaches that accompany me most of the way south. McCartney is singing as I sweep along, snatching glimpses of the isles of Jura (where George Orwell wrote 1984) and the community-owned Gigha. The latter is one of the route’s spurs.

I resist the temptation to nip over to Gigha to dine again at the sublime Boathouse and laze on its beaches, but if you have time, you shouldn’t resist.

A trip along the Kintyre 66 is best when you slow right down. It’s not a long route, so you can stop off without worrying about having a huge distance to drive afterwards. My longest stop on day one is at Westport Beach, where I join a sprinkling of local dog walkers on a massive beach that soars between hill and ocean.

I switch the music now to Andy Stewart’s ditty Campbeltown Loch, hoping – as he did – to find the town’s famous loch awash with whisky. This remote outpost on the southern fringes of Kintyre used to be a major whisky hub, with more than 30 distilleries producing a volley of malts.

It’s not a long route, so you can stop off without worrying about having a huge distance to drive afterwards At one point, it was said that more money flowed through Campbeltown’s Glebe Street than the whole City of London.

Grand merchant houses still preside over the town and myriad church spires vault across its grand skyline. The most striking religious site is the Campbeltown Cross, one of the finest in all Argyll.

In the 20th century, Campbeltown fell into serious decline, and at one point it looked as though it might lose all its whisky distilleries.

Mercifully, I find that it has turned a corner, and there is now a trio of whisky distilleries producing an excellent range of malts.

I visit Glen Scotia, where one of the most impressive managers in the Scottish whisky industry welcomes me. Iain McAlister may joke with me that the maritime-tinged dram in my hand is a ‘dirty bilgewater of a whisky’, but his

© IAIN MASTERTON/ALAMY/ROBIN MCKELVIE

25-year-old was named the world’s best malt in 2021. It’s remarkable – beg, steal, or borrow if you can. Or, just take a tasting and a tour here.

While the future of the distilleries all too recently seemed in doubt, Campbeltown Picture House – Scotland’s oldest surviving purpose-built cinema – was never going to be erased. “There was no way the community was going to let them knock it down or turn our cinema into flats,” insists manager Ellen Mainwood, standing in front of the town’s most striking building – a Glasgow School Art Nouveau creation, more spaceship than faceless multiplex.

Her obvious pride is more than justified by a grand dame whose story dates as far back as 1913.

Campbeltown’s recent renaissance is also reflected in the food scene. I find a slick new restaurant, Number Forty Two, and The Kintyre Larder, which has just expanded to house its burgeoning local meats, seafood, condiments, baked goods, artisan chocolates and more. The Kintyre Smokehouse, meanwhile, is an old-school smokery that conjures up smoked fish so delicious they supply Fortnum & Mason and Ascot.

I tuck into superb seafood at my hotel, too – the

The return trip north takes you up the verdant, lush east coast, which enjoys the relative warmth of the Gulf Stream Ardshiel. They also have a great whisky bar for after-dinner treats, stocked with more than 1,500 bottles. Here, I dram with Watt Whisky, a Kintyre bottler offering tours and tastings – the boom times are on the way back for Campbeltown’s whisky, they insist. It certainly feels like it.

You can yomp all the way out – and down – to the very barren, wild end of Scotland at the Mull of Kintyre to see the nation disappear under the tumultuous Atlantic. If you do, the next stretch couldn’t contrast more.

The return trip north to Kintyre on the B842 takes you up the verdant, lush east coast, which enjoys the relative warmth of the Gulf Stream without facing the full force of the baleful Atlantic.

I ease along the winding single track road, marvelling at the hulking trees and rhododendrons.

It’s like one massive, glorious botanical garden.

Across the water, to the east, my constant

PLAN YOUR VISIT STARFISH Fresh fish and shellfish are the order of the day at this cosy restaurant in the picturesque village of Tarbert. starfishtarbert.com

in Campbeltown, head chef Gordon McNeill’s dishes, featuring the best local produce, are yet more evidence of the excellent food and drink scene here. facebook.com/gmat42

THE BOATHOUSE

BEINN AN TUIRC

Seafood landed right outside the restaurant’s door and tables on the beach, ensure this restaurant on the Isle of Gigha is included in the Michelin Guide each year. boathouseongigha.com

These distillers of sustainable craft gin – the still is powered by hydro-electricity – take their name from the hill from which they source their water, which translates as ‘The Hill of the Wild Boar’. Located between Carradale and Saddell Bay, tours and tastings are available. kintyregin.com

ARDSHIEL HOTEL Unfussy, clean rooms, and a warm welcome await at this hotel in the heart of Campbeltown. ardshiel.co.uk

GLEN SCOTIA One of the few Campbeltown distilleries still standing, and one of Scotland’s smallest, Glen Scotia has changed little since the 1830s. glenscotia.com

NUMBER FORTY TWO One of the newest restaurants

THE ASHBANK HOTEL A charming B&B in Carradale, from where you can wander the old harbour or look out for wild goats at Carradale Point. ashbankhotel.com

FOLLOW THE KINTYRE 66 For further information about the route and detours off it, visit Wild About Argyll. wildaboutargyll.co.uk/kintyre66

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| Kintyre 66

TOP TO BOTTOM: Fishing boats moored at Waterfoot, near the village of Carradale, on the Kintyre peninsula; a marker on a drystone wall directs walkers on the Kintyre Way, which passes through stretches of fine coastline

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companion is the Isle of Arran across the Kilbrannan Sound, and its hills are unfailingly postcard pretty.

At Saddell Bay, I head down to an old castle. I find him there. No, not Paul McCartney, but a figure in his own way as poignant. Grip is a metal sculpture forged by artist Antony Gormley – an solitary iron man, his sinewy frame defiant against the march of time and the waves.

His comrades were removed when Gormley’s exhibition finished. Indeed, Grip was only saved by a mysterious benefactor, though rumours are rife that an ex-Beatle may have been involved.

McCartney still owns farmland in Kintyre, there is a memorial garden to his late wife, Linda, in Campbeltown, and he retains strong links to the area.

I have one night out east and choose to spend it in Carradale; it proves to be a wise choice. Many Scots might know Carradale for a tragedy that occurred in 1990, when four local fishermen lost their lives after a Royal Navy submarine snagged their boat, sinking it – an incalculable loss to such a tight-knit small community.

I’m welcomed like an old friend in Carradale – something I find across Kintyre – at the family-run Ashbank Hotel. I check out the harbour, wander the coast, catch sight of dolphins, and dine superbly

© SIMON BUTTERWORTH/ALAMY/VISIT SCOTLAND/SCOTTISH VIEWPOINT/PAUL TOMKINS

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on ultra-local produce at nearby guest house, Carradales, where Kintyre Smokehouse salmon and quail’s egg ‘Scotch eggs’ are blessed with a beetroot chutney from the garden, followed by local beef stew with wild garlic mash. The final flourish is lemon posset with homemade chocolate fudge infused with Campbeltown whisky.

I’ve time on my last day for one more stunning seafood meal. This time, in Skipness, just south of Tarbert. They smoke their own salmon and trout at the Skipness Seafood Cabin. I order both and tuck into the fish on the shore as I daydream about Viking longships and world-class whisky, of Gormley statues and sparkling islands – all of which form part of the bewitching tapestry of Scotland’s very own Route 66. S

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Gentry does it Words by SALLY COFFEY

Come with us as we visit some of Scotland’s most impressive stately homes and their gardens, which are ready to welcome you this year

THIS IMAGE: Ballindalloch Castle & Gardens, in Speyside, known as ‘The Pearl of the North’

© VISITSCOTLAND/NORTH EAST 250/DAMIAN SHIELDS

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t’s all very nice admiring the grandeur and workmanship that went into designing and building some of Scotland’s most impressive buildings, but sometimes looking is not enough, we want to experience the houses and grounds in all their glory.

After a difficult couple of years, Scotland’s stately homes are looking forward to welcoming you back, whether for the first time or a long-awaited return visit.

With a level of opulence we’re only really used to seeing on screen, a visit to a stately home is a chance to see original paintings and antique furniture in their actual settings. You can walk the grounds where kings and queens once trod, hear stories from experts on past residents, and sometimes even take a tour with the present-day owner.

Here are some of the best reasons to visit our stately homes this spring and summer.

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| Stately homes

FOR A HIGHLAND FLING Blair Castle

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ome for centuries to the Earls, Marqueses, and Dukes of Atholl, this castle, which opens again in April 2022, hosts long-term exhibitions on the Jacobite risings (over which the family was torn) and the sartorial elegance of past dukes and duchesses. However, the highlight of the castle’s calendar is the Atholl Highlanders weekend, which this year takes place on 28-29 May. The Atholl Highlanders are the only remaining private army in Europe and act as the personal bodyguard to the Duke of Atholl, who is Chief of the Clan Murray. In 1842, the Atholl Highlanders escorted Queen Victoria on her tour of Perthshire when she was a guest at the castle, and on her return visit two years later, they mounted the guard for the

24 Scotland

duration of her visit. For this, the Atholl Highlanders were presented with colours by the queen, which granted them official regiment status.

On the Saturday of this celebratory weekend, today’s hand-picked body of local men armed with Lee-Metford rifles will parade in all their finery in front of the castle, performing a full set of drills and taking the salute from their Chieftain to the rousing sounds of the regiment’s pipe band.

On the Sunday, the Atholl Gathering and Highland Games will take place. Opened by the pipes and drums, the day includes traditional games of tossing the caber, throwing the hammer and tug o’ war, as well as Highland dancing. blair-castle.co.uk

© BLAIR CASTLE/VISITSCOTLAND/NORTH EAST 250/DAMIAN SHIELDS

TO PEEK IN THE ROYAL WARDROBE Balmoral

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lso in Perthshire, but further north, in the surrounds of the Cairngorms National Park, lies Balmoral, the Scottish holiday home of the Royal Family.

A private residence, the only room open to the public is the Ballroom. This year, however, to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, there are a few special experiences available to visitors when the gates open to guests from 1 April to 2 August.

First up, viewers can see Life at Balmoral, an exhibition showcasing a range of dresses that Her Majesty has worn at Balmoral – evidence that she

doesn’t always wear tweed skirts and weatherproof coats when she holidays in the Highlands.

Then, on the Platinum Jubilee weekend (2-5 June), guests can attend a special afternoon tea in the Piper’s Hall, where footage of celebrations taking place across the UK will be streamed.

Advanced tickets are required to visit Balmoral, and the Jubilee weekend is expected to sell out fast, but if you miss out on that, you can still see the exhibition and explore the extensive grounds and gardens with the very good audio guide. balmoralcastle.com

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| Stately homes

TO SEE JAW-DROPPING INTERIORS Thirlestane Castle

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his 16th-century castle in the Scottish Borders, with its fairytale turrets and rose-pink sandstone exterior, has been home to the Maitland family – once one of the most influential families in Scotland – for more than 400 years.

The castle has some of the most exquisite interiors of any Scottish stately home, with 17th-century Dunsterfield gold gilded plasterwork ceilings and a huge collection of family portraits and busts.

On a guided tour (May-September), you can visit the grand state rooms and enter the Toy Museum ‘school room’ to admire a selection of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian toys. You can also book in advance for a private tour with a member of the Maitland family.

The castle also hosts events each summer, which this year include the Sir Jackie Stewart Classic vintage car rally (18-19 June) and a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on the front lawn (18 August). thirlestanecastle.co.uk

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Stately homes |

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TO DISCOVER A NEW FAVOURITE

Ballindalloch Castle and Gardens

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© PHIL WILKINSON/JOHN PAUL

he problem with Scotland, and Aberdeenshire, in particularly, is that there is such a wealth of castles that sometimes beautiful ones like Ballindalloch get overlooked.

Home to the Macpherson-Grants since the 16th century, this issue’s cover star, known as ‘the Pearl of the North’, is a real hidden treasure, in Speyside.

Originally built more as a fortress than a family home, remarkably, it remains largely intact, despite being sacked by Royalist forces in 1645, though a good deal of Victorian ‘confection’ has been added to the medieval Z-plan layout.

This year, from 12 April to 30 September, you can step over the threshold and see rooms that tell the family’s story, such as the dining room with its magnificent fireplace and original Allan Ramsay portraits of King George III and Queen Charlotte, gifted to General James Grant for his military service in the American Wars of Independence.

Ballindalloch Castle sits in the middle of a working estate and its grounds and gardens are delightful to wander, so allow yourself an extra hour or so to do them justice. ballindallochcastle.co.uk

Step over the threshold and see rooms that tell the family’s story, such as the dining room… with its original Allan Ramsay portraits Scotland 27

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| Stately homes

FOR A BEHIND-THESCENES EXPERIENCE Arniston House

et in an estate of 6,000 acres of landscaped gardens and parkland, just outside Edinburgh, impressive Arniston House is a little-known countryside retreat.

Home to the Dundas family since 1571, the house that stands today was built by revered Scottish architect William Adam in 1725, replacing an older tower house, and it is considered one of the most important Georgian houses in Scotland.

Like many old country houses, it fell into disrepair over time, and since the 1970s it has been undergoing a lengthy restoration programme.

In 2022, the house’s Family Guided Tours return, led by members of the Dundas family, and take just over an hour.

The tours cover all three floors of the house and are an engaging way to learn about the history of the family, the house and Scotland as a whole. It’s a chance to see stucco works, beautiful period furnishings and a world-renowned art collection up close, with a knowledgeable guide on hand.

The season begins on 3 May, with tours at 2pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with tours also on Sundays from July to 12 September. arnistonhouse.com

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© THE ABBOTSFORD TRUST/ARNISTON HOUSE

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TO LISTEN TO A STORY OR TWO Abbotsford

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his year is Scotland’s Year of Stories, so it seems fitting to pay a visit to the adored 19th-century home of Scotland’s most celebrated storyteller: Sir Walter Scott.

Overlooking the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, Abbotsford was the realisation of a long-held dream of Scott to create his own “rambling, whimsical and picturesque” home, which he filled with all his favourite possessions: books, armoury, Jacobite memorabilia, and all manner of historic artefacts.

This year, the house and grounds open from 1 March until September, and events celebrating the 250th anniversary of Scott’s birth, which began in 2021, will continue.

In the later years of his life, Scott wrote prolifically to pay off mounting debts, and he said of Abbotsford: “The stones speak both of triumph and disaster”. Nonetheless, a visit here is a great way to get into the mind and imagination of the great man. scottsabbotsford.com S

Scotland 29

history

| Secret Stuarts Words & pictures by KEITH FERGUS

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NAME HERE, Location name

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I

n the Marble Hall at Mount Stuart, the Neo-Gothic mansion located on the island of Bute, visitors do well to look to the skies. For soaring to a height of 80 feet, the vast vaulted ceiling is dotted with detachable silver stars, forming the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere.

Meanwhile, around the hall, a series of vibrant stained glass windows, designed by HW Lonsdale, depict the signs of the Zodiac and frame the ‘stars in their courses’.

It’s worth taking the five-mile journey from Rothesay to Mount Stuart just to see the jaw-dropping Marble Hall. “The glory of the Hall is its expression of John Crichton-Stuart’s (the 3rd Marquess of Bute, 1847-1900) interest in astronomy and astrology,” writes Andrew McLean in the official guide to the mansion. The 3rd Marquess was nothing if not radical, remodelling the house in his own vision after a fire blazed through the Bute family’s original ancestral property, located on the same site, on 3 December 1877.

MOUNT STUART – WHAT NEXT? The Edinburgh architect Robert Rowand Anderson helped bring Crichton-Stuart’s fantastical concepts to life, realising ambitious and impressive projects such as the Marble Hall, the Horoscope Room – with a ceiling painting that details the position of the planets at the time of the Marquess’s birth (12 September 1847) – and the Drawing Room, which reflects themes of heraldry, mythology and the natural world.

Ngnimo omnis es il illes quuntiatiae pero is explicia volorent aces restrum harum

Dr Bruce Durie is a professional genealogist, heraldist and historian, and Shennachie to the Chief of Durie S

30 Scotland

Secret Stuarts |

history

© IAN DAGNALL COMPUTING/ALAMY/NATIONAL ARCHIVES.GOV.UK

LEFT TO RIGHT: Mary, Queen of Scots (in white mourning), probably a 19thcentury replica of a 1561 painting; Babington’s acknowledgement of ciphers used with Mary

Words by KIRSTEN HENTON

MARY’S SECRET CODE Imprisoned for half her life, Mary, Queen of Scots used a series of ciphers and codes in locked letters to communicate with supporters, but did they contribute to her downfall?

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| Secret Stuarts

M

ary, Queen of Scots is one of Scotland’s most enduring historical figures. The appetite for tales of her fated life in print and on screen remains voracious. As Dr Steven Reid, Senior Lecturer in Scottish History at the University of Glasgow, puts it, “her story is consumed for its drama and tragedy”.

And it’s easy to see why. Mary was a woman, no less, at the heart of religious, and therefore political, divisions between Scotland and England in the 16th century. She endured an alleged kidnapping, accusations of murder and infidelity, as well as captivity and much personal heartache, ranging from abandonment by her son to the prickly relationship she had with her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. It really is the stuff of a delectable medieval soap opera.

Mary spent nearly half of her life under house arrest in England.

During this time, she proved persistent – tirelessly campaigning for her release under the watchful eyes of her captors. Through volumes of coded letters, she was able to communicate with a network of supporters and spies on the outside.

But Elizabeth, no fool, had her own expert ring of spies and codebreakers, which ensured a continual, high-stakes game of cat and mouse played out between the two. How Mary used codes and ciphers, and how Elizabeth’s spies ensnared – arguably even entrapped – Mary and her supporters is a subject of ongoing debate and fascination.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Sir Francis Walsingham, by John de Critz The Elder, c.1589; Mary, Queen of Scots, by unknown artist, c.1610-1615

MARY’S CLAIM TO ELIZABETH’S THRONE Whether or not Mary’s claim to the English throne was valid depends on which side of the religious divide you sit. When Mary I of England, Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, died in 1558, his will stated that the Scottish Stuarts be excluded from any claim to the English throne. Thanks to the 1543 Third Succession Act, his second daughter, Elizabeth, was clear to succeed her sister as queen.

For many Catholics, still reeling from Henry’s seemingly heretical break from Rome, Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne

They saw Mary, Queen of Scots as the rightful heir, given that she was the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister 32 Scotland

Boleyn, was illegitimate. They saw Mary, Queen of Scots as the rightful heir, given that she was the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister.

When Mary found herself in England, having been forced to abdicate and flee from Scotland, Elizabeth simply didn’t know what to do with her. Mary was a thorn in Elizabeth’s side – a galvanising figure for Catholics keen to overthrow Elizabeth, whose very existence challenged the English queen’s legitimacy.

As such, from 1568 until the year of her death in 1587, Mary was kept under lock and key at numerous residences in areas of England deemed far enough away from Scotland, London, and the coast.

These included Bolton Castle, Tutbury Castle, Sheffield Castle, Chatsworth House and Chartley Castle, among others.

Although Mary was held captive with many comforts, which included her own household staff, personal chef and summer jaunts, the “anguish and anxiety”, she felt, as described by historian Dr Susan Doran, over her endless captivity, never abated.

SECRETS, CIPHERS, AND PLOTS Mary tried many schemes to win back her freedom, from arranging potential marriage alliances and negotiating her return to Scotland with her son, James VI, to promising to renounce her claim to the English throne, but none bore fruit, and her despair deepened.

As such, writing and receiving letters was a vital line of communication for her. As Dr Sean Cunningham, Head of Medieval Records at The National Archives, states: “She was desperate to hear state business and news from Scotland and France. Without it, her imprisonment was a torturous ordeal.” Moreover, Mary’s letter-writing enabled her to remain in contact with her supporters.

But Mary was unaware that many of her most secret letters, typically written in code, physically folded and secured through a method of ‘letterlocking’ (Mary used the complicated ‘spiral lock’) and smuggled out within barrels of beer, were being intercepted, decoded, often altered and sent on their way.

THE BABINGTON PLOT Far from the first plot to be associated with Mary – there was the Ridolfi Plot in 1571 and the Throckmorton Plot in 1583 – the Babington Plot in 1586 was the fatal final act.

The plot was led by Anthony Babington and Jesuit priest John Ballard, who headed a group of six ‘gentlemen’, as

© INCAMERASTOCK/ALAMY/ANTONIA REEVE/ NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND

history

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| Secret Stuarts

they were called, set on assassinating Queen Elizabeth I and placing Mary, supported by King Philip II of Spain and the Catholic League in France, on the throne, thereby restoring Catholicism and securing Mary’s legitimacy as queen.

Unfortunately for Mary and the plotters, the plan was discovered – some have even said created – by Elizabeth’s wily spies, including expert codebreaker Thomas Phelippes, who operated under Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State and spymaster.

The words Mary was accused of writing and that ultimately condemned her, were: “The affairs being thus prepared, and forces in readiness, both without and within the realm, then shall it be time to set the gentlemen on work; taking good order, upon the accomplishment of their discharges. I may be suddenly transported out of this place, and meet without tarrying for the arrival of foreign aid.”

BELOW: Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587, from a contemporary woodcut

the case when one of the plotters, Gilbert Gifford, was captured and, as Dr Cunningham says, “employed as a double agent to keep the letter trail open but also to provoke the conspirators into further treasonous statements”.

As for the codes themselves, Cunningham shares that “we know how the codes worked from the keys produced by Walsingham’s groups of scholarly codebreakers. The codes used a combination of direct letter substitutions; symbols for common groups of letters, important individuals, countries, months, cities and words.”

It was no small achievement cracking Mary’s codes.

Cunningham says that “Walsingham’s group must have had great skill” not only to intercept the letters but to “bypass the physical locking and anti-tampering techniques, break the codes and then reassemble the document or copy it exactly and duplicate the letterlocking” before sending them on to intended recipients.

CRACKING THE CODE

GUILTY OR INNOCENT?

Reid states: “spies and ciphers were widely used in political and diplomatic affairs by the late 16th century.”

Yet both Mary’s codes and Elizabeth’s network of spies, which Reid says were “novel” for their “scale and complexity”, were impressive in their own right.

Mary, however, was vulnerable to exposure. Such was

Mary was put on trial for complicity in the Babington Plot, and Walsingham was quick to use her many letters against her. While Mary was ultimately sentenced to death for treason, the question of her guilt remains a hot topic.

Despairing in captivity, it’s easy to believe that she may have resorted to treasonous plotting. However, it’s also completely plausible that the letters used against her at her trial were choreographed, even fabricated.

As Elizabeth initially refused to believe that Mary was directly involved, Cunningham concludes that it may have “prompted Walsingham and Phelippes to forge the famous postscript that was intended to incriminate Mary at the centre of the Babington Plot”.

He continues, “there was also a long history of officials with the keys to the codes manipulating the information that they passed upwards to their rulers,” and, “there were suggestions that Walsingham forged or tampered with all of the Babington letters”.

Reid supports this: “The whole plot was an intelligence sting cultivated by [William] Cecil and Walsingham,” he says. Although, he adds that she “was guilty of writing incriminating letters as part of this,” which contributed to her downfall.

Mary, Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587. While the question over her involvement in the Babington Plot is destined to remain one of British history’s greatest mysteries, we do know that Mary was a fiercely determined woman who, with great skill and commitment, challenged the finest codebreakers of the time. S

Mary was put on trial for complicity in the Babington Plot, and Walsingham was quick to use her many letters against her 34 Scotland

To view copies of letters and ciphers from Mary, Queen of Scots, visit The National Archives’ Secrets and Spies online exhibition: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/spies/ciphers/mary

© PICTORIAL PRESS LTD/ALAMY

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WINa Great British holiday Enter our competition for your chance to win a holiday in Britain for two worth up to £5,000, plus free international flights

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ould you like the chance to stay in five-star luxury in London, taking in the capital’s most famous sights? How about a trip to the quaint villages and rolling hills of the Cotswolds? Or even a visit to Edinburgh, Scotland’s stunning capital? You can win all of this and more in our fantastic Great British Holiday competition.

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overseas entrants), one lucky winner and their guest will travel to London for a luxury one-night stay at The Capital, a five-star townhouse hotel in the heart of Knightsbridge – just down the road from the famous department store Harrods and a short stroll from Buckingham Palace.

Get your stay off to a sparkling start with a glass of champagne at the hotel before venturing out to explore the sights. Prepare to immerse yourself in English history, as the prize includes

tickets to Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII’s spectacular home, as well as to the Tower of London.

Here you can meet the legendary Beefeaters and get up close to the Crown Jewels. Our winners will also receive tickets to attend the Ceremony of the Keys, the 700-year-old ceremonial ‘locking up’ of the Tower.

After cocktails at The View from The Shard, where you’ll enjoy a breathtaking panorama of the city, you’ll be treated to a Michelin-starred dinner

at Galvin La Chapelle, set in a grand former Victorian chapel.

HISTORIC EDINBURGH Next, our winner and their guest will head to Edinburgh for a one-night stay at The Dunstane Houses, a five-star boutique hotel set in two Victorian townhouses.

During your stay, you’ll visit the iconic Edinburgh Castle, followed by a special three-course dinner.

CHARMING COTSWOLDS To conclude your trip, it’s time to

COMPETITION

Two annual tickets to Blenheim Palace, one of the country’s finest stately homes and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. www.blenheimpalace.com Pride of Britain Hotels is Britain’s leading luxury and boutique hotel collection, with wonderful, mostly

In London, enjoy cocktails

family-owned hotels in

for two at The View from

some of the country’s most

The Shard, followed by a

beautiful locations.

gourmet dinner at Galvin

Win a one-night stay for

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capital, visit historic

The Capital, an elegant and

Edinburgh Castle and enjoy

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a three-course dinner –

in the heart of London’s

courtesy of Buyagift, the

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UK’s leading provider of

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for two at Whatley Manor

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Hotel & Spa, a luxurious and historic hotel in the Wiltshire Cotswolds, including breakfast, dinner and a flotation spa experience;

● Free international flights ● A night in a luxury London hotel ● Tickets to some of the capital’s top sights ● Gourmet dining ● A night in a boutique hotel in Edinburgh ● Edinburgh Castle ● Spa stay and dinner in the Cotswolds ● Blenheim Palace pass

and a one-night stay for

Explore the iconic Tower of

two including breakfast

London, including a pair of

and dinner at The Dunstane

tickets to the Ceremony of

Houses, a boutique hotel set

the Keys, and receive two

in two Victorian townhouses

tickets to Hampton Court

near Edinburgh’s beautiful

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HOW TO ENTER escape to the countryside. Our winner and their guest will be given annual passes to one of Britain’s finest stately homes and the birthplace of Winston Churchill: Blenheim Palace.

You will stay the night at Whatley Manor Hotel and Spa, a luxurious hotel in the Wiltshire Cotswolds, with dinner in Michelin-starred The Dining Room included. You can enjoy top-class facilities at the Aquarias Spa, rounding off your unforgettable stay with a relaxing flotation pod experience for two.

You can enter in one of two ways.

Either visit www.scotlandmag.com/ GBH2022 or complete this form with the answer to the following question: Question: Where are the Crown Jewels held? a) The Tower of London b) Buckingham Palace c) Hampton Court Palace TERMS AND CONDITIONS Closing date for entries is 31 July 2022. The winner will be announced on www.scotlandmag.com on 8 August 2022. The holiday can be taken between 1 September 2022 and 31 May 2023, subject to availability.

Winner randomly selected. Blackout dates apply. The prize includes free travel to and from London, from/ to the winner’s nearest gateway city, including flights from their major international hub airport, if applicable.

Transportation to and from Edinburgh, and to and from the Cotswolds is not included. Full terms and conditions at www.scotlandmag.com/GBH2022

SEND YOUR COUPON TO: (US and Canada) Great British Holiday Competition 2022, Scotland, PO Box 207, Des Moines, IA 50301, USA .

(UK and ROW) Great British Holiday Competition 2022, Scotland, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ, UK My answer: Name: Address:

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Scotland 37

made in scotland

| Leather-making

Words and photos by JEREMY FLINT

HIDE & SEEK Traditional saddlery techniques are still being used in Scotland today, and you can see the art of leather-making in action – if you know where to look

C ABOVE: The firm’s products are imprinted with a Mackenzie logo RIGHT: Simon HarveyPotts busy at work creating a Book Bag

reating leather products has been a tradition in Scotland for centuries, where leather has been manufactured to meet home demand as well as a large export trade.

Edinburgh has always been at the heart of leather manufacture in Scotland, where its tanneries, skins and products have developed significantly since the production of leather articles during the late 18th century, when shoes, saddles, snuffboxes and even drinking mugs were made.

Today, the leather industry in Scotland still thrives, and Simon Harvey-Potts is living proof. I met this exceptional master craftsman, who specialises in making the finest leather goods, at his workshop on St Mary’s Street in Edinburgh’s Old Town, just off the Royal Mile.

The beautiful, bespoke leather products are designed, made and sold exclusively in store, where visitors can see items being worked on 38 Scotland

Simon and his team of skilled artisans (Ed Fernley and Andrew Dunn) at Mackenzie Leather craft these exquisite articles entirely by hand, using the most superior sourced hides from select tanneries across Europe.

“We are makers of timeless, classic leather goods ranging from briefcases, travel bags, shoulder bags and much more.

Our attention to detail and craftsmanship ensures that we provide a quality item either made to order or off our shelf that will last a lifetime,” says Simon.

The beautiful, bespoke leather products are designed, made and sold exclusively in store, where visitors can enjoy a glimpse into the craft through the open-view workshop at the back of the showroom.

Simon says: “You can come into our shop, watch our craftsmen at work and see our items being made in front of you. If you see a bag in stock but would like it in another colour, we can get hides for you to view, and you can pick your own, having the bag made for you.”

Simon considers himself lucky to have found his calling during a gap year travelling around Europe in the early 2000s.

Simon’s journey into leather work began when he met some local leather artisans at a shop in Andalucía, Spain.

Leather-making |

made in scotland

Scotland 39

made in scotland

| Leather-making CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT: Simon sews a brass buckle onto a Book Bag; the Mackenzie Leather shop on St Mary’s Street; creasing the edges of the hide; the firm’s seal of approval; marking out the bag’s tan shoulder strap

They showed Simon, who had excelled in arts and crafts at school, the ropes of the simple, traditional-style leather work of hand stitching and carving, and helped get him started by equipping him with some basic tools and techniques. Simon quickly developed a love for the trade and started making his own leather products. He knew that he wanted to do this as a career, saying: “It just felt right and natural to work with my hands and leather.”

Returning to Edinburgh, Simon followed his passion and honed his craft and leatherwork skills, while selling his products at local markets. A few years later, in 2004, he began an apprenticeship with Mackenzie Leather in Victoria Street, where he was taught how to make belts, bags, sporrans, wallets and briefcases by his good friend Tom Hirons. Simon went on to run his own weekend courses teaching participants the tools of the trade with the support of a business grant from The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust.

As a young entrepreneur, Simon seized the opportunity to buy Mackenzie Leather Edinburgh on 11 November 2011 (aged 29) with a friendly push from his other half, Elena, Mackenzie’s creative director, and has built up the business (originally established in 1990) ever since, attending all the regional shows and relocating to his amazing new shop on the historic St Mary’s Street in 2017.

Despite the incredible challenges of Covid, Simon has kept busy with further product development, stock making, team training on products, and website growth.

Simon has become well recognised in his field, winning ‘Edinburgh’s Best Craft or Creative Business’ award in 2021

Simon had a recent request to recreate the Calcutta Cup rugby ball used in the world’s first game of international rugby 40 Scotland

and ‘Scotland’s Best Craft or Creative Business’ award in 2018 at Scotlands Business Awards.

Incredibly satisfied with the talented team and wealth of craftsmanship that has brought Mackenzie Leather to the forefront of the trade, Simon says: “I am proud of the Mackenzie family.

We apply quality, passion and atmosphere to everything we do.”

Leather is the key ingredient to Simon’s products, which combine beauty, comfort and practicality. Mackenzie Leather products are designed from the best quality raw materials, with hides sourced from Italy, Spain and the UK that arrive tanned and ready to shape into leather goods.

“We use vegetable tanned leather and oak tanned leather.

All our fittings are UK made or bespoke from Italy. We hand cut and handmake everything we produce, essentially just buying in the material,” adds Simon.

Each item is made by hand, using unique, traditional saddlery techniques. This requires a range of different processes, from inspecting the hide to marking the pattern, cutting the shapes and straps, curving the edges, waxing, creasing, stitching, adding buckles, stamping and polishing to finish. From raw hide to end product, a bag can be completed in a few hours of hard graft.

No leather is wasted, all offcuts are used to make another product. Some of the most popular items are the British oak belts and Italian saddle hide handbags, shoulder bags, briefcases and Gladstone bags.

Of the many interesting and individual commissions received, one that stands out for Simon is a recent request to recreate the Calcutta Cup rugby ball used in the world’s first game of international rugby between Scotland and England, played at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh in 1871. “We made this ball from having one original in our possession and after four balls, we had cracked it,” enthuses Simon.

The making of the ball was also filmed for a new hour-long documentary called The Great Game, which will tell the inspiring story of this historic sporting match.

Having carved his way to the top of the Scottish leather goods industry through evolutionary design and skilled craftsmanship shaped over decades of labour and love, the future of Simon’s trade, Mackenzie Leather and the preservation of this heritage craft look promising. S If you would like to find out more about Simon’s work or commission a piece yourself, go to mackenzieleatheredinburgh.com

Leather-making |

made in scotland

Scotland 41

CITIES

| Historic Streets

Historic Streets

ROSE STREET

One of Edinburgh’s most famous streets has seen its fair share of characters, plus dealt with one or two thorny issues Words by JOSEPHINE JAY

42 Scotland

many characters, such as Miss Margaret Burns, who arrived on the scene in 1789. Such was the ‘very irregular and disorderly’ nature of her house, neighbours soon complained to the Council Chamber, and she and her companion, a one Sally Sanderson, were banished from the city. The unrelated poet Robert Burns later dedicated a poem to Margaret Burns and her plight, wryly summarising: “True it is, she had one failing, Had a woman ever less?”

However, Rose Street redeemed itself in 1824, when the world’s first municipal fire station was established at No. 66 with a team of 12 men and a hand cart ready to deal with any fires. Six years later, in 1830, at No. 129, McVitie’s provision shop opened. McVitie was a farmer by trade, however, his son had been apprenticed to a baker and shortly after, the family decided to specialise, birthing the biscuit monolith that graces our shelves to this day.

‘Dirty Dick’ was a local man who shovelled horse dung in the city centre during the 1850s, known affectionately to locals by this handle.

© EYE35.PIX/EYE UBIQUITOUS/ALAMY/PHILIP MOULD/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

H

idden behind Princes Street in Edinburgh’s city centre, Scotland’s ‘Amber Mile’ has a deep and winding history. Home to many bars (and bar brawls pre-Covid), Rose Street has long been a haunting ground of poets, punters, and even princes, all looking to unwind.

Rose Street was christened after the national flower of England in 1767 and twinned with Thistle Street, two roads along, in a further effort to foster unionist sentiment in the wake of the Acts of Union in 1707. The building of the New Town was undertaken that same year as a measure to counteract the overcrowded and overpopulated city.

Following the Highland Clearances, many had relocated to Edinburgh in the hope of pastures new. As a result, the city’s numbers doubled with the turn of the 18th century.

The unqualified and inexperienced James Craig was a controversial choice as the architect of the new city layout, having abandoned his architectural apprenticeship early. Although he had never travelled outside Scotland, his work was nevertheless deeply reflective of Classical architecture, marrying tradition with contemporary designs. In contrast to the higgledy-piggledy structure of the existing city, Craig proposed a gridiron plan to bring order to the streets. His original design proposed structuring the New Town along the lines of the Union Jack.

However, this was deemed unsuitable and perhaps a little too royalist, and so a grid-like plan was favoured instead.

These changes set the tone and setting for the Scottish Enlightenment and ushered in Edinburgh’s new era as it shed its unfavourable nickname, ‘Auld Reekie’ for the more illustrious moniker; ‘Athens of the North’.

In the years that followed, Rose Street developed an unsavoury reputation due to many tales of hauntings and misdeeds. It harboured

CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT: Rose Street is lined with cafés and pubs; an imagined gathering, ‘Poets’ Pub’, by Alexander Moffat, 1980; portrait possibly of architect James Craig, by Scottish School, c.1770

In the years that followed, Rose Street fostered an unsavoury reputation due to many tales of hauntings and misdeeds

His estranged mother reportedly left a great inheritance to him, but he died broke and ignorant of the fact. Despite this, his legacy lives on in the pub named after him.

In 1864, local news reported His Royal Highness, Prince Alfred receiving a black eye from a fast-moving ball during a game of rackets (an old version of squash) held at No. 180.

Later, during the 1950s and 1960s, Rose Street became famous for gatherings of post-war poets, attracted by the pubs and bars.

The likes of Hugh MacDiarmid, Norman MacCaig, Sorley MacLean, Iain Crichton Smith, George Mackay Brown, Sydney Goodsir Smith, Edwin Morgan and Robert Garioch frequented Milnes Bar and The Abbotsford to engage in friendly and sometimes drunken debates. The painting Poets’ Pub by Alexander ‘Sandy’ Moffat now hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery featuring these poets seated in an imagined amalgamation of the Rose Street pubs; the artist himself had held a studio there as a student. In 1956, Margaret Tait, doctor, filmmaker, and poet, lived at 91 Rose Street and even made a short film documenting the quotidian of the street.

With the pedestrianisation of nearby Castle Street and Frederick Street in 1973 (the first in the city), Rose Street’s reputation began to improve. It is still known for its collection of pubs, bars, restaurants and shops, fondly patronised by locals and tourists alike, and the whimsical speakeasy Never Really Here nestles in a side alley marked by a brass lion head-knocker and hanging lamp. Those looking for a drink need only knock, and knock loudly to see if Jason, the bar owner is in…

Even before Covid-19, the decline of high street shopping had begun to affect Rose Street. However, the toll of the pandemic has further left its mark. Jenners, founded in 1838, sadly announced its closure in January 2021, following the closures of both Debenhams and House of Fraser. Now, with easing restrictions, Rose Street has seen an upturn in activity as bars tentatively reopen and punters return. The street still births many characters, part of what makes it such a vibrant part of the city’s ever-unfolding history. The coming months will see how Rose Street fares and how the legacy of this street continues to leave its mark on the city centre. S

Scotland 43

window into scotland

THIS IMAGE: A walker, on the coastal track below Ruinsival in the Cuillin mountains, looking down on the beautiful bay of Harris, on the Isle of Rum

44 Scotland

| Island stories

Island stories |

window into scotland

The

Rum life

Our writer visits the largest of the Small Isles, where the once diminishing population is being revived and community is everything

© VINCENT LOWE/ALAMY. ILLUSTRATION © MICHAEL A HILL

Words by ROBIN McKELVIE

O

n the Inner Hebridean outpost of Rum, its Cuillin mountains soar up improbably from the Atlantic, leviathans matching the grandeur of their namesakes just across the water on Skye.

Rum is not a mini Skye, though. The isle forges its own path untrammelled by motorhomes and tour buses; unique and beguiling to visit, and inhabit. Just ask the four families who, in 2020, beat off the competition attracted by a global call-out to become Rum’s newest residents.

I’m back on Rum, the largest of the Small Isles, and an isle that oozes romance, from its deer-dappled, mist-shrouded slopes to the grandiose old castle that bristles with odious ghosts. This is an elemental landscape, built on the solidity of some of the planet’s oldest rocks – Torridonian sandstone and Lewisian gneiss. It’s one of the oldest inhabited parts

Scotland 45

window into scotland

| Island stories

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP: Approaching scenic Guirdil Bay, on the north-west of Rum, with Bloodstone Hill rising above Guirdil bothy; the Isle of Rum Community Hall and shop at Kinloch; outlandish Kinloch Castle, former home of the extravagant Bullough family, who ruled over Rum for 69 years

46 Scotland

of Scotland, too: man wandered here in Mesolithic times, crafting tools using the rare local bloodstone instead of flint.

Over the centuries, the Vikings treasured Rum, too, as did warring Scottish clans.

David Beaton, sculptor, and handyman – known on Rum as ‘Chainsaw Dave’ – greets me at the pier. Not because I’ve arranged to meet him: Beaton greets every ferry bringing lifeblood supplies. Over coffee at the village hall – which doubles as a café, shop, gig venue and raucous cèilidh haunt – I ask Beaton what is so special about Rum. “Just look around you. It’s such a beautiful place. Ever since I was a wee laddie, I’ve wanted to live out on the west coast, and now I get to bring up my own boy here,” beams Beaton, pride dancing in his eyes.

Beaton’s son is, mercifully, for such a fragile community, not the only child being brought up on Rum. The population had slumped down into the 20s, but that global call-out has boosted numbers. There are now five children in the local primary school, while three pupils commute to secondary school over in Mallaig, and two more children are due to soon start nursery. Rum’s population has now ‘soared’ to a heady 46.

Competition to live here captured imaginations during some of the darkest days of the pandemic, with more than 3,000 notes of interest. That translated to over 400 applications, with four families invited to occupy the newly built environmentally-friendly homes.

Beaton welcomes the new arrivals: “All the families are really nice, and one had spent time working and living on Rum before. They’re all welcome, but only time will tell how this experiment in social engineering actually pans out,” he says.

It wasn’t always this way on Rum. As the 19th century dawned, around 400 residents called Rum home. The baleful Highland Clearances bit hard, though, with more than 300 souls spirited off to the Americas. A litany of rogues and wayward island owners pepper the history of the Hebrides during those tumultuous days. Perhaps none more roguish, and certainly none more extravagant and outrageous, than Rum’s Bulloughs, a Lancashire family who ruled over Rum from 1888-1957. They kept such a tight grip on Rum that it became known as the ‘Forbidden Isle’, as visitors were discouraged beyond the family’s friends and nefarious guests.

Nefarious is an understatement for the excess alleged to have swirled within the outlandish walls of striking red Arran sandstone Kinloch Castle.

Money was no object in conjuring up this extravagant folly. A staggering 250,000 tonnes of prime Ayrshire soil was shipped in and a golf course sculpted, while alligators and turtles swam in its heated pool to the tunes of an orchestrion built for Queen Victoria.

After Glasgow, Rum was the second place in Scotland to get electricity when work was completed in 1900. Workers were paid an extra tobacco allowance to don kilts in the

© VINCENT LOWE/ALLAN WRIGHT/ALAMY

The population had slumped down into the 20s, but that global call-out boosted numbers

Island stories |

window into scotland

Scotland 47

© RICHARD NEWTON/BLICKWINKEL/VINCENT LOWE/ALAMY

window into scotland

48 Scotland

| Island stories

Island stories |

window into scotland

Peering in the windows, I can still make out sumo wrestler statues and a lion skin rug; the Steiner piano bedecked with cheetah skin, too curated Bullough tartan, even as the midges bit. The dog kennels were heated, the servants’ quarters not. The Bulloughs even changed the name to ‘Rhum’ to avoid the alcohol associations – ironic given the notoriously debauched parties thrown in Kinloch Castle.

Even as far as the second half of the 20th century, Kinloch Castle sauntered along as a hotel. Beaton himself got married at Kinloch in an event channelling some of Kinloch’s wilder days: “It was more like a football match than a wedding. The last guests left after about a fortnight,” he says.

The unique nature of Kinloch’s Edwardian excess, though, has been its downfall, with spiralling maintenance costs. As its lustre dimmed, it became Scotland’s most spectacular youth hostel, finally closing in 2015. Peering in the windows, I can still make out sumo wrestler statues and a lion skin rug; the Steiner piano bedecked with cheetah skin, too. Chandeliers still shimmer above a grounded taxidermy sea eagle.

Life on Rum today could scarcely be more different than the debauched days of the Bulloughs. The island is run as a National Nature Reserve by NatureScot, who work to protect the rich flora and fauna. The small community is a tight-knit bunch – you must be, in order to get through the dark, harsh winters here adrift in the North Atlantic.

The hub of local life is that community hall and the attached wee shop. The ferry arrival has kicked off activity as the staff check what goods have made it over. I’ve only popped in for a bar of chocolate but end up falling into conversation with a couple of locals – people on Rum see visitors as an opportunity for a good chinwag.

Meanwhile, the staff furnish me with the island’s new rum.

It’s delicious, and the lady in the shop tells me its story: “They get casks of rum shipped in from the Caribbean and infuse it with local flavours – sugar kelp, meadowsweet and spruce, that last one is a nod to the trees that the Bulloughs brought in,” she says. I buy a bottle – they are canny salespeople on Rum. The next morning, I leave the community behind to burrow deeper into those mountains. In minutes I’m immersed in nature and lose my mobile phone signal.

A network of trails snake around the village and the surrounding forests, but it’s the newly reinforced path deep into Coire Dubh that I’m tracking.

I’m not alone. As the brooding hills beckon, the land closes in, and I spy a golden eagle circling in the thermals and almost collide with a stag bashing right across the trail.

I battle up through tough terrain to the peak of Barkeval.

It may only be 591m (1,938ft), but the hike is from sea level, and the weather is ominous. Rum is not a manicured island: it’s a real, savage, unpolished brute.

The wild side descends, leaden clouds scudding over and pelting me with rain shards, searing gusts plunging the wind chill lower still. I’m struggling to see my hands, let alone

CLOCKWISE, FROM FAR LEFT: A misty morning clouds Askival’s peak, the highest and finest of Rum’s Cuillin – a highlight of the classic traverse of the islands; a roaring red deer stag roaming on Rum; the lavish Grand Hall of the iconic, crumbling Kinloch Castle

Scotland 49

window into scotland

ABOVE: The wild and mostly untouched landscape of the bay of Harris, home to the Bullough Mausoleum

50 Scotland

| Island stories

812m (2,664ft) high Askival, Rum’s highest peak. There is no escape, with Rum’s bothies currently closed due to Covid restrictions, so I admit defeat. Rum taunts me as I return to the village to find the rain off and blue speckles in the sky.

You could spend a week hiking Rum’s hills – and in summer a steady stream of hardy souls does – or walking out on the old trails to the beach at Kilmory Bay, and remote Harris. At the latter, the Bullough Mausoleum stands as a defiant testament to the family’s sense of its own importance.

Rum offers more sedentary experiences, too. I lose a morning in the otter hide. There are also boat tours and sea kayaking. A sprinkling of accommodation options beckon – from B&Bs and a wee campsite that also has pods and gypsy caravans. Then there is the Fleur de Lys. This year, this small eight-person cruise ship started offering all-inclusive sailing safaris around the Small Isles, with Rum always a priority and highlight.

Easing out of Loch Scresort with the ghosts of Viking longships, as the sun burns down over Rum’s Cuillin, like most visitors, I find Rum a hard place to leave.

The stoic spirit of a community that strives to find a way to live on a volcanic rock at the vagaries of the Atlantic is infectious; the spirit-soaring hills and wildlife intoxicating, on this unique isle of Rum, an isle no longer forbidden. S

PLAN YOUR VISIT RUM COMMUNITY HUB A visit to Rum that doesn’t include a stop-off at the shop/community hall is only half a visit. Pop in to stock up on supplies and have a blether, but do make sure you abide by social distancing rules and wear a mask when asked. isleofrum.com IVY COTTAGE GUESTHOUSE Accommodation is sparse on Rum, but this sweet B&B offers two charming en-suite rooms, a hearty breakfast and home-cooked vegetarian evening meals. ivycottageisleofrum.co.uk

FLEUR DE LYS From June until late September, these allinclusive (£1,500 for five nights) small-ship cruises depart from Mallaig on the west coast of Scotland and visit Rum, as well as the other Small Isles of Canna, Eigg and Muck, before heading to Skye. https:/skyeandtheisles cruises.com/ GETTING THERE If your budget doesn’t stretch to a cruise, then a much cheaper way to reach Rum is by public ferry from Mallaig with Caledonian MacBrayne. calmac.co.uk

Cruise the magical Scottish islands

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Couples, singles, families can cruise the breath-taking Hebridean islands, including St Kilda, aboard one of our authentic, traditional small cruise ships.

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fun onboard atmosphere that our guests will never forget.

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H OTEL E ILEAN IARMAIN ISLE OF SKYE

E ILEAN IARMAIN .CO.UK

TUNNING LLOCATION OCATION R SSTUNNING RESTAURANT ESTAURANT & & PPUB UB O OUTDOOR UTDOOR AACTIVITIES CTIVITIES IN D DISTILLERY ISTILLERY WHISKY HISKYSSHOP HOP RT G GALLERY ALLERY GGIN W AART

THE ROBERT BURNS SOCIETY OF CHARLESTON PRESENTS THE FOLLOWING 29 April 2022

The National Tartan Day Dinner

BagPipes and Drums * Cocktails and Clarsach * Haggis Ceremony * Plated Dinner Daniel Island Club Charleston, SC Black-Tie, Mess Dress, Highland Evening Dress: Miniatures

30 April 2022 The Charleston Scottish Performing Arts Classic Internationally Acclaimed Performers * Clarsach * Fiddle * Pibroch Saint James Anglican Church * James Island, SC

4 November 2022

The Charleston Tartan Ball

BagPipes and Drums * Cocktails and Clarsach * Dance * Haggis Ceremony * Plated Dinner Charleston, SC Black-Tie, Mess Dress, Highland Evening Dress: Miniatures

ISLE OF SKY KYE K YE

T HE - INN -A AT T -A AIRD AI R -A- BHASAI RD BHASAIR A

Tickets: www.burnscharleston.org

Scotland 51

culture

| The Scottish Gallery

ART

S

for all

Celebrating its 180th year, The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh’s New Town is the oldest gallery of its kind in the country

52 Scotland

CLOCKWISE, FROM RIGHT: Tiree, by Ross Ryan, 2020; Fishing Boat, by James Morrison, c.1962; the gallery's hidden green haven; The Scottish Gallery on Dundas Street

pread across two floors, the elegant Scottish Gallery on Edinburgh’s Dundas Street, just a short walk from affluent Heriot Row, has been showcasing work from Scottish artists since 1842, making it the oldest continually running commercial gallery in Scotland.

From the street, the gallery’s Georgian façade is smart but unobtrusive, though the gallery’s managing director, Christina Jansen, is hoping that the introduction of a basement garden at the front of the building will draw the eye closer and is working with some sculptors to that end.

The garden idea was born out of a desire to connect with nature a little more and steered by the fact that the gallery’s rear walled garden, a triangular space accessed through French windows on the lower ground floor, created a place of sanctuary during the pandemic. Hidden, calm and like stepping into a friend’s garden – albeit one with exceptionally good taste in sculptures – Christina says it’s brought a lot of joy to staff and visitors alike, and we can see why.

The Scottish Gallery began life in 1842 at a site on Edinburgh’s South St David Street, which leads from St Andrew Square to Princes Street. The business, established by one Aitken Dott, was originally known for being a

The Scottish Gallery |

culture

collective of “gilders, framers and artists’ colourmen”.

It also exhibited and sold work by the leading Scottish artists of the day.

However, Christina insists that it is one of the oldest examples of a department store, with the company expanding by demand. She says: “Artists would come to get work framed, ask for a material, and then Aitken Dott would start supplying them, eventually growing lots of different departments.”

As the business grew, new premises were required, and the firm moved to a location on Castle Street in 1860.

However, it was Aitken Dott’s son, Peter McOmish Dott, who recognised a need for artists to make a living outside of London and realised that there was a huge pool of talent coming up out of Scottish art schools that could be drawn upon.

The company, now known as Aitken Dott & Son, set up a timetable of painting schools, and in 1897 a new dedicated gallery space, exhibiting and selling work by Scottish artists, was opened on salubrious George Street, under the new name The Scottish Gallery. The gallery moved to its current location in 1992.

Scotland 53

culture

| The Scottish Gallery

BELOW: The late landscape painter, James Morrison, in his element painting the rugged wildness of the west coast

Today, the gallery, which showcases pieces for sale from both established and up-and-coming Scottish artists, is free to browse, and in 2019 the company was acquired by its own staff through an employee ownership trust, ensuring that staff are really invested in the pieces on display.

Alongside traditional artwork, the gallery hosts an ongoing Modern Masters programme to celebrate both Scottish and international contemporary artists, and Christina Jansen is keen to promote applied arts too, with the monthly exhibitions often featuring ceramics, glassware and jewellery.

Open year-round, Christina says it’s particularly exciting to visit the gallery during the Edinburgh Festival. Whenever you come, you can see fine art from both those who have trained in Scotland and those who use Scotland as their muse.

In June this year, the gallery will hold a special Memorial Exhibition for the late landscape painter James Morrison,

© THE SCOTTISH GALLERY

Artists would come to get work framed, ask for a material, then Aitken would start supplying them

54 Scotland

who died in 2020, and whose work has been made exclusively available through The Scottish Gallery for decades. Morrison was a highly accomplished painter, whose art largely focused on scenes of farmland near his home in Angus and the wild, rugged coastline of Assynt in the west of Scotland.

Another artist whose work is regularly shown in the gallery is Ross Ryan, a painter and professional skipper, who literally ties himself to the mast of a boat chasing heavy weather across the islands of Scotland to produce his paintings, fully aware of the dangers of the sea – a true Highlander and one to watch.

Christina is proud of the heavy footprint the gallery still enjoys to this day and wants the gallery to provide a public service: “We want to welcome people,” she says, “bring people together to do something that is very simple and real and create an experience.”

Whether you set foot in this tranquil gallery space in person or catch up with the exhibitions through the gallery’s excellent digital programme, we think it’s clear, Christina and her team are achieving their aim. S For more on The Scottish Gallery and exhibitions, past and present, go to scottish-gallery.co.uk

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Clans |

ABOVE: Portrait of Lady Anne Mackintosh, Jacobite of the Clan Farquharson,

by Allan Ramsay

history

LA BELLE REBELLE

A staunch Jacobite, Lady Anne Mackintosh helped rally the troops for the 1745 rising, despite her husband working on the side of the government Words by GAVIN D SMITH

Scotland 57

history

| Clans

LEFT TO RIGHT: ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’, Charles Edward Stuart; Invercauld Castle, near Braemar, Lady Anne’s birthplace

An attractive, sociable woman…

One gets the impression, however, that every man who met her was a wee bit in love with Anne Mackintosh 58 Scotland

© DUNCAN P WALKER/ISTOCK/MEDIAWORLDIMAGES/ALAMY

E

nter the term ‘Jacobite heroine’ into any internet search engine and the name ‘Flora MacDonald’ will pop up.

While Flora undoubtedly played a vital part in the escape of Prince Charles Edward Stuart – aka ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ – to France after the failure of the 1745-46 Jacobite rising, many other women were actively involved in the campaign to restore a Stuart monarch to the British throne, yet their stories are rarely told.

Of these now neglected women, none deserves the epithet ‘Jacobite heroine’ more than Lady Anne Mackintosh, whose story is remarkable.

The daughter of John Farquharson of Invercauld, a clan chief and a staunch Jacobite, Anne was born in 1723, near Braemar. In her book, Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45, author Maggie Craig describes Anne as: “An attractive, sociable woman who’d had many suitors and admirers. One gets the impression, however, that every man who met her was a wee bit in love with Anne Mackintosh.”

At the age of 19, Anne married Aeneas (Angus) Mackintosh, chief of Clan Mackintosh, who was 20 years her senior. Angus was a captain in the Black Watch regiment, serving the Hanoverian establishment against which the Jacobite forces fought.

Craig writes: “One contemporary observer said that Anne was head over heels in love with her husband. At a distance of two and a half

centuries, however, he comes across as a rather weak character, who had great difficulty deciding which side of the fence he should be on.”

Nonetheless, when the Jacobite rising began in August 1745, Angus Mackintosh did his duty as a loyal government officer, while his wife was in no doubt as to which side she supported. With Prince Charles having arrived in Scotland from France and the rising in progress, Anne spent more than a fortnight riding through the countryside around the Mackintosh residence of Moy Hall, a dozen miles south of Inverness, raising troops for the Jacobite cause.

Craig writes that: “Her riding habit was of tartan cloth trimmed with lace and she wore the traditional blue bonnet of the Scottish fighting man on her head. She carried a bag of money – and a pair of pistols. If one of her husband’s tenants could not be charmed or bribed into volunteering, Anne Farquharson was more than prepared to use threats.”

During those two weeks, Anne recruited more than 300 men – a feat that earned her the lifelong nickname ‘Colonel Anne’. As a woman, she was unable to command the soldiers she had recruited in battle and therefore, placed them in the care of her husband’s cousin, Alexander MacGillivray of Dunmaglass. They duly fought at the Battle of Falkirk on 17 January 1746, which saw the Jacobite forces win the day.

…her husband had great difficulty deciding which side of the fence he should be on A few weeks later, Prince Charles was staying at Moy Hall when word reached Anne Mackintosh via her mother-in-law that a force of 1,500 government troops, commanded by Lord Loudoun and including her husband, was preparing to mount a night raid on the hall. Their aim was to capture the prince and claim the lavish £30,000 bounty that had been placed on his head.

It may well be that the warning via Anne’s mother-in-law came initially from her husband, Angus, as he would certainly not have wanted the prince to be captured in his own home, where the prince was being harboured by Anne. It’s possible he didn’t want the prince captured at all, as his loyalty to the Hanoverians has always been in some doubt.

Once warned of Loudoun’s intentions, Anne Mackintosh came up with a ruse to confuse the government troops. She sent out five of her

Scotland 59

history

| Clans

servants, armed with guns, to run around near the soldiers, shouting various battle cries to make Loudoun and his men think they were about to come face to face with the main Jacobite army. Remarkably, the ploy worked, with the government troops fleeing in what became known as ‘The Rout of Moy’.

The following month, however, 300 members of Loudoun’s force were captured by the Jacobites, and among their number was Angus Mackintosh. Prince Charles released Mackintosh on parole into his wife’s custody, exclaiming: “He could not be in better security, or more honourably treated.”

The prince referred to Anne as ‘La Belle Rebelle’, though government propaganda portrayed her as an ugly Amazonian creature who

The duke asked Anne Mackintosh to dance to a ‘pro-government’ tune, and in return she asked him to dance to one favoured by the Jacobites 60 Scotland

possessed nothing in the way of beauty at all. When Angus was handed over to his wife, she greeted him with the words: “Your servant, captain,” to which he replied: “Your servant, colonel.”

Roles were soon to be reversed, however, with Anne Mackintosh being arrested following the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden Moor on 16 April 1746. Anne was held prisoner in Inverness, though she seems to have been well treated and was allowed to visit friends.

After a while, Anne was released into the care of her mother-in-law and, ultimately, she and Angus resumed their married life together, presumably managing to put past differences behind them – if indeed those differences were as great as we’ve been led to believe.

As Euan Macpherson, author of The Last Jacobite Heroine, explained in The National newspaper (29 August 2020): “Today we live in a secular age where many people do not believe in the existence of God. This was not so in 18th-century Scotland, where attendance at church was high, and the minister was an important part of the community. To take an oath before God was something that could not be reneged on.

“When war broke out, Angus Mackintosh found himself trapped by his oath. He rode off to fight for King George. But tellingly, he did not ask anyone else to fight with him and he certainly did not raise his clan for the House of Hanover.”

© ROYAL ARMOURIES MUSEUM/ALAMY/VISITSCOTLAND/PAUL TOMKINS

LEFT TO RIGHT: Portrait of the Duke of Cumberland, mid-18th century,

by English School; the sun sets over Culloden Moor battlefield

A few years after the Jacobite defeat, Angus and Anne Mackintosh were introduced to the Duke of Cumberland at a ball in London.

‘Butcher Cumberland’, as he was known in the Highlands, had led the government forces during the rising and wreaked bloody revenge on those who had supported Prince Charles in the aftermath of Culloden.

The duke asked Anne Mackintosh to dance to a ‘pro-government’ tune, and in return it is said she asked him to dance to one favoured by the Jacobites.

Angus and Anne remained a couple until his death in 1770, after which Anne moved to Leith, where she died in 1787, aged 64. Euan Macpherson declares that: “Anne is Scotland’s forgotten heroine. She lies in an unmarked grave in Leith. This remarkable woman took up the sword for king and country knowing she was doing so in defiance of her husband: she and her clansmen suffered enormously during the brutal aftermath.”

Flora MacDonald is commemorated in story and song, with a conspicuous monument to her name at her burial place of Kilmuir, in the north of Skye. Surely, Anne Mackintosh also deserves similar recognition for the important role she played in the Jacobite rising of 45/46, perhaps starting with some fitting commemoration at her final resting place? S

Her riding habit was of tartan cloth trimmed with lace, and she wore the traditional blue bonnet of the Scottish fighting man on her head

Scotland 61

heritage

| World Heritage Sites

Words by SALLY COFFEY

Out of this WORLD As Scotland becomes the first country to launch a dedicated UNESCO trail, we look at our nation’s six wonders and its other awe-inspiring places

62 Scotland

World Heritage Sites |

heritage

THIS IMAGE: Skara Brae, part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney

© VISITSCOTLAND/KENNY LAM

S

cotland is a place of infinite beauty, where ancient man-made sites meet stunning city architecture, and natural landscapes have Scotland’s story carved into their glens and rock faces.

It’s not gone unnoticed: for a relatively small nation, Scotland has many locations that have been recognised for their internationally significant cultural or natural heritage value by UNESCO – the body that seeks to build peace through international cooperation in the fields of education, sciences and culture.

We have six World Heritage Sites, two Biospheres, two Global Geoparks and three Creative Cities, and now a digital trail allows visitors to take a virtual tour of all 13 locations.

Launching the trail in late 2021, Professor Anne Anderson, non-executive director at the UK National Commission for UNESCO, said: “By partaking in the trail, visitors from around the world will rediscover Scotland’s unique treasures, know they are travelling sustainably, and contribute to the communities who maintain these precious places.

“From the stunning mountains of the sparsely populated Northwest Highlands, the ancient Heart of Neolithic Orkney, the vibrant music scenes of Glasgow, to Edinburgh’s outstanding heritage and literature festivals, there is a wealth of people and places waiting to welcome you.”

Turn the page to see the wonders awaiting you on your next visit to Scotland.

Scotland 63

heritage

| World Heritage Sites

THE HEART OF NEOLITHIC ORKNEY

M

ade up of four extraordinary monuments, which are without a doubt some of the most important Neolithic sites in Western Europe, a visit to Orkney Mainland is a humbling experience. You can step inside a large, chambered tomb (Maeshowe), see two stone circles up close (the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness) and walk around the unbelievably intact settlement of Skara Brae, to get some sense of the lives of the people who lived on the isle some 5,000 years ago.

NEW LANARK

A

n exceptional example of a model town, New Lanark was built in the 18th century as a mill village under the watchful eye of Robert Owen, considered a social reformer of his time. For over two centuries New Lanark was a blueprint for how working and living environments could combine, and how workers could be treated with dignity.

The setting on the edge of the woodlands, surrounding the Falls of Clyde, also makes for a pleasant day out.

64 Scotland

OLD AND NEW TOWNS OF EDINBURGH

T

© AWL IMAGES/CHRISTIAN MUERINGER/DANITADELIMONT.COM/VISITSCOTLAND/KENNY LAM

he capital of Scotland since the 15th century, Edinburgh is remarkable not only due to its medieval Royal Mile, which is dominated by the castle and retains many of its higgledy-piggledy

wynds and old buildings, but due to the architectural grandeur of its New Town. A visit here is not complete until you’ve explored both sides of Princes Street Gardens.

ST KILDA

I

n the far reaches of the Outer Hebrides, this volcanic archipelago has some of the highest cliffs in Europe, making it an important habitat for large colonies of endangered birds. The islands have a raw, dramatic beauty, and although they have been uninhabited since 1930, with evidence of human occupation going back two millennia, a visit here offers a rare chance to see how generations of people adapted to live in this harsh environment.

Scotland 65

heritage

| World Heritage Sites

THE ANTONINE WALL

P

art of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, the remains of this wall, built in the AD140s on the orders of Emperor Antoninus Pius, and running from modern Old Kilpatrick on the north side of the River Clyde to Bo’ness on the Firth of Forth, offer reminders of how the Romans once tried to conquer Scotland. At the time of its construction, it was the most complex of all the Roman Army’s frontiers and walking amid its ruins is a chance to marvel at the might of the Romans as well as the steadfast Caledonians, who ultimately kept the Romans at bay.

THE UNESCO TRAIL IN FULL

Biospheres Two of Scotland’s regions have been classed UNESCO Biospheres: Wester Ross, and Galloway and Southern Ayrshire.

The first is a place of astounding natural beauty and biodiversity in the Northwest Highlands, where communities live in harmony with the land and sea (and is also one of our editor’s favourite places in the whole of Scotland).

THE FORTH BRIDGE

S

cotland’s newest World Heritage Site, the Forth Bridge, which lies just north of Edinburgh, was only granted its UNESCO status in 2015, but its status as an icon of Scotland has been celebrated much longer. The world’s earliest great multi-span cantilever bridge when it opened in 1890, it became a symbol of Scotland’s ingenuity and engineering prowess. Today, it remains virtually unaltered, and plans are underway to create a bridge walk to allow visitors to experience views across the Firth of Forth from this mighty structure. S

To find out more about Scotland’s UNESCO Trail, go to visitscotland.com/see-do/ unesco-trail

66 Scotland

Galloway and Southern Ayrshire is a place filled with geological wonders, with lots of space for adventure, abundant wildlife and plant life, and some of the darkest skies in Europe.

Creative Cities The capital, Edinburgh, is so culturally significant it’s recognised twice by UNESCO – in this case as a City of Literature, thanks to the rich culture of

storytelling and writing that has emerged here over several centuries.

Dundee, in the east of Scotland, has been named City of Design, thanks to its heritage of textiles and shipbuilding, and its evolving and exciting creative scene.

Glasgow is Scotland’s undisputed City of Music, with everything from traditional sessions to contemporary bands playing throughout the city on any given night.

Global Geoparks In Shetland, the geology continues to play a part in everyday life, from the industries that thrive here, to the way people live, and with few trees, the archaeology is some of the best preserved in Europe.

For some of the oldest rocks in the world, visit the Northwest Highlands, where the 3-billion-year-old Lewisian Gneiss has been overlaid with later rock and you will find some of the most dazzling beaches of anywhere on earth.

© VISIT SCOTLAND/KENNY LAM

As well as the highlighted World Heritage Sites, here are the other places that set Scotland apart from the rest of the world...

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history

| The Jacobites

The Battle of Littleferry As locals prepare to unveil a memorial and tourist trail, we tell the story of a largely forgotten battle that took place on the eve of Culloden Words by JAMES GRACIE CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP: Dunrobin Castle, ancestral home of the Earls and Dukes of Sutherland; the stone that will be used to commemorate the Littleferry battle; the stone will be displayed on the road from Golspie to Littleferry; Golspie Heritage Society sets one of the six markers for the tourist trail

T

he Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746 ended the Jacobite hopes of placing Queen Anne’s Catholic half-brother James Francis Edward Stuart on the British throne in place of King George II of Hanover.

The battle took place on a cold day with intermittent sleet and rain, a few miles east of Inverness, and is considered one of the most significant battles in Scottish history.

But the day before, another battle took place – one that is barely remembered, even though it may have had a significant bearing on Culloden’s outcome.

Community groups in Golspie in the north Highlands are preparing to erect a memorial stone to commemorate the Battle of Littleferry, which took place on 15 April 1746, in which 100 people were killed and twice as many injured.

Fought near the hamlet of Littleferry, on the banks of the River Fleet, well north of Inverness and four miles south of Golspie, news of the outcome of the battle – a victory for Hanoverian troops – may well have encouraged the Duke of Cumberland and his men at Culloden, helping propel them to victory.

The clash at Littleferry happened when Bonnie Prince Charlie ordered George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie (an ardent Jacobite), and his regiment of more than 400 Mackenzie men to join the main Jacobite force near Inverness. The prince had been hiding out close to the city since his retreat from Derby, as the Duke of Cumberland and his men closed in, and now he required reinforcements.

Cromartie and his troops had themselves been hiding out after storming Dunrobin Castle, the ancestral home of the government-supporting Clan Sutherland, near Golspie.

Having sacked the castle, Cromartie and his men had spent two months hiding in the nearby hills, hungry, disheartened, and exhausted.

When the order came to rejoin the prince, the troops

On 29 July 1746, the Jacobite Earls of Kilmarnock and Cromartie, along with Lord Balmerino, were tried for treason 68 Scotland

would not have been looking forward to being ferried across the River Fleet in batches of no more than 10, and then the long march ahead of them once they reached the other shore.

Indeed, it is doubtful whether they would even have reached Culloden in time to take part in the battle anyway.

Nevertheless, the Jacobites broke their cover, reckoning that the Mackay and Sutherland troops who had survived the taking of Dunrobin had dispersed. But they were wrong.

Under the command of Ensign John Mackay of Mudale (a cadet branch of Clan Mackay), the government-supporting Highland troops assembled on hillsides on the other side of the main route south, through which the Jacobites were forced to travel. Beneath them, they saw the Jacobite officers on horseback, several hundred yards behind their main troops, thus creating a gap.

Mackay’s men saw their chance and charged from either side towards the gap. Leaderless, the frontline Jacobites fled, leaving the officers unprotected. Many of the troops were killed, with others throwing themselves into the freezing River Fleet to swim to the southern shore. This left the officers unprotected, and they soon laid down their arms.

It was a complete rout. The officers, including Cromartie and his son John, were taken prisoner and brought back to Dunrobin, where they formally surrendered. The Jacobite dead were buried in the churchyard of Golspie Church.

The Battle of Culloden, the day after the Battle of Littleferry, marked the end of the Jacobite rising, but there was still retribution to consider.

On 29 July 1746, the Jacobite Earls of Kilmarnock and Cromartie, along with Lord Balmerino, were tried for treason in London, and condemned to be hung, drawn and quartered, which was later commuted to beheading.

Cromartie, however, was finally pardoned, though as punishment, his lands were handed over to the Crown, and the earldom forfeited. Kilmarnock and Balmerino were beheaded on 18 August at Tower Hill. Cromartie died in poverty.

Now, 276 years after the Battle of Littleferry, a huge inscribed memorial stone is to be unveiled in the area on 15 April 2022 to commemorate the battle. This will be joined by a self-guided battlefield trail, marked by six smaller stones.

A new book, guiding visitors through the events that unfolded on that cold spring day in 1746 will also be released.

Major General Patrick Marriott, leader of the memorial project, says: “The memorial will be very important to Golspie and the whole area, for the battle was very much fought by local people.

“Many of the folk on both sides would have known each other well; some were likely to have been related. So, this memorial, which is for both sides, seeks to heal some of that.

“For me, it’s about coming together, reconciling age-old differences, forgiveness, moving on, but remembering, too. The lessons from this memorial are as relevant today as they were then.” S

The Jacobites |

history

© VISITSCOTLAND/PAUL TOMKINS/GOLSPIE HERITAGE SOCIETY

LEFT TO RIGHT: Pjksdfli soidfu oiuf oisucoidusivoiusdf

Scotland 69

The Great Glen Way Eager for a challenge, Douglas Milne and his wife, Gillian, take on one of Scotland’s most epic walking trails

70 Scotland

© SARAH HICKSON/KAY ROXBY/ALAMY

© DOUGLAS MILNE

THIS PHOTO: Looking down the world-famous Loch Ness from Creag Dhearg

Walking |

rural scotland

B

ack in 2015, my wife Gillian and I accomplished our first long-distance hike, when we walked from Milngavie to Fort William along the West Highland Way. Although we have done a great deal of walking in the Scottish countryside in the years since, we have never done another of Scotland’s Great Trails, the collection of longdistance walking routes that criss-cross the length and breadth of the country.

Like everyone else, by the end of the first lockdown in 2020, we were anxious to taste freedom again, and decided that it was time to don our hiking boots and attempt a second long-distance hike. This time, we chose to pick up where we left off in 2015, starting in Fort William and following the Great Glen Way north-east to Inverness, making a complete traverse from one side of Scotland to the other by foot.

The Great Glen cleaves through the Highlands between Fort William and Inverness. Both a fault line and a glacial trough, this deep, 57-mile-long trench splits the landscape in two. Steep, forested slopes drop down to Lochs Ness, Lochy and Oich, artfully arranged by Mother Nature in a straight line through the glen.

With no mountain barriers, the Great Glen has provided an obvious route for anyone wanting to cross from one side of the Highlands to the other for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. St Columba was travelling through it on his way to convert the Picts to Christianity when he made the first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness Monster, which crossed his path.

General George Wade built a military road through it, connecting his Forts William, Augustus and George, to subjugate the clans following the 1715 Jacobite rising.

Thomas Telford built the Caledonian Canal through it to provide an alternative shipping route to the treacherous journey around Cape Wrath and the Pentland Firth.

Today, the A82 road runs through it, traversing some of Scotland’s most spectacular scenery and promising one of the UK’s finest road trips.

Scotland 71

| Walking

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP RIGHT: The Jacobite crosses Lochy Railway Bridge at Fort William; the ‘Viewcatcher Wheel’ sculpture, high on Meall Doire Bhrath; Urquhart Castle offers panoramic views over Loch Ness; pretty Kytra Lock, near Fort Augustus, on the Caledonian Canal

© SARAH HICKSON/KAY ROXBY/ALAMY

The route takes in loch, shore, hill, moor, Caledonian pine forest, and birch woodland

The Great Glen Way was first proposed back in the 1970s by the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society and was opened on 30 April 2002. It was Scotland’s fourth longdistance path, following on from the West Highland Way, Southern Upland Way and Speyside Way. It cost around £500,000 to create, but villages along the route benefit from around £2m of increased tourism revenue annually.

The low-lying, 79-mile (127km) trail is traditionally walked from Fort William to Inverness, passing through Invergarry, Fort Augustus and Drumnadrochit, providing an easy and scenic walking route through the Highlands, with ready access to accommodation, food, drink and transport.

It makes substantial use of the canal towpath, particularly at its southern end, but also traverses forestry tracks, a disused railway line and an old drovers’ road, taking in loch, shore, hill, moor, beautiful Caledonian pine forest, and birch woodland. Red squirrels and pine martins scamper among the trees, while ospreys and golden eagles hunt on the lochs.

Native roe and red deer, as well as Japanese sika deer, can often be seen galloping across the hillside and moorland.

There are ancient castles, reflecting the turbulent history of clan rivalry, and the more recent history of the Second World War commando training areas.

The Great Glen Way is one of the easiest long-distance trails and well within the capabilities of any reasonably fit person. The first half of the route, as far as Fort Augustus, is on low-level and easily navigated canal towpaths, old railway trackbed and forestry roads. It gets tougher after that – traversing the hills and high moorland to the north of Loch Ness. However, the path is well-constructed and waymarked throughout, and is virtually impossible to get lost on.

Nevertheless, a distance of nearly 80 miles is still a long walk, and a 10-mile daily hike requires stamina. Schedule carefully, so a pleasant walk doesn’t become an endurance exercise.

© ILLUSTRATION: © MICHAEL A HILL

rural scotland

72 Scotland

© DAVID ROBERTSON/ALAMY/VISIT SCOTLAND/KENNY LAM

Walking | rural scotland

rural scotland

| Walking

You could spend an extra day in Fort Augustus and take a cruise on Loch Ness Some people choose to camp along the way, carrying everything they need to survive with them – either wildcamping or stopping off at the many official camping spots.

However, we like a bit of luxury with our walking, and opted to stay in B&Bs in the villages along the Glen. You can’t beat a hot shower at the end of a day’s hiking, and the pubs and restaurants along the Way serve excellent food. Staying in CLOCKWISE, accommodation also allowed us to use a luggage carrying FROM TOP RIGHT: service [Douglas and Gillian’s walk was organised by Gemini Telford’s Bridge at Invermoriston Walks – Ed] meaning that the only things we needed to put in crosses the our rucksacks were food and drink (along with maps, a spectacular River compass and first-aid kit – although we didn’t use any of Moriston Falls; the them, it’s always better to have and not need them).

Corpach Basin at the western end In my case, I also chose to lug my photography equipment of the Caledonian – more of which found its way out of my rucksack and into Canal; a stream my suitcase as the journey progressed. winds across the Abriachan plateau The record for completing the route on foot was set in 2014, when Mike Raffan finished the distance in a mere 10 hours, 48 minutes and 43 seconds. However, PLAN YOUR WALK you are traversing some of Scotland’s ■ Distance: 79 miles (127km) most spectacular scenery, and I ■ Time: 6-8 days would advise taking a more leisurely ■ Trailhead: Fort William pace, allowing you the time to stop ■ Trail-end: Inverness off at cafés, enjoy the wildlife and ■ More information: admire the breathtaking views. The www.highland.gov.uk/greatglenway villages along the route are spaced at roughly 10- to 15-mile distances,

74 Scotland

which dictates how long it takes to complete the whole walk.

Most walkers take six or seven days to complete the Way’s six stages, but those with more time to spare might consider combining the route with the West Highland Way, giving a 175-mile (282km) walk from Glasgow to Inverness, promising some of the best scenery that the world has to offer and the opportunity to appreciate it on foot.

My choice to take my camera influenced our decision to complete the hike in as long a time as possible. As a landscape photographer, I am used to carrying a heavy backpack over long distances, but the shorter daily distances gave me the time to stop and set up my tripod, and to fine-tune compositions – a luxury that I would not have had otherwise.

We also opted to have a day off in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of Loch Ness, and to spend the afternoon at Urquhart Castle. One of the most-visited castles in Scotland, with more than half a million visitors in 2019, it was eerily quiet during our mid-pandemic stop-off. In retrospect, spending an extra day in Fort Augustus and taking in a cruise on Loch Ness would have been agreeable too, and if we were to do it again, I would allow time for this.

The Great Glen Way can be walked at any time of the year, although Scotland’s notorious weather and short winter days can make walking the route between November and March wet and unpleasantly cold. We chose to walk it in early October, when the midges are dead, and the autumn colours and low sun make the best photographs, but it would also be a wonderful adventure in spring or summer.

We enjoyed the diversity of the route, from canal towpath to abandoned railway, to forest path to high moorland track – it is walking in Scotland in a nutshell. Once you are away from the villages, the path is quiet, with just the wildlife for company, but civilisation is never too far away.

We will definitely be back. S

Walking |

rural scotland

Scotland 75

SCOTLAND | Scottish Societies

SCOTTISH SOCIETIES If you are interested in joining any of these Scottish Societies, please contact them at the address shown and they will be happy to provide you with membership information.

CLAN ELLIOT SOCIETY, U.S.A. Clan President Jim Dougherty welcomes into membership all who are connected with this great border family.

Please direct inquiries to: Membership-Treasurer Matt Elliot PO Box 75, Smithfield KY, 40068 https://elliotclan-usa.com

Armstrong Clan Society

THE THE CLAN FRASER SOCIETY CLAN FRASER SOCIETY OF OF

Arms awarded by the Lord Lyon in 1985. We invite descendants of the Armstrongs, Crosiers, Fairburns, Groziers and Nixons thru their paternal or maternal lines to join this famous family. We are tax-exempt and publish the ARMSTRONG CHRONICLES quarterly for our worldwide membership.

SALTOUN SALTOUN

www.armstrong.org Chris Armstrong, President Armstrong Clan Society P O Box 346 Flowery Branch, GA 30542 Membership is open to those descended from Baird, Barde, Bard, Beard, Beaird, Byrd, Bayard, Bardt, Barth and Biard or varied spellings of the name of Scottish origin.

In addition to the Society newsletter and the opportunity to associate with fellow clansmen, members may query the Society genealogist, whose database contains over 100,000 entries of Bairds and related names. For information write: Clan Baird Commander Richard Baird of Rickarton, Ury and Member of the Lochwood, President, Stonehaven, Scotland Scottish Clans and Dr. Debra Baird, Convenor Associations, Inc. www.clanbairdsociety.com

Clan Blair Society Membership cordially invited from Blair descendants, and other interested parties.

clanblair.org

Russell McCrary Email: clanmembership@clanblair.org

Family of Bruce International, Inc., USA

Family of Bruce International, Inc., USA, the only such organization recognized by the hereditary chief of the Name of Bruce, The Rt. Hon. Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, is a non-profit organization established to create kinship amongst its family members and promote interest in the Family of Bruce and its history. Membership is open to persons who qualify by surname, by descent, or by recognized septs: Carlisle, Carruthers, Crosby, Randolph and Stenhouse. Associate membership is also available.

NORTH AMERICA AMERICA NORTH

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Clan Cumming Society USA Established 1997

Contact Information: G. Allen Cummings, Secretary 330 S Middleton Drive Unit 203 Calabash, NC 28467

Website:

www.clancumming.us Clan International ClanCunningham Cunningham international

Organized July 1975 The first worldwide Clan Graham Organization

CLAN GRAHAM SOCIETY Ne Oublie • “Do Not Forget” to join us!

www.clangrahamsociety.org www.facebook.com/ClanGrahamSociety

Open to Cunninghams all Cunninghams and associated Open to all and associated familiesfamilies from from the the District of of Cunninghame.

District Cunninghame.Write Writeto: to: DavidDavid PickensPickens 5441 Mockingbird 5441 Mockingbird Dr. Dr. St. Knoxville, TN TN 37919 Knoxville, 37919 Visit our website at: Visit our website at:

www.clancunninghamintl.org www.clancunninghamintl.org

Membership inquiries should be directed to: Donald E. Bruce, FSA Scot President 1051 Eagle Ridge Trail Stillwater, MN 55082 bruce1051@comcast.net

www.clangregor.com

Polly A. (Bruce) Tilford, Secretary 5561 Earl Young Road Bloomington, IN 47408

For membership contact Keith MacGregor P.O Box 56, Redding Ridge, CT 06876 kmac1@optonline.net.

Peter Lawrie, Secretary 6 The Esplanade, Broughty Ferry, Dundee DD5 2EL Scotland

www.familyofbruceinternational.org

HOUSE OF BURNETT, INC.

Clan MacDougall Society of North America, Inc.

Clan MacDougall Society Clan MacDougall Society of North America, Inc. of North America, Inc.

Sanctioned by James C.A. Burnett of Leys,

Chief of the Name, and Head of the House of Burnett

Contact: Jackelyn A Daugherty, Secretary PO Box 666 Topock, AZ 86436 (928) 788-9434 jdaugherty@1791.com

Valerie McDougall VP Membership

Carol Morton-Bianchini, Secretary Clan Douglas Society of North America PO Box 6974, Portland, OR 97228 Phone: 971.300.8593 DouglasSecretary@comcast.net

Forbes

Celebrating 175 years of Home, Family and Love.

708-447-5092 | ChicagoScots.org 76 Scotland

LOVAT

LOVAT Operating under the authority of Operating under the authority of The RT. Hon. Lady Saltoun, The RT. Hon. Lady Saltoun, Chief of the name of Fraser Chief of the name of Fraser The RT. Hon. Lord Lovat, The RT. Hon. Lord Lovat, Of the Clan Fraser of Lovat Of the Clan Fraser of Lovat Registered members are invited to share in the bond Registered members are invited to share in the bond of this heritage and receive The Nessie newsletter. of this heritage and receive The Nessie newsletter.

For membership and information please visit: For membership and information please visit:

The Scottish Home 2800 Des PlainsClan-Forbes.org Avenue N. Riverside, IL 60546 @ClanForbesSociety president@clan-forbes.org Sign up for a free e-newsletter!

Valerie McDougall VP Membership

PO Box 338047 PO BoxMcDougall, 338047 Valerie VP Membership Greeley, CO. 80633 80633 MacDougall MacDowall MacDougall MacDowall POGreeley, BoxCO. 338047, Greeley, CO. 80633 Home Page:ww.macdougall.org Email:membership@macdougall.org HomeEmail:membership@macdougall.org Page:ww.macdougall.org • www.macdougall.org Email: membership@macdougall.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/clanmacdougall Facebook: www.facebook.com/clanmacdougall www.facebook.com/clanmacdougall Names with Clan MacDougall of Argyll Names Associated with Clan MacDougall of Argyll Names Associated withAssociated Clan MacDougall of Argyll and Clanof MacDowall of Galloway and Clan and MacDowall Galloway Clan of MacDowall Galloway

Macoual Coul MacCoul Coul MacoualMacCoul Coul MacCulloch Dulothe MacCowan MacConcher MacDugle Conacher MacConcher MacConacher Conacher MacConacher Conacher MacClintock MacDoual M’Gowall MacDowall Coyle MacCoyle MacDill Coyle MacCoyle MacDill Coyle MacCowan MacDougall MacLintock McDowell Dole MacDole Dole Mcdougle McDoll MacDole Dole MacHale MacLugash McDoll MacCullich Dowdle MacHowell MacDugal Macoual MacCullagh Dulothe MacDulothe Dowdle Dulothe Dowdle MacDulothe Doual MacKichan MacDowal MacConcher McLintock MacDoual McDougal Doual MacDoual Doual McDougal Dougal MacLinden MacDill McCown MacDougall MacDougald Dougal MacDougallDougalMacdowell MacDougald Dougle MacLucas McLullich McDoll Mactheul Mcdougle Dougle Mcdougle DougleMcCulloch McDougald Dugal MacCoul MacDulothe McDougald McCown MacDugal MacDugle Dugal MacDugal Dugal MacLintock MacDugle Dowall MacConacher McDougal MacNamell MacDowal Dowall MacDowal DowallMacowen MacDowall MacDowel MacCoyle MacDougald MacDowall MacClintock Lullich MacDole McHoul McDougald McDowell MacLuke Macdowell MacDowell MacdowellMacDowell McDowell Lullich May MacCullich Lullich McLullich MacCullich Spelling Variations Vary McLullich or Omit the Mac, Mc McCulloch MacCullagh MacCulloch McCulloch MacCullochMacCullagh MacLintock McLintock MacClintock MacLintockMacClintockMcLintock McCown MacCowan Macowen MacCowanMcCownMacowen Mactheul MacHale McHoul MacHale MactheulMcHoul McCown MacHowell MacCowanMacHowellMcCownMacCowan M’Gowall MacNamell MacKichan M’Gowall MacKichan MacNamell MacLintock MacClintock MacLinden MacLintockMacLinden MacClintock MacLuke MacLucas MacLugashMacLucas MacLukeMacLugash Spelling Spelling Variations May Vary or Omit the Variations Mac, Mc May Vary or Omit the Mac, Mc

Scottish Societies | SCOTLAND

Clan MacLaren

KENNEDY SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA

cordially invites membership inquiries from all descendants of Kennedy and the Clan Septs: Cannaday Kanaday Cassels Cassillis Carrick MacUlrick MacWalrick Ulric

Society of North America

MACLAREN MACLAURIN LAWRENCE LAWSON LOW[E] LOW[E]RY LAW[E] PATTERSON MACPATRICK MACRORY

Recognized by the Chief of Clan MacLaren

(some spellings may vary)

Colleen Caldwell, Membership Chairman Kennedy Society of North America 2115 Pierpont S. Estates Morgantown, West Virginia 26508 c_caldwell83@yahoo.com www.kennedysociety.net

Clan MacInnes

Int’l Assn. of Clan MacInnes (Aonghais)

Mark McLaren, FSA Scot President greatscot@earthlink.net

Clan MacKinnon Society Since 1891

Membership invited from all U.S. residents of or connected to the name in any of its recognized forms.

INQUIRIES TO: Roger H. Johnston 107 Stellamar Drive Hutto, TX. 78634 texscott2020@gmail.com Visit the Clan Website: http://www.clanmacgillivray.net

Clan Hamilton Society

Hamiltons and those of Hamilton descent are cordially invited to join the Society.

Visit our website: http://www.clanhamilton.org

Inquiries should be sent to: Sherri Lambert, Treasurer PO Box 5399 Vernon Hills, IL 60061

The Clan Hannay Society

For those with family names of Hannay, Hannah, Hanna and Hanney.

Membership Sec: Mrs. Jacquie Hannay 5 Picket Cross, Bankend Road, Dumfries DG1 4AH SCOTLAND www.clanhannay.org

Family | History | Philanthropy | Fun Septs: Love, MacKinney, MacKinning, MacKinven, MacMorran, Morren, Sherry

www.TheMacKinnon.com ClanMacKinnonSociety@gmail.com / @The_MacKinnon @TheMacKinnon

Clan Macnachtan Association Worldwide

Descendants of the CLAN MACNAUGHTON are invited to join our Worldwide Association to learn and share our MacNaughton and Scottish heritage. For more info go to: clanmacnaughton.net or contact Mary Nivison Burton, Membership Secretary at: membersec@clanmacnaughton.net New Second Edition!

A History of the Clan Macnachtan Paperback available through Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca

Clan MacNicol of North America

April Rich Membership Chair 218 Oxbow Drive Willimantic, CT 06226 clanhaymembership@hotmail.com

www.ClanHay.com The American Branch of the First Family of Scotland welcomes inquiries from descendants of Hay / Hayes / Haynes, Constable, Delgatie, Erroll, Gifford, Leith, MacGarra, Peebles and Turriff

Clan Irwin Association Chief and Patron

Alexander H. Irvine, 27th Baron & Laird of Drum, Chief of the name Contact: Brian S. Ervin 1103 Highview Road Lapeer, MI 48446 248-854-0798 brian.ervin@clanirwin.org www.clanirwin.org www.facebook.com/groups/clanirwin * Twitt@Clan_Irwin IRWIN * IRVINE * IRVIN * IRVING * ERWIN And the many other spellings of the name

Chief John MacNeacail of MacNeacail and Scorrybreac Clan MacNicol, a small but vibrant Clan active in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland and the U.S.A. From the misty Isle of Skye, the Hebrides and the Northwest Highlands, the sons and daughters of MacNicol, Nicol, Nicolson (and of other spelling variations) have spread to six continents. Nearly two centuries ago, the Chiefly line emigrated to Australia where it thrives to this day.

Membership open to all who acknowledge the Clan Chief as its leader and wish to join the Society.

New members receive a copy of the book on Clan history and two Clan newsletters during the year.

President and Deputy Membership Secretary Jeremy Nicholson Website www.clanmacnicol.org E-mail presidentna@clanmacnicol.org Postal Address P.O. Box 501166 Atlanta, GA 31150-1166, USA

Canadian Membership Secretary Jacques McNicoll Website www.clanmacnicol.org E-mail mcnicollclan@videotron.qc.ca Postal Address 202 rue Berlioz Apt. 203, Verdun, Québec H3E 1B8, Canada

ClanMacRae MacRaeSociety Society Clan ofofNorth NorthAmerica America Granted GrantedArms Armsinin2008 2008

We invite MacRaes of all We invite MacRaes of all spelling variations and their spelling variations descendants to joinand ourtheir Clan descendants to join ouryour Clan MacRae Society.

Learn MacRaeMacRae Society. history Learn your Scottish and family lineage!

Scottish MacRae history and

Worldwide, we welcome descendants of all spelling variations, including (Mc)Angus, (Mc)Canse, (Mc)Ginnis, (Mc)Guenis, (Mc)Inch, (Mc)Innes, (Mc)Innis, (Mc)Kinnis, (Mc)Masters, (Mc)Neish, (Mc)Ninch, and more.

Scott Mcinnis, Member Services: scott@macinnes.org or visit: www.macinnes.org

The Clan MacThomas Combie McColm McComas McComb(e) McCombie McComie McComish

SEPT NAMES

www.clanmacthomas.org

MacOmie MacOmish Tam Thom Thomas Thoms Thomson

Andrew MacThomas of Finegand, 19th Chief, welcomes members.

Please direct inquiries to: Cathy McComb Ludemann North American Branch membership-na@clanmacthomas.com

Clan Maxwell SOCIETY

Adair Maxton Blackstock Mescall Dinwiddie Monreith Dinwoodie Moss Edgar Nithsdale Herries Paulk Kirk Peacock Kirkland Polk Latimer Pollo(c)k Latimore Sturgeon MacKittrick Wardlaw PO Box 3225, Staunton, VA 24401

www.clanmaxwellsociety.com

Clan Ross America

Representing the great Highland Clan of Ross since 1976

Paul D Ross, President Virg Bumann, VP Membership 1015 Archer St. San Diego, CA 92109 membership@clanross.org info@clanross.org www.clanross.org

Nesbitt Nisbet Society of North America Clan Nisbet, a Borders family, welcomes Nesbit/Nisbet and all various spellings worldwide.

Share our history and learn about Alexander Nisbet, Scotland’s famous author of heraldry.

For more information, visit www.ibydeit.org or contact Dave Nesbitt Harvey, President, at dharvey@ibydeit.org.

CLAN POLLOCK

family lineage! www.macrae.org

Among the Most Ancient Families of Scotland. If you are a descendant of Pollock, Pollok, Pook, Polk, Polke, Paulk, Poalk, Poalke, Poulk, Poolke, Pogue, you are cordially invited to contact:

303-670-9611 Need more info? Contact: brucewaynemcrae@gmail.com

Archie D. Pollock, Jr. P. O. Box 404, Greenville, Ky 42345 (615) 456-1699 apollockis@comcast.net

Need more info? Contact: www.macrae.org Bruce McRae, President 1

Bruce McRae, President 303-670-9611 brucewaynemcrae@gmail.com

Scotland 77

SCOTLAND | Scottish Societies

Join us to learn more about your highland heritage and an opportunity to publish your own research

www.theargyllcolonyplus.org Like Us On Facebook

REL I

A charitable & social “We organization formed to promote fellowship among those surnamed Young, descendants of any Scotsman and anyone interested in all things Scottish.

Ride!”

For membership information, contact Linda Young-Sheiko Membership Secretary (616) 581-2229

clanyoungmembership@yahoo.com www.clanyoungsociety.com

Scottish Gaelic studies at UNC Chapel Hill was largely funded by Scottish Heritage USA for the academic years of 2018-20 and plans are currently in process to fund a Department of Gaelic Studies at UNC! WE ARE ALSO A PROUD SPONSOR OF THE GRANDFATHER MT. HIGHLAND GAMES CULTURAL VILLAGE!

ARE YOU PLANNING A TRIP TO SCOTLAND? Before you go check out the deals you get from membership in Scottish Heritage USA Reciprocal membership to the National Trust for Scotland Foundation, USA Free Admission to all (over 70) National Trust for Scotland properties Free Admission to 27 National Trust for Historic Preservation (in the US) Annual subscription (six issues per year) to “Scotland” magazine Annual subscription to the National Trust’s magazine (3 times per year) INVITATION to members only reception following the GMH Games AND for all new members, the first time you attend the reception it is FREE! DISCOUNTS on all Scottish Heritage USA tartan merchandise Plus, Scottish Heritage’s Newsletter

Memberships range from $35 and up and are well worth the price!

Call now or visit our website for more information

P.O. Box 457, Pinehurst, NC 28370-0457 78 Scotland

♦

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n Young Cla

A Non-profit Organization providing student scholarships for highland dance and bagpiping and making charitable donations to the National Trust for Scotland and other non-profit organizations that promote Scottish tradition, history, crafts and culture here in the states and abroad

Hill House - Scottish Heritage contributed funds to help preserve this iconic building

LL E

Dedicated to the preservation of the legacy of the families McCuistion, McCuiston, McQuiston, McQuistion, McQuesten, McChristian, McQuestion, McQueston and all variations thereof in the United States, who are descendants of Uisdean, son of Alexander McDonald, Lord of the Isles, Earl of Ross and Justiciar of the Highlands. Uisdean is also a descendant of Robert the Bruce, hero-king of Scotland.

Contact: BJ McCuiston, Secretary, PO Box 2193 Gilroy, CA 95021-2193 or billiejo@garlic.com

Putting pride in your heritage to work for you

• •

WT

Defenders of Freedom, Mindful of Knowledge & Labor

Scottish Heritage USA, Inc.

• • • • • •

RE

www.scottishheritageusa.org

Eisenhower Suite at Culzean Castle-Scottish Heritage funded the refurbishing and reconstruction of this guest suite

♦

910.295.4448

CA

D LL E

REL I

CA

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Clan Uisdean, USA

NC Scottish Heritage Society 506 Shinnecock Court New Bern, NC 28562

EE

ST A N

EE

UK

ST A N

Supporting the work of the National Trust for Scotland and providing grants to non-profits promoting and preserving Scottish Tradition, history, crafts and culture. shusa457@gmail.com www.scottishheritageusa.org

D SSE

SCOTTISH HERITAGE USA, INC.

H E FI R S

D

Saint Andrew’s Society of the State of New York

P.O. Box 457, Pinehurst, NC 28374

WT

ST AN

Crest Badge Of Clan Member

Chev. Raymond L. Morehead, GOTJ, FSA Scot.

President/Chief Elect 6522 194th Avenue E. Bonney Lake, WA 98391 1-253-219-8736 E-mail: raymond@clanmuirhead.com

RE

ED E TH ISTRE EV

www.standrewssocietymilwaukee.org Contact: Tom Westgaard, FSA Scot Phone 414-421-1598 P.O. Box 210288 Milwaukee, WI 53221-8005

1756

150 East 55th Street - 3rd Floor New York, NY 10022 David M. Murphy, 103rd President Tel. 212/223–4248; Fax 212/223–0748 www.standrewsny.org

A O F M I LW

D SSE

www.clanmuirhead.com

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Muirhead Clan Society

Founded

CI

A O F M I LW

EWS SOCIE DR

ST AN

For a list of spelling variations and septs Website: www.clansinclairusa.org

TY

THE

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Come join (and enjoy) your Sinclair family Membership Contact Keith A. Sinclair ClanSincMembership@gmail.com

THE

“Relieve the Distressed” “Faire Sans Dire”

EWS SOCIE DR

OF TY

www.standrewssocietyalbany.org

UK

FOUNDED 1803

150 Washington Avenue Albany, New York 12210

OF TY

Do you know who came to North America almost 100 years before Columbus’ famous voyage?

Prince Henry Sinclair in 1398

President Tom H. Robinson TomHRobinson@aol.com

St Andrews Society of the City of Milwaukee

St. Andrew’s Society of Albany

Clan Sinclair Association, Inc. (U.S.A.)

H E FI R S

T

Private chauffeured tours of the North Scottish Highlands Travel in style as you discover all the North Highlands and North Coast 500 has to offer. Whether you are treating yourself to a holiday of a lifetime or simply wish to learn more about the area, we would love to host you in our premium 4x4 with your own bespoke itinerary.

Join us and become a North Coast Explorer!

T: +44 1847 851852 E: info@northcoast.scot W: www.northcoast.scot

Scotland 79

culture

| Real-life tales

THE STORY BEHIND… A new historic fiction book, The Queen’s Lender, gives the spotlight to George Heriot, royal goldsmith during the reign of King James VI

T

he name George Heriot may sound familiar, even if you’re not au fait with 16th and 17th-century Scottish history.

It’s the name of what is arguably Edinburgh’s most prestigious school, which stands just south of the city’s Old Town and which some say was the chief inspiration behind J K Rowling’s Hogwarts.

But have your ever wondered who George Heriot was, and how he came to amass such fortune and fame that he founded a major learning institution? Well, a new novel sheds light and intrigue on the man himself.

George Heriot was a goldsmith, who followed in the footsteps of his father (also George), who came from a well-connected Haddingtonshire family, and was himself a goldsmith, and a member of the Parliament of Scotland.

The younger George quickly made a name for himself in Edinburgh, selling jewellery from a luckenbooth (a common style of lockable booth on the Royal Mile) and by the 1590s was the favoured jeweller of Queen Anne of Denmark, James VI’s wife, who in 1597 appointed him as her official goldsmith. It’s this relationship that author Jean Findlay explores in her new book, The Queen’s Lender.

The title may seem incongruous with the story at first glance, but it’s this aspect of George Heriot’s career, that makes for such an enthralling read.

Though in the late 16th century James VI was King of Scotland, it was considered small fry compared with the

80 Scotland

position of his cousin (twice removed) Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland, and the role came with far fewer riches.

Anne had a penchant for expensive jewels and when money was short, George worked for promises of payment from the queen, which were recorded by the Chancellor – so Heriot was effectively lending her money.

It may seem an unusual arrangement, but with his eyes

LEFT TO RIGHT: George Heriot, royal goldsmith for Queen Anne of Denmark and King James VI; Queen Anne of Denmark

© UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES/IAN DAGNALL COMPUTING/ALAMY

Real-life tales | culture

Scotland 81

| Real-life tales

TOP TO BOTTOM: Heriot Hospital, later George Heriot’s School, Edinburgh; Jean Findlay, author of The Queen’s Lender

82 Scotland

on the bigger prize of becoming King of England upon the death of Elizabeth, James decided he must spend to accumulate, and so he too became indebted to George.

With Anne bearing him three children in six years – the first a boy – and Queen Elizabeth bearing no issue, James realised his “fruitful” wife was valuable beyond measure.

Findlay writes: “He swiftly realises that his greatest asset is Anna his Queen and that she will be decorated as much as she desires, if not more.”

Though James VI initially seems a loving husband to Anne, cracks appear after the birth of their first child, when the queen’s maternal rights are restricted in the cruellest of ways, and Heriot, himself having experienced the loss of at least one child, becomes both jeweller and confidante.

And so, George’s place as a royal courtier is assured, in more ways than one, and when the inevitable happens and James is announced King James I of England and Ireland in 1603 upon the Union of the Crowns, George travels with the king to London, where he is made jeweller to James, too.

However, as with any good work of fiction (especially one featuring real-life characters), tragedy is never far away, though we wouldn’t want to spoil the book by revealing too much.

Suffice to say, with much of the dialogue in Scots – becoming increasingly anglicised as the action moves to the English court – Findlay attempts to capture some of the conflicting motives of those at the higher echelons of society – self-preservation, religious idealism, political ambitions – against the backdrop of significant historic events.

As James adjusts to his new, glittering wealth, and tries to assuage religious tensions with his translation of the bible, George’s protagonist is never far away, and though the two men are busy

chasing their own ambitions, the roles of their wives and the power they yield becomes increasingly apparent.

And yet, in real life, while James only set foot in Scotland once again, Heriot never forgot the city where his career began, and on his death bequeathed a huge part of his fortune to Edinburgh, where Heriot’s Hospital, later to become George Heriot’s school, was founded. S To read this fictionalised account of life in King James VI’s court, grab a copy of The Queen’s Lender, Scotland Street Press, £12.99, scotlandstreetpress.com

© SALLY ANDERSON/ALAMY

culture

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