Scotland Correspondent Issue 40

Time travel through Royal Deeside Roo Irvine on the art of war Strange souvenir from Up Helly Aa

Playing around at Cruden Bay

Conspiracy castle explored

In the footsteps of dinosaurs p1

April 2020

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K eepin g t he f la g f lying

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Index - Inside this issue

inside this issue 12 Exploring

the NE250 Part One

28 The

changing face of tourism

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36 Staying

in the Glen of Tranquility

castle full of conspiracies

46 Hunting

antiques with...

Roo Irvine

68 Uncovering

a warrior past

56 A

lasting prehistoric impression p7

Index - Inside this issue

61 A

Index - Inside this issue

inside this issue 91 Return

to Scotland for 76 Musical Correspondent and famous choir the story behind the song

96 A

round with‌ Michael Buchan

82 An

actor’s life for me with...

Scott Kyle p8

106 A

wee livener with...

Tom Morton

Index - Inside this issue

118 Food

glorious food 139 Historic at Balgove mansion for sale

148 The

prettiest house in Dundee

170 Our

guide on where to stay

Strange Tales from Thin Places 154

126

Gintelligence with...

Fiona Holland

133 New

business model from Demijohn

163 Changing

climate and landscapes

1 Cover

Photo

Photo by Damian Shields / VisitScotland Dunskey Castle, Dumfries and Galloway p9

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Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by Photo Damian Shields / NE250 River Dee near Mar Lodge

I

The delights of Deeside

t’s been dubbed the Route to Remember and the North East 250 is certainly a memorable experience.

The 250 miles long and winding road takes in some of the most beautiful landscapes in Scotland with history, legend and wonder around almost every corner.

overlooks breathtaking seascapes of the wild Moray Firth and goes through picturesque east coast fishing villages. It passes by the green woods and tumbling waters of Speyside and Royal Deeside.

It takes in both the bright lights of Aberdeen and the heather clad mountains and hills of the Cairngorms.

The easy to follow course

It is a route that can be

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accomplished in a day but, to really appreciate the romance and beauty of this often over-looked part of Scotland, it is much better appreciated in stages.

Starting from the Bridge of Dee, on the edge of Aberdeen, the first section of the circuit to Crathie is only about 50 miles long and is full of history and spectacular scenery.

Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by VisitAberdeenshire The River Dee, Braemar

Photo by VisitAberdeenshire Fishing in the River Dee at Crathes

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Travel - The delights of Deeside

Heading out on the on the A93 from the Granite City, as Aberdeen is universally known,

Photo by Photo Damian Shields / NE250

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the first stop along the route is Peterculter.

Now pretty much a suburb of the city this ancient settlement has been around for centuries.

fitting description.

Once a stop-off for Romans

- there’s a site of a Roman marching camp about a mile out of town - the area is surrounded

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Travel - The delights of Deeside

The name Culter is thought to be derived from the Gaelic for ‘back part’ of the country and it’s a

Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by Colin Smith Wellington Suspension Bridge CC BY-SA 2.0

by prehistoric remains, numerous burial mounds and even remnants of a druid temple.

Over subsequent centuries the town has been associated with the Knights Templar, smugglers of illicit whisky and even the notorious Rob Roy Macgregor.

The famous outlaw had family living in the area and he is known to have visited his clansman James Gregory to raise support for the Jacobite rebellion of 1714.

One of the town’s most famous landmarks is an effigy of Rob Roy on a rocky outcrop above the Coulter Burn on the western edge of the town. Although changed several times over the years there has been a statue on this spot since around 1850 to honour a local legend that he leapt across the Leuchar burn at this that point to escape a party of red coat soldiers hot on his heels.

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Some 12 miles from Peterculter - through Craiglug, famous for an important example of an early suspension bridge and the sole survivor of four of its kind that crossed the River Dee in the early 19th century - lies the village of Durris.

Kirkton of Durris, to give its full name, derives from the Gaelic word dorus, meaning door or opening. This ancient settlement has guarded the northern end of the Crynes Corse Pass over the Mounth for hundreds of years.

In the 13th century Durris was the site of an early royal residence dating back to the days of Alexander III. Durris Castle, which for one night only hosted King Edward I of England during his invasion of Scotland in 1296, was granted to the Fraser family by Robert The Bruce.

Not far from the site of the castle there is Durris House, which

dates from the 17th Century and has links to both the Frasers and Gordons.

In 1837 the estate was sold to Anthony Mactier, a wealthy East India merchant and Registrar of the High Court of Calcutta who was rumoured to have been involved with pirates. When he died in 1854 the property passed to his son Alexander and was then sold in 1871 to James ‘Paraffin’ Young. He was the Scottish chemist who discovered how to extract oil from shale and is credited with developing the world’s first oil refinery.

From Durris the road goes to Banchory, through Crathes - site of the Crathes Castle, an ancient seat of the Burnett of Leys family.

The castle is renowned for its painted ceilings and fine furniture and contains the ancient Horn of Leys, which was gifted to the family by Robert the Bruce.

Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by R.J. Sutherland CC BY-SA 3.0 Painted wooden statue of Rob Roy Macgregor overlooking the Culter Burn at Peterculter, in 2007

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Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by Phil Smith CC BY-SA 2.0 The Bridge at Potarch

Not far from Crathes is another big house of note. Drum Castle, which was given to the Irvine family by Robert the Bruce in 1323, is famous for its library of over 4,000 books.

Next stop on the road is the hamlet of Potarch where the local cafe next to the bridge, built in 1812 by the celebrated engineer Thomas Telford, is famous as the home of the original Dinnie Stones.

Now, copied as an event in Highland Games around the world, the Dinnie Stones were made famous by strongman Donald Dinnie in 1860. He carried the stones, weighing an incredible 733lbs (332.49kg) barehanded across the width of the Potarch Bridge, a distance of 17 ft 1.5 in, and back again!

From Potarch the route goes through Kincardine O’Neil, one of the oldest villages in Deeside

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and known locally as Kinker.

Situated on the north bank of the Dee it overlooks one of the most important fords across the river.

In 1150 King David I crossed here with his army and Edward I of England took 35,000 men across the river in 1296 and camped in the village, consuming the villagers’ entire supply of food and drink for a year in one day.

Near the village lies Kincardine Castle, one of many spectacular Victorian country houses on Deeside. A private home, it is open by prior arrangement for exclusive-use events and accommodation. The house was built in 1894 and designed in part by David Barclay Niven who went on to create designs for the Victoria and Albert Museum, London’s Admiralty Arch and the principal facade of Buckingham Palace.

The next stop on the road is Aboyne. The name of the village

comes from “Oboyne” and was first mentioned in official records around 1260. It’s thought to be a corruption of the Gaelic words ‘abh’, ‘bo’, and ‘fionn’, meaning ‘place by white cow river’.

On 3 September 1715 John Erskine, sixth Earl of Mar, organised a ‘tinchal’ or great hunt at Aboyne. It was actually a cover for a secret meeting of Jacobite lairds ahead of the Jacobite rising that began three days later in Braemar.

The village is famous for its Highland Games, held every August on the village green, and is a favourite destination for visitors looking to indulge in a range of outdoor pursuits, including mountain biking, water sports, walking and gliding.

Golf is also a big draw as the local club is the oldest on Deeside and is often regarded as one of the most beautiful inland

Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by Andrew Bradford CC BY-SA 4.0 Kincardine Castle

Photo by Photo Gordon Hatton CC BY-SA 2.0 Aboyne

Photo by VisitAberdeenshire Aboyne Golf Club

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Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by Alasdairaph CC BY 3.0 Burn O’ Vat waterfall

to be part of the estates of the Knights of St John in the 14th century.

Photo by Alasdairaph CC BY 3.0

golfing venues in North East Scotland.

Six miles from Aboyne lies Dinnet, the first village inside the Cairngorms National Park.

Nearby are Loch Kinord, Loch Davan and the Burn O’Vat, a pothole created over thousands of years as a result of the melting ice-age. Legend has it that Rob Roy used to hide in the cave behind the waterfall, although some say it was more likely to have been a sanctuary for Patrick Gilroy Macgregor. He was another

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outlaw who roamed the region in the 17th century and was possibly a relative of Rob Roy. The area has been popular with tourists ever since Queen Victoria visited the area which acts as a gateway to Glen Tanar - 25,000 acres of breathtaking Highland scenery that is home to golden eagles, herons, red squirrels, an abundance of other wildlife and one of the best salmon fishing rivers in the country.

From Dinnet the road to Crathie goes through Ballater which used

Sometime around 1760 a woman claimed to have been cured of a fatal disease after drinking and bathing in the water from the nearby Pannanich Wells and word soon got around. Within a few years the area was transformed into a spa town to cope with thousands of visitors who flocked to Ballater each year to ‘take the waters’.

Among the many historical figures who visited the spa was Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott and Queen Victoria, who made her first visit in 1856 and even wrote about it in her Highland Journals.

The area has been closely linked with royalty ever since. Balmoral, the Queen’s Highland home is only a short distance away and Ballater used to be the nearest railway station to the estate. For

Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by Damian Shields / NE250 Balmoral Castle

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Travel - The delights of Deeside

the best part of a century Ballater saw many of the crowned heads of Europe and leading statesmen

Photo by Damian Shields /NE 250 Balmoral Castle and gardens

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pass through its streets, including the Czar of Russia in 1896, as they came to visit Queen Victoria

and her heirs.

The final eight miles of the first

Whenever she is staying at Balmoral the Queen attends Sunday services at Crathie Kirk,

the parish church.

Nearby Balmoral Castle has been

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Travel - The delights of Deeside

leg of the route goes from Ballater to Crathie, which is probably best known for its royal connections.

Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by Damian Shields /NE 250

a favoured retreat of royalty since Prince Albert bought the estate in 1852. The hills around the village are dotted with various memorials

to Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria, and some of his children.

John Brown, Queen Victoria’s favoured man servant, is also

buried in the grounds of Crathie Kirk.

Photo by SIm Canetty-Clarke The Fife Arms, Braemar250

Photo by Glen Tanar Glen Tanar

Photo by Herbert Frank CC BY 2.0 Crathie Kirk near Balmoral

Photo by NE 250 Braemar Castle

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Travel - The delights of Deeside Photo by Damian Shields / NE 250 The Watchers Installation

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Travel - Changing travel trends

Changing travel trends

Photo by VisitScotland

by Paul Watson

T

ourism is changing and Scotland is perfectly placed to be at the forefront of a new type of responsible travel that limits impact on the environment.

New research has revealed that sustainability is set to dominate the industry in the coming years,

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led by a rise in the so-called ecotraveller.

According to experts from the country’s national tourism organisation visitors, aware of the environmental cost to travel, now seek to immerse themselves in a destination while limiting their impact and even “giving something back”. It is a growing trend that has been dubbed

“transformational tourism”. The concept forms the basis of the first Trends paper of the decade produced by VisitScotland.

“The future of tourism is ensuring that visitors receive the transformation they seek while understanding the needs of locals and the environment,” according to the report ‘Trends 2020: Travelling towards

Travel - Changing travel trends

Photo by VisitScotland

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Travel - Changing travel trends

transformational tourism’.

Eco-Travel has been identified by the tourism body’s Insight

Photo by VisitScotland Inverlugas

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team as one of six travel trends expected to impact the industry in the near future.

Searches for “eco-friendly travel” on Pinterest have risen by 73 per cent with “eco-city concept” searches up by 46 per cent.

sustainable projects are key attractors, the Insight paper notes.

The report also predicts the growth of lone wanderers, fuelled in part by a change in attitudes towards marriage and increased

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Travel - Changing travel trends

Destinations with “green credentials” are increasing in popularity while opportunities for visitors to contribute to

Travel - Changing travel trends

numbers of divorced people, who have a strong desire to travel on their own.

Photo by VisitScotland

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Researchers claim more and more travellers are seeking trips that have “meaning, challenge, connection and impact”. They

want immersive experiences or meaningful engagement with a location’s history, people, culture and environment. Culinary

A great example of this kind of meaningful experiences are the expeditions organised by the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin

Conservation Trust, as reported in issue 39. Volunteers from around the world work as citizen scientists alongside experts to

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Travel - Changing travel trends

tourism, set-jetting and ‘living like a local’ are trends which typify this behaviour.

Travel - Changing travel trends

monitor and record wildlife in Scottish waters.

Many of today’s travellers are motivated by a desire to seek mindfulness, wellness and betterment while at the same time being conscious of their impact on the environment as they seek activities which limit or reduce their carbon footprint.

“Visitors are continuing to seek an authentic experience but one which isn’t at the expense of the destination,” said Chris Greenwood, Senior Insight Manager at VisitScotland.

“This presents an exciting opportunity for Scottish tourism to develop a world-class experience that benefits both the visitor and the local community, while protecting the environment which attracts travellers in the first place.”

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Photo by VisitScotland One of many water falls on Skye at Glenbrittle

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Travel - A true glen of tranquility

A true glen of tranquility

Straloch cottage

S

ituated on a stunning family run 3,000-acre Highland estate in one of Perthshire’s prettiest glens, Straloch Highland Retreats has been named one of the best self-catering holiday accommodation experiences in Scotland.

Just five years after first opening the doors to welcome people

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from across the UK and around the world Straloch has garnered a reputation for providing a fantastic and genuine emotional engagement with visitors.

Located on the southern fringe of the Cairngorm National Park, right in the heart of Scotland, it is set against the dramatic backdrop of a steep rocky ridge with a tranquil loch in front. The scenery is

nothing short of spectacular.

To the north there are miles of rugged heather moorland and mountains while to the south there is the gently rolling pastures and wooded hills of Strathardle.

With 3,000 acres to discover it’s a nature lover’s paradise and great for families who want to enjoy outdoor adventures together.

Travel - A true glen of tranquility Keeper’s Cottage and Stalker’s Lodge

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Travel - A true glen of tranquility

From bespoke picnics and wildlife watching to fishing and den-building and rowing across the island for a camp-fire tea,

Photo (c) John MacPherson Fishing on the loch

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it’s the perfect place for a little escapism.

Despite giving the impression of

being remote Straloch is just 15 minutes drive from the the historic and beautiful town of Pitlochry.

It’s also perfectly located for day

Nearby castles such as Blair,

Glamis and Scone Palace, among many others, are all easy to reach for visiting while more adventurous activities,

ranging from white water rafting to bungee jumping, are within traveling distance.

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Travel - A true glen of tranquility

trips to the likes of Royal Deeside, Aviemore and Loch Ness.

Travel - A true glen of tranquility

Straloch has two beautiful estate houses: Stalker’s Lodge and Keeper’s Cottage, which can be rented together for larger groups or separately.

Stylish interiors with sleek, luxurious kitchen fittings are made to feel incredibly cosy with heating and hot water provided by a biomass log boiler that runs on waste timber from the estate, ensuring the house is beautifully warm and eco-friendly too.

Guests can enjoy the comfort of Hypnos beds with crisp white linen, underfloor heating in the bathrooms with locally made organic bath products.

Special services include a menu of home-cooked meals available for guests to order and a bespoke picnic offering serves up treats like a pork & apple picnic pie served with pickle and mustard, beef & horseradish sausage roll and clotted cream Victoria

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Travel - A true glen of tranquility

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Travel - A true glen of tranquility sponge. All of these can be delivered to a range of idyllic locations across the estate to enjoy while appreciating the peaceful surroundings.

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Straloch is known for its wildflowers and wildlife and proudly boasts three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI’s).

Many visitors return to Straloch

to enjoy wildlife watching from red squirrels and the rut of the red deer in autumn; to the wide variety of birds across the estate.

Travel - A true glen of tranquility Photo (c) John McPherson View from the top of the ridge

“Our mission at Straloch is to ensure that our guests have a truly wonderful holiday experience; from all the little luxuries indoors to wildlife

encounters and memorable picnics in the heather,” said Lucy Holt, owner of the holiday homes business which recently won “Best Self Catering Holiday

Accommodation Experience 2019/20” for the region at the Thistle Awards 2019/2020 run by national tourist board, VisitScotland.

Photo (c) John MacPherson View from the holiday houses

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Photo by Guy Phillips

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History - Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine

Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine

Photo AM 2014.90.13-1 Cannister (shell case)

Entrenched in History

F

ew antiques are as emotionally charged as those labelled “Trench Art”.

The very name conjures up images of battle-weary soldiers in front line dugouts, hand-crafting

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ornate works from spent bullet cases, twisted lumps of shrapnel and discarded debris of war, as they wait to ‘go over the top’.

Highly collectable, it pays

homage to the worst and best of humanity. The creativity and ingenuity that has gone into making such beautiful works of art from items made to facilitate death and destruction is often

History - Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine Photo by Tim O Lloyd CC BY-SA 3.0 Shell casing, with some sort of Arabic inscription in brass and silver, brought to the UK from Damascus in 1918

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History - Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine

breathtaking.

However, the name is somewhat misleading. Not all trench art was created among the mud, blood and suffering of battle.

It is a collective title used to describe a variety of decorative and sometimes functional items made during or after hostilities, often using materials sourced from a conflict, but rarely by the participants themselves.

Photo by Europeana 1914-1918 project CC BY-SA 3.0 Cartridges

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History - Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine

‘Trench Art’ has been around for centuries. Wherever there has been conflict there has been art. Considering the richness of Scotland’s bloody history - with our clan battles, Jacobite rebellions and Wars of Independence - you’d think there would be plenty of homegrown examples that could be traced back to Culloden or even Bannockburn but sadly there isn’t.

History - Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine

In the 19th century prisoners on both sides during the Napoleonic Wars are known to have fashioned a wealth of items,

from spoons to model sailing ships, out of discarded bones.

However, it is rare to find these early pieces, most pieces around

today stem from post World War One. The most common examples

Photo by Auckland Museum CC BY 4.0 Souvenir bone carving by German prisoner of war, Stobs PoW camp, near Hawick Scotland, 1915

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Look beyond the letter openers, ashtrays and lighters, and you’ll find handmade rings, clocks, paperweights, candlesticks and

even Jardinières. Pieces were made for entertainment or as souvenirs to commemorate a moment in time.

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History - Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine

are the large shell cases, often inscribed with scenes, and today used as receptacles for walking sticks or umbrellas.

History - Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine Photo by Daderot PD Trench art, National World War I Museum, Kansas City, MO Photo by Europeana 1914-1918 project CC BY-SA 3.0 Letter opener

Photo by Unaipon CC BY 3.0 Chromed metal trench art ashtray made from a 25 Pdr shell case (dated 1942)

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Most Trench Art tends to fall into one of four neat categories with regard to its origin, although it can be frustratingly deceptive to tell what you have in your hand.

Almost everyone wants a piece that has been made by a soldier, although without any provenance it can be hard to prove its origins.

A date and location can reveal the conflict and this is often embossed into the design, or evident on the bottom of the shell case. However, these could be later souvenirs to commemorate a battle. Instinct and close inspection should help solve the mystery, as handmade pieces often exude a powerful, tangible charm unlike commercial pieces.

The biggest myth is that to be classed as Trench Art troops in the trenches must have made it.

While some soldiers did fashion items for personal amusement they were usually small, such as a ring made of copper or brass.

In his book “With a machine

History - Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine Photo by Europeana 1914-1918 project CC BY-SA 3.0

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History - Antique hunting with... Roo Irvine Photo by Ben Pachen CC BY-SA 4.0 Trench art windproof lighter

regimental crest.

Other items are made by wounded soldiers who were encouraged to take up crafts as part of their rehabilitation.

Many became quite ‘fluent’ in embroidery and woodwork.

Next, were the Prisoners of War who made items to pass the time, and sometimes barter with for food, cigarettes and other commodities.

Finally, there is Trench Art made on a commercial scale, usually by civilians turning unused or discarded military materials into mass-produced souvenirs.

Photo by Europeana 1914-1918 project CC BY-SA 3.0 Bullet cartridge

gun to Cambrai”, former soldier George Coppard recalls pressing his uniform buttons into the clay

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pit of the trenches before pouring molten shrapnel into the moulds to create lead replicas of the

Antiques in general are snapshots of time. They provide emotive connections between generations and physical links with historic events. Trench Art in particular is a reminder that beauty can emerge from even the darkest of days.

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History - Footprints of the past

Footprints of the past

Photos by University of Edinburgh Skye dinosaurs three-toed track

by Scott Aitken

T

hey are among the most recognisable dinosaurs … now palaeontologists have discovered that stegosaurs left a lasting impression on a Scottish island.

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Around 50 newly identified footprints on the Isle of Skye have helped scientists confirm that stegosaurs – with their distinctive diamond-shaped back plates – roamed there around 170 million year ago.

coast – which was at the time a mudflat on the edge of a shallow lagoon on a long-lost island in the Atlantic – contains a mixture of footprints, and reveals that dinosaurs on Skye were more diverse than previously thought.

The site on the island’s north-east

A team of palaeontologists from

History - Footprints of the past Deltapodus stegosaur tracks

the University of Edinburgh discovered a short sequence of distinctive, oval footprints and handprints belonging to a stegosaur, left by a young animal or a small-bodied member of the stegosaur family as it ambled across the mudflat.

The discovery means that the site at Brothers’ Point – called Rubha nam Brathairean in Gaelic – is now recognised as one of the oldest-known fossil records of this major dinosaur group found anywhere in the world. Large stegosaurs could grow to almost 30 feet long and weigh more than

six tonnes.

Skye is one of the few places in the world were fossils from the Middle Jurassic period can be found. Discoveries on the island have provided scientists with vital clues about the early evolution of major dinosaur groups, including

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History - Footprints of the past Steve Brusatte and Paige dePolo

huge, long-necked sauropods and fierce, meat-eating cousins of Tyrannosaurus rex.

“Our findings give us a much clearer picture of the dinosaurs that lived in Scotland 170 million years ago,” said Dr

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Steve Brusatte, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences who was involved in the study and led the field team.

“We knew there were giant longnecked sauropods and jeepsized carnivores, but we can now

add plate-backed stegosaurs to that roster, and maybe even primitive cousins of the duckbilled dinosaurs too. These discoveries are making Skye one of the best places in the world for understanding dinosaur evolution in the Middle Jurassic.”

History - Footprints of the past

The study, supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society, involved scientists from National Museums Scotland, University of Glasgow, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and the Staffin Museum on the Isle of Skye.

“These new track-sites help us get a better sense of the variety of dinosaurs that lived near the coast of Skye during the Middle Jurassic than what we can glean from the island’s body fossil record. In particular, Deltapodus tracks give good evidence that

stegosaurs lived on Skye at this time,” said Paige dePolo, a PhD student who led the study.

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The castle that changed its name in shame

by Paul Watson

O

nce known as Ruthven Castle the imposing tower house nestling beside the main road to Crieff near Perth has a unique place in Scottish history.

Over the centuries it has been the site of conspiracy, intrigue and betrayal but also played host to some of the most colourful characters in Scottish history.

Mary, Queen of Scots is known to have stayed there in 1565, while on honeymoon with Lord Darnley,

and only a year later the 3rd Lord Ruthven, Patrick, was one of the men who murdered David Rizzio, Queen Mary’s secretary, in 1566.

In 1694 the castle was the birthplace of Lord George Murray, the nobleman soldier who became Bonnie Prince Charlie’s

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History - The castle that changed its name in shame

Photo by cc Maciej Lewandowski Huntingtower Castle

History - The castle that changed its name in shame

Photo by Hartlepool Marina CC BY-SA 4.0 Second floor fireplace in the east tower

general in the 1745 rebellion and commanded the Jacobites at Culloden.

Built in stages between the 15th and 17th centuries the castle was once the stronghold of the Ruthven clan, who are known to have settled in the area sometime in the 1100s, and was for many years known as the Palace of Ruthven.

The Ruthvens fought in the Wars of Independence against the English invaders and were rewarded by being made Sheriffs of Perth in 1313, and then the Lords Ruthven in 1488. William, Master of Ruthven, was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.

Photo by cc Hartlepool Marina CC BY-SA 4.0 View from the wooden walkway

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However, its darkest days began in 1582 when the castle played a significant role in a power grab. The 4th Lord Ruthven, also known as the 1st Earl of Gowrie, kidnapped the young King James VI, in what has gone down in

History - The castle that changed its name in shame Photo Bubobubo2 CC BY-SA 3.0 Remains of wall art inside Huntingtower Castle

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History - The castle that changed its name in shame

Photo by cc Hartlepool Marina CC BY-SA 4.0 View looking upwards from below the wooden walkway

history as the Ruthven Raid, and held him prisoner for almost a year.

The idea was to gain power by controlling the young king.

Unfortunately James escaped and although he initially pardoned Gowrie a second attempt at a coup d’etat a short time later resulted in the earl being executed and the castle seized by the crown.

After just four years the castle was returned to the Ruthven family but conspiracy reared its ugly head once again and in 1600 brothers John and Alexander Ruthven were accused of attempting to kidnap the monarch and were killed in a fight with the King’s men.

Photo by cc Hartlepool Marina CC BY-SA 4.0 Ground floor staircase

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Repercussions on the family were swift. The castle and lands were confiscated, their name was abolished, the castle was renamed Huntingtower, and a

decree was made that successors to the Ruthven name could never again hold titles or lands.

The castle remained a Royal property until 1643 when it was gifted to Murray of Tullibardine, forefather of the Dukes of Atholl and Mansfield.

The 1st Duke of Atholl, John Murray, and his family lived in the house until 1767 when it was abandoned as a formal residence.

Only caretakers and custodians lived there until 2002.

Today the castle is managed by Historic Scotland and open to the public. It is sometimes used as a wedding venue. Details of opening times can be found on their website.

Although it looks like a single building, the castle is unusual in that it comprises two towers, initially with a gap of three metres between them and connected

Photo by cc Hartlepool Marina CC BY-SA 4.0 Castle roof

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History - The castle that changed its name in shame

Photo by cc Hartlepool Marina CC BY-SA 4.0 The Hall

History - The castle that changed its name in shame Photo by cc Hartlepool Marina CC BY-SA 4.0

by a wooden bridge which could be drawn up as a defence mechanism if the castle was attacked.

Sometime in the 16th century the great hall was built, although little now remains. What does survive are remnants of early 16th-century paintings on the first floor of the Eastern Tower. Images of flowers, animals and Biblical scenes adorn the walls and there

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is a unique painted wooden ceiling, believed to be the earliest of its kind to survive in Scotland, with designs of grotesque animals Renaissance-style patterns.

This well preserved example of a historic tower house, like most castles in Scotland, is reputed to have at least one ghostly occupant.

Lady Greensleeves, as she has

become known in legend, is said to haunt the castle and its grounds. Her ghostly footsteps and rustle of her gown has been heard in the castle. Numerous people over the years have reportedly seen the spirit and her appearance has often been regarded as a portent of doom, although she is also said to appear when somebody is in trouble and needs help.

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History - Secrets of the past revealed Photos by University of Aberdeen Collessie stone

Secrets of the past revealed

A

new insight into Scotland’s warrior past have been uncovered by archaeologists working to decipher images found carved on an ancient Pictish stone.

During ground clearance work close to Perth’s McDiarmid Park,

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a nearly two metres-high monolith was found, depicting a male figure carrying a spear.

Though the outline of the man could be seen, the carving was faint in places and the surface of the stone had partly delaminated.

of Aberdeen, which is leading the study of Northern Picts, have taken thousands of photographs to create 3D images. This has clarified the design and allowed them to compare it to those found on other stones.

Archaeologists from the University

Professor Gordon Noble, Head of

History - Secrets of the past revealed

Gordon Noble

Archaeology at Aberdeen, and Dr Mark Hall, archaeological curator at Perth Museum, say the stone – known as the Tulloch Stone is a ‘significant find’ which adds to the corpus of material available for study.

In a paper published in Antiquity the research team argues that similarities observed between the Tulloch Stone, named after where it was discovered, and those found at Rhynie in Aberdeenshire and Newton of Collessie in Fife are ‘filling the gaps’ of Scotland’s undocumented history.

“By looking at the three stones together, we have been able to draw new conclusions about what these figures represent,” said Professor Noble.

“On the Tulloch Stone we can now see that the man is carrying a distinctive door-knob butted spear which we know from previous research was in use from

the third to the sixth century.

“He also has a very distinctive hairstyle, is wearing a helmet and necklace and has a faint line around the left ankle which could suggest footwear or tight leggings.

“In line with the other stones, this is clearly a depiction of a warrior. Its find spot overlooks the coming together of the rivers Tay and Almond, a junction marked by a Roman fort and later a possible Pictish royal centre, suggesting the monolith might have been located in a cemetery of the elite.

“Because the presentation of the figures is standardised across all of the stones, it is likely that it represents a generic sacred image, rather than it being a depiction of someone buried there.”

Dr Hall says this also points to a

war lord or warrior ethos which has been well documented in Anglo Saxon England but for which little evidence has previously been seen in Scotland.

“In Anglo-Saxon England we have lots of examples of burials with weaponry and the poem Beowulf epitomizes the warrior ethos of this period,” he added.

“This has not been evidenced in Scotland in the same way but here through the new Tulloch find and a reconsideration of longknown stones we can see that warrior ideology cast in stone - meaning these martial values were conveyed in a very public way to be visible in the landscape and to invoke supernatural protection.”

Professor Noble added “This bridges a crucial gap in knowledge as although we know that warrior ideology is important for rulership, we

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History - Secrets of the past revealed

haven’t previously been able to demonstrate how that evolves through time in the period before

Rhynie stone

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the sixth and seventh centuries when we begin to get historical records for Scotland.

“We believe that the weaponbearing individuals shown on these stones may represent a

the overtly hierarchical societies of the post-Roman period.�

The Tulloch Stone was discovered during construction work for the A9/A85 scheme, part of the Perth

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History - Secrets of the past revealed

war-oriented social organisation that was integral to resisting the Roman Empire and to creating

History - Secrets of the past revealed

Transport Futures Project, and is now undergoing further research and conservation prior to going on display in a new museum being developed for Perth, set to open in 2022.

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Dr Mark Hall said increased public awareness of Scotland’s Pictish past was opening up new opportunities for important archaeological study.

“Most of the recent Pictish finds have been as a result of people paying greater attention,” he added.

“The workmen who scooped up

“It is likely that there are more Pictish stones out there to be

found and every new stone is a fantastic addition to the corpus. “This discovery of the Tulloch stone has revealed fresh details allowing the reconsideration of

the existing related sculptures, fostering new insights and conclusions that are not possible when only dealing with a single example.�

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History - Secrets of the past revealed

this stone did well to realise that there was something on it and to alert the appropriate authorities.

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Broadcast - Musical Correspondent... with Tom Morton

Photo by Photo Ralf Schulze CC BY 2.0 Capercaillie

I

Story behind the song…

Calum’s Road

n 1988 Scottish folk band Capercaillie recorded a track called Calum’s Road for their album The Blood is Strong.

Raasay.

It was a fitting tribute to commemorate the extraordinary triumph of a Highland crofter who single-handedly built a highway almost two miles across an island - because nobody else would.

For most of Calum’s 77 year life the community he grew up in was separated from the rest of the island due to the lack of a proper road. The only highway on the island stopped at Brochel, almost two miles from Arnish so the only way the local community could travel was on foot or by boat.

Calum MacLeod was born in Glasgow on 15 November 1911, the son of merchant seaman Donald Macleod of Arnish, Raasay. When war broke out in 1914 the young Calum and his five siblings were taken by their mother back to the croft next to his grandfather’s in northern

After decades of unsuccessful lobbying the crofter, lighthouse keeper and part-time postman decided to take matters into his own hands. At the age of 56 Calum picked up his shovel, pick and wheelbarrow and, armed with a Victorian guide to Road Making & Maintenance: A Practical

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Treatise for Engineers, Surveyors and Others published in 1900, he got to work.

For the next 10 years, between 1964 and 1974, Calum built one and three quarter miles of single track road, with passing places, between Brochel Castle and Arnish. It was an epic piece of engineering as he had to navigate his way up and down incredibly steep inclines, through boggy moorland and around the cliffs above rocky inlets.

However, his single-handed struggle and perseverance against the red tape of officialdom paid off as the road was eventually adopted by the

Photo by Thaf CC BY-SA 3.0 Calum’s Cairn

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Broadcast - Musical Correspondent... with Tom Morton

Photo by Photo PaulT (Gunther Tschuch) CC BY-SA 4.0 Calum’s Road on Raasay

Broadcast - Musical Correspondent... with Tom Morton

Photo by Photo Harald Krichel CC BY-SA 4.0 Electronic Celtic fusion band Niteworks at the Rudolstadt Festival

authorities in 1982.

Calum, who died in 1988, has since become part of the folklore of the Highlands and Islands and been immortalised in the track

by Capercaillie, which can be heard on Musical Correspondent, our latest podcast celebrating the best of new and traditional Scottish music.

This month’s show, presented by Tom Morton, features a variety of performances from the likes of multi award winning folk band Breabach and the celebrated fiddle and guitar duo Ross Couper and Tom Oakes.

Photo by PKimage CC BY 3.0 Michael Marra

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There are also performances from the late singer-songwriter and musician Michael Marra; the isle of Skye’s electronic Celtic fusion band Niteworks and two-times winner of Scottish Traditional music’s ‘Live Act of the Year’,

Broadcast - Musical Correspondent... with Tom Morton

with Tom Morton

#world #folk #scottish

Music to accompany reading Scotland Correspondent, the world’s only free online magazine dealing with Scotland all things Scottish. scotlandcorrespondent.com 1) Breabach Baby Broon’s 2) Dougie Maclean She Loves Me when I try 3) Ross Couper and Tom Oakes Gillian’s 4) Michael Marra Frida Kahlo’s Visit to the Taybridge Bar 5) Linsey Aitken and Ken Campbell Wheel of Fortune 6) Niteworks Air Fair An La 7) Capercaillie Calum’s Road 8) Skerryvore Path to Home 9) Jim Hunter Waste the Paint 10) Gunna sound Lights of Lochindaal 11) Big Dish European Rain 12) Julie Fowlis Touch the Sky 13) Martin Bennett Blackbird

with Tom Morton

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Broadcast - Musical Correspondent... with Tom Morton

Photo by Rachel Keenan CC BY-SA 4.0 Skerryvore Band

Skerryvore.

Other featured artists in this month’s 60-minute show include Dougie Maclean, Jim Hunter, Gunna Sound, Julie Fowlis and

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the traditional music duo Linsey Aitken and Ken Campbell.

There are also tracks from Airdrie pop band The Big Dish and the sadly missed Scottish-Canadian

musician Martyn Bennett.

Musical Correspondent is free to listen to and can be heard here:

Listen here

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Arts - An actor’s life for me... by Scott Kyle

An actor’s life for me with... Scott Kyle

Protect and survive W e live in frightening times! Never before have the majority of us ever seen the kind of situation the world is experiencing right now.

Covid-19 is affecting more than 200 countries and has already been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.

Despite the anxiety and grief being experienced by millions around the world the bravery and

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dedication of nursing staff and other key personnel - including shop workers, lorry drivers, teachers and others - has been breathtakingly magnificent.

Along with millions of others in the UK I stood outside my home during the recent national show of support and applauded the doctors, nurses and emergency staff risking their lives every day to treat others. And, while I am grateful to all of the frontline hospital staff, I have to admit this

is personal!

I am immensely proud of my sister. Lindsey Kyle, who despite only graduating as a nurse a short while ago is fully engaged in the battle to save lives and halt the spread of this killer virus.

For the sake of my wee sister, and all the other selfless workers as well as ourselves, can we please all follow the guidelines of our respective countries and help save lives.

Arts - An actor’s life for me... by Scott Kyle

My brave sister Lindsey

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Arts - An actor’s life for me... by Scott Kyle

Spirit of kindness

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t times like these the generosity and goodwill shown by people never ceases to amaze me.

I was recently lost for words (almost) after receiving a wonderful letter from Diane in the USA. It wasn’t just that she’d taken

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the time to write to Karen and I, or that she had sent a little gift to each of us. It was the wording of her letter that made me a little emotional.

Diane said she had sent me a little book about Walt Disney because she maintained he reminded her of me in a little way.

Wow!

While I would never dare to compare myself to such a giant of a man I admit I am inspired by his positive, can-do attitude and ability to encourage people to dream. They are all qualities I try to emulate so it was very touching to discover that somebody else thinks I am managing to follow his example, even if it’s just a little.

Arts - An actor’s life for me... by Scott Kyle Photo by NLP Richard Rankin as you’ve probably never seen him before

Small world example #1

L

ike everyone else I’ve had some extra time on my hands lately. Apart from some gardening when Jess the neighbour’s cat doesn’t get in the way - I’ve been catching up with some television.

I’ve really been enjoying the latest season of Outlander and it’s been especially great to see my old friend Richard Rankin getting such a good part in this series.

A few years ago Richard and I worked together in pantomime.

My company put on a couple of productions, Cinderella and Aladdin, in which Richard played an ugly sister and the baddie respectively.

I can honestly say he was wonderful to work with, a true professional with a great talent -

Photo by NLP Richard playing the villain in Aladdin

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Arts - An actor’s life for me... by Scott Kyle Photo by NLP Richard (left) as an ugly sister in Cinderella

Stonelaw High, in Rutherglen, Glasgow.

Although Richard was a year older than me we knew of each other and even shared many of the same teachers, including one in particular.

Many years after we had left school, and were both working on Outlander, Richard and I ended up sharing a car one day with Sophie Skelton and Gary Lewis on the way to a rehearsal.

Photo NLP Richard on stage

even back then.

But, that wasn’t the first time we

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had met. Richard and I started out around the same time and went to the same school,

During the journey Gary, who obviously recognised our accents, asked us where we were from and what school we had gone to.

When Richard and I both said we had attended Stonelaw High he gave us both a surprise. It turned out that our English teacher, Charles Stevenson - the man who had played a part in encouraging both of us towards drama, was Gary’s real-life brother. It really is a small world!

Arts - An actor’s life for me... by Scott Kyle Photo by Manfred Werner / Tsui CC BY-SA 3.0 Gary Lewis

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Arts - An actor’s life for me... by Scott Kyle Cape Cove - one of the stars of the new BBC drama

Small world example #2

A

nother show I’ve really been joying lately is the new BBC drama The Nest, starring Sophie Rundle and fellow Glaswegian Martin Compston.

It really is a superbly acted, tense thriller and the scenery is fantastic. It was partly filmed about 45 minutes from Glasgow, near Helensburgh, using a house called Cape Cove (which featured in Scotland Correspondent a few of months back as it’s actually a holiday rental property).

Although I’ve never worked with Martin we both share a common link concerning our first break into movies.

Martin made his debut in Sweet Sixteen, which was directed by

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Ken Loach in 2002, and I got my first movie role in The Angels’ Share in 2012, which was also

directed by Ken Loach. Maybe we should form a club?

Arts - An actor’s life for me... by Scott Kyle

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Arts - World famous choir returns to Edinburgh

World famous choir returns to Edinburgh

Photos by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

by Scott Aitken

O

ne of the world’s most famous choirs, winner of multiple Emmy and Grammy Awards, is

planning to perform in Scotland later this year - the first time for over half a century.

The last time the renowned Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra

at Temple Square visited the country was in 1955.

But now, 65 years later on July 14, the choir is due to mark its return to the Scottish stage

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Arts - World famous choir returns to Edinburgh with a special performance at the 2,200-seat Usher Hall in Edinburgh.

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The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, which has sung at the inaugurations of seven presidents of the United States

and performed for over 3.5 billion people at the opening of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, is known for its one-of-a-kind

Arts - World famous choir returns to Edinburgh

signature sound created by 320 volunteer voices.

The choir has a long and

distinguished history. It was one of the earliest music ensembles to record its music when it made a wax cylinder recording 110

years ago in 1910 in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Since then it has gone on to earn five gold and two platinum records in the

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Arts - World famous choir returns to Edinburgh

United States.

Among the big names to have sung with the Choir are Bryn Terfel, Rolando Villazón, Alfie Boe, Katherine Jenkins, Frederica von Stade, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Natalie Cole and Audra McDonald. Guest narrators on Choir performances include Hugh Bonneville, Jane Seymour, Tom Brokaw, David McCullough, Edward Herrmann, Claire Bloom and Walter Cronkite.

The choir’s weekly ‘Music & the Spoken Word’ programme has been continuously broadcasting since 1929 firstly on radio, then television and cable networks across the USA and around the world. The choir has had its own YouTube since October 2012 attracting more than 200 million views.

Mack Wilberg

This summer 65 members of the Orchestra at Temple Square, the choir’s companion allvolunteer symphony orchestra, will accompany the choir. The orchestra recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Distinguished choral composer

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Ryan Murphy

Arts - World famous choir returns to Edinburgh

and arranger, Dr Mack Wilberg, will conduct along with assistant director Dr Ryan Murphy as the choir performs a repertoire ranging from Handel, Gounod, and Rossini to American folk hymns and spirituals.

The Tabernacle Choir’s “2020 Heritage Tour” is also scheduled to include six other cities. In addition to Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Oslo they will perform in Cardiff and Newport, South Wales.

Choir president Ron Jarrett said the name of the tour is a nod to the history of the choir, many of whose first members were early converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with musical talents from Europe.

“We stand on the shoulders of these musical pioneers who created a legacy that has influenced the entire world for good. What an honour it will be to share the joy and peace the

music of the choir and orchestra bring in some of the very places where it all began,” he said.

Information about the full tour including the Edinburgh concert can be found at thetabernaclechoir.org/tour.

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Activities - A round with…Michael Buchan

A round with... Michael Buchan Michael Buchan is a former professional golfer and one time North of Scotland strokeplay champion. He has more than 40

years experience of the game, played over 400 of Scotland’s 550 plus courses and has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the

best golfing experiences Scotland has to offer.

View of the 6th green at Cruden Bay from the clubhouse

Captivating and challenging Cruden Bay

C

ruden Bay is little more than 30 minutes from Aberdeen International Airport, and just two hours drive from the ‘home of golf’ at St Andrews, yet is often overlooked by visitors seeking a

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truly Scottish links experience.

Having played some 5,000 or more rounds of golf at Cruden Bay over the years I’ve witnessed first hand many of the changes which have helped establish this

golf course as one of Scotland’s top ‘must play’ venues.

Cruden Bay provides a true Scottish links experience guaranteed to wow golfers with its magnificent views over the

North Sea and incredible history going back more than 220 years.

The current club proudly posses a ballot box from an earlier incarnation inscribed Cruden Golf Club 1791, along with a winner’s medal from a competition played on nearby Ward Hill dated 1883.

The original course on the present site was commissioned by the Great North of Scotland Railway

following the expansion of the railways at the end of the 19th century. It was designed by Old Tom Morris of St Andrews, with help from Archie Simpson.

The opening of the course was celebrated in grand style with an inaugural professional two day open tournament on 14-15th April 1899 with prizes totalling £120 the equivalent of around £15,500

today.

By 1908 the course had been extended to 5,929 yards as it became a major attraction for the great and the good, including politicians Winston Churchill and Herbert Asquith who played there in 1908.

In 1926 the partnership of Tom Simpson and Herbert Fowler

View of the Slains Castle beyond the golf course

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Activities - A round with…Michael Buchan

www. bandbgt.com

Activities - A round with‌Michael Buchan

oversaw a major redevelopment of the course. Despite all the changes many of Tom Morris’s original greens and basic routing are still in evidence.

View of the 5th hole from the tee

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There are many stories surrounding the history of the links-land at Cruden Bay. One of the most famous is of the epic battle between the Viking King

Canute of Denmark and Norway and the army of King Malcolm II in AD1012.

Legend has it that the Viking

The bloody battle that ensued is believed to have taken place over what is now the 7th and the adjoining 17th fairways of the golf course. As a mark of respect to

this historic event a large burial cairn can be found in the middle of the 17th fairway. It is said to mark the final resting place of the remains of the Viking army.

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Activities - A round with‌Michael Buchan

horde landed their longboats onto the beach and marched towards the village but their advance was blocked by an army of Scots warriors.

Activities - A round with…Michael Buchan

To celebrate his victory King Malcolm II commanded a chapel to be built on the site and dedicated it to St Olaf, the patron saint of Denmark and Norway.

Aerial shot of the 9th tee

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Only a fresh water well remains on the spot named ‘St Olaf’s Well’ and the golf club has since dedicated the naming of the 9 hole course as the St Olaf course.

In more recent times small alterations have been made to the course, such as the addition of new tees and bunkers, with the length now standing at 6,270

In 1998 a new clubhouse was added and is situated in a prime position to watch golfers play both the 9 hole course and the main course 1st Tee, as well as

several other holes on the main course, including the 18th.

The signature hole at Cruden Bay is the par 3, 4th hole, which from

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Activities - A round with‌Michael Buchan

yards off the yellow forward tees, 6,545 yards off the white medal tees and stretching to a challenging 6,830 yards off the blue championship tees.

Activities - A round with…Michael Buchan View of the clubhouse from the 6th green

the back tee measures 194 yards and from the forward tee is 135 yards. It crosses a deep gully to a wide green from left to right, but is narrow from front to back. The green is deceivingly undulating and sits in a secluded hollow with a backdrop of huge sand dunes.

Almost every where you look the views are spectacular, especially from the 5th tee back to the clubhouse. The sensation of

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playing on the beach at the Bay of Cruden, along the home holes to arguably the ‘Best view in Scottish Golf’ from the 9th tee, is to feel a part of the very fabric that makes up Scotland’s unique golfing heritage.

Below the 4th tee lies the quaint old fishing village of Port Erroll and the ‘Ladies Bridge’ which stretches from the old village to the spectacular two mile long beach.

To the left of the 4th tee begins a trail that leads up to Slain’s Castle where the famous Irish author Bram Stoker, while holidaying at the local Kilmarnock Arms Hotel, found inspiration to begin writing the first chapters of ‘Dracula’ during his solitary walks along the cliffs.

Over the years Cruden Bay has been host to many top level amateur and professional tournaments and can easily stand

Activities - A round with…Michael Buchan

Factbox: • Location: Aberdeenshire • Year Established:1899 • Longest Hole: 13th, 555 yards alongside some of the other famous Scottish links courses such as Royal Dornoch, Gullane, Western Gailes and Royal Aberdeen. It is easy to see why it is universally regarded as one of the top 20 courses in Scotland.

However, the one thing Cruden Bay has above all the others is an undoubtedly immersive aura which seduces golfers and non-players alike with a need to return.

Cruden Bay is a warm and welcoming golf club. It caters for both members and visiting golfers from across the globe.

Experienced pro shop staff, a first class bar, catering facilities and the club’s administration team ensure that every visit is one to remember. *Michael Buchan is one of the founding directors of Buchan & Byers Golf Tours Ltd

• Best Views: 9th Tee • Signature Hole: 4th • Course Record: 63 (-7) • Best played: Summer / Autumn • Most Scenic: May (Gorse in full bloom)

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Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton

Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton

Photo by Stewart Cunningham

Glenturret:Centre

I

of the whisky world

’ve never actually measured the distances, but Glenturret Distillery sits pretty much at the centre of Scotland, in lovely Perthshire. At least that’s what my friends and colleagues Rob Allanson - editor of Whisky

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Magazine - Ken Hamilton and I agreed when setting off to make a whisky which combined Scotland’s geographical extremes into a single bottling.

In 2009 the three of us set

off on three traditional British motorcycles - two Triumphs and a Royal Enfield - to visit the distilleries at the extreme points of the compass in Scotland, collect samples from each and then blend the results with the

We would then produce 50

bottles of this exceedingly special whisky for sale, along with a book and a TV series. The book is long sold out but the TV programmes,

made for what was then single Malt TV, can be viewed online here.

Photo by Stewart Cunningham

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Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton

whisky produced at the distillery nearest Scotland’s centre.

Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton Photo by Kenny Lam / VisitScotland The Still House at Glenturret

We had great fun, experienced a few scary moments and we made a fine whisky. I will remember for the rest of my life that blending session in the Glenturret boardroom, overseen

by John Ramsay, head blender for the Edrington Group which then owned Glenturret. We had Highland Park (northernmost),

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Glen Garioch (furthest east) Kilchoman from Islay (most westerly) and Bladnoch from Wigtown (southernmost). And Glenturret of course.

Nowadays, Abhainn Dearg from Lewis would probably be the whisky made at Scotland’s western extreme, but our

1500-mile trip is still the only time anyone has attempted such a venture. We called the whisky Journey’s Blend. Bottles occasionally come up for sale on auction sites.

Glenturret, though, was a revelation to me. I had visited it years previously when

Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton

researching my book Spirit of Adventure, but this tiny repository of traditional whisky making charmed and impressed me second time around. It was, and still is, a hugely popular attraction for tourists on the outskirts of Crieff - not least because it hosted the presence on site of The Famous Grouse

Experience, a visitor centre celebrating the Edrington blend which is Scotland’s own favourite blended whisky. And which of course contains Glenturret along with grain whisky and other single malts.

That all began to change last year, when Edrington finalised

the sale of Glenturret so they could concentrate on their higher profile brands, Macallan and Highland Park. The purchaser of Glenturret could not be more high-end - the Lalique Group, along with Swiss entrepreneur Hansjorgg Wyss, now own the distillery, the warehouses and all stocks held there - over a million

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Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton Photo by Kenny Lam / VisitScotland Bonded warehouse at Glenturret

litres of whisky. As perhaps the world’s most famous makers of art glassware, Lalique have announced their intention of combining the whisky at the heart of Scotland with some

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highly desirable containers.

The chairman of Lalique is Swiss wine connoisseur Silvio Denz, who said at the time of the sale that “Glenturret will be the

perfect addition to our portfolio as we enter the world of Scotch whisky.” A statement from Lalique added that the stock of ageing whisky “will allow the blending of high-end single malts

Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton

with ages ranging from 10 to 40 years, including various special editions.�

Glenturret’s history is fascinating.

The site, secluded and with ready

access to good water supplies, was a long-standing favourite of the smugglers, as the makers of illegal whisky were called. There has been distilling on the site since at least 1717, with the first

official distillery established in 1775.

A fairly chequered series of closures and takeovers led in 1957 to purchase by James

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Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton

Photo by Stewart Cunningham Spirit safe at Glenturret

Fairlie, who was committed to making whisky in as traditional a way as possible, a mash tun where the initial mixing of milled, malted barley and water is done by hand. It’s tiny, and one of only six places in Scotland where hard physical labour is involved in this part of the process.

For a long time, Glenturret was most famous for its cat, Towser.

Most distilleries have a cat, or more than one, as rodents are a problem when so much barley is stored. ‘Towser the Mouser’ a female tortoiseshell, lived to the ripe old age of 24 and between 1963 and 1987 ruled Glenturret with claws of iron.

She was an official Guinness Book of Records record breaker, with an estimated 28,899 dead mice to her credit. They were laid out on the floor of the still house every morning to be inspected by the stillman. The Guinness people came up with the lifetime figure from several days of observation and counting! Towser has her own statue at the distillery. She

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was succeeded by not one, but two cats, Dylan and Brooke, who reputedly did not come up to Towser’s exacting standards. A couple of tabbies Glen (orange) and Turret (grey) currently handle the on-site pest control.

I should say that my first visit to Glenturret, nearly 30 years ago, saw me sneaking for free into what was then one of the few distillery tours which actually charged an entry fee (£2, including a free dram). Glenturret and Glenfiddich pioneered the concept of the visitor centre, something no distillery today is complete without. In fact the visitor centre is often the priority for new-build ‘craft’ distillers as it offers up an income stream (along with the inevitable sale of new make spirit and gin) while the statutory three years passes before the product of a still, aged in oak, can be called and sold as Scotch Whisky.

The new owners are promising to increase production and come up with some super-luxury

bottlings. For the moment, the main expressions available come at around £45-47 a bottle. They are The Glenturret Sherry Cask Edition, made with unpeated malt and aged exclusively in European sherry casks; The Glenturret Triple Wood, again using unpeated malt and aged in American oak ‘seasoned’ with sherry, European oak, again treated with sherry; and The Glenturret Peated Edition. None of these bottlings have age statements and will contain whiskies from a variety of years. You can read my tasting notes for the first two of those whiskies below.

There are also limited editions, two at the moment: The Glenturret 30-Year-Old draws on those old stocks of traditional sherry transport and American oak casks mentioned above, and will set you back £449. If you can get one of 1750 bottles in its limited release. Breabach was made to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the folk band of that name (check them out on The Musical Correspondent

Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton

Photo by ŠRobert Michael Wilson Glenturret triple wood

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Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton Photo by ©Robert Michael Wilson Glenturret sherry edition

online radio show) in a limited edition of just 1000 bottles, at £145 each.

Glenturret has refined its visitor experience as both demand and the expertise of tourists have increased. Now you can pay up to £500 for an immersive behind

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the scenes adventure which will involve you intimately in the making of whisky. There are cheaper experiences - three whiskies matched with local fudge, a specialist photography opportunity and access to the warehouses. And of course there

is the ‘ordinary’ tour as well.

The Glenturret’s motto is ‘by hand and by heart’, though ‘the whisky from the heart of Scotland’ rings more true to my own experience.

It’s more than worth a visit...and a tasting!

The Glenturret Sherry Edition NOSE:

MOUTH:

That first sniff is all warehouse (Glenturret use traditional stone walled ‘dunnage’ warehousing to store their casks in low buildings with earth floors, and the casks no more than three high). Old stone, earth, wood and ash. Then you catch the blast of sherried oak.

Surprising after that blast of warehouse age comes a bright, young, lively spirit with melon and citrus fruit, laced with honey and then tablet and toffee.

FINISH and BREATHE: The sweetness gives way to pleasant warmth without the jagged edge you sometimes find in no-age bottlings. There’s butterscotch there and a hint of extra virgin olive oil.

Overall: A good, light aperitif or lunchtime dram. At 43 percent alcohol, no need to add water.

The Glenturret Triple Wood NOSE: A walk in a pine forest near a river, giving way to high moorland in late summer. The aroma is fresh and airy. I’m thinking of a walk up the Munro Ben Chomzie (its snow melt gives Glenturret part of its water supply). After a while the sherry notes begin to cut through.

A lesson in wood smells!

MOUTH: Sweeter than the sherry edition, sharper and with a touch of sherbet and American Cream Soda or vanilla ice cream.

Extremely well balanced with just the slightest nip in the air indicating approaching autumn.

FINISH and BREATHE: There’s a certain dark pungency which creeps in, tannins and an bit of a punch, as from a good young claret.

Overall: More complex than the Sherry edition with a tart finish which is very appealing. Ideal for long walks in the hills or moors, from a hipflask. Or taken at home to remind you of them. Again, at 43 percent, no need for water.

NOTE: Samples were purchased from Master of Malt’s excellent Drinks By The Dram series, which supplies 3cl samples of whiskies and other spirits.

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Food & Beverage - Skailg: A wee livener with... Tom Morton

Tasting Notes

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Food & Beverage - Fine Fife food

Fine Fife food

by Scott Aitken

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or anyone with a love of food Balgove Larder should feature high on any menu of places to visit while in Fife.

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Built to showcase the best of farm to fork Scottish produce this friendly farm shop - complete with its own butchery, cafe, flower-shed, home-store and mouth-watering steak barn - is renowned as one of the best of its kind in the country.

It is the only Scottish business to be named in the best farm shop categories for this year’s Farm Shop & Deli Awards.

Founded in 2010, and based just outside St Andrews, Balgove Larder has become a destination

Food & Beverage - Fine Fife food

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Food & Beverage - Fine Fife food for locals and visitors alike looking to shop for the highest quality Scottish food and drink from Fife and beyond.

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Locally reared, grown, stalked, caught, handmade, and prepared foods abound in this manmade monument to the slow food movement where almost

everything is sourced from within a few miles.

The Larder prides itself on producing slow grown, free-

Food & Beverage - Fine Fife food

range, traditional breed animals.

Fed on a sustainable diet and dry aged for a minimum of 28 days or longer the meat is far tastier and more nutritious than most run-of-

the-mill factory farmed products.

Wastage is kept to a minimum as the Larder produces its own black pudding, white pudding, sausages, and award winning

haggis.

Many of the products on offer in the butchery can be sampled in the adjacent former sawmill

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Food & Beverage - Fine Fife food which has been transformed into a charming steak barn with an ever changing menu of fresh and seasonally inspired dishes.

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Flaming grills blaze away surrounded by walls of rustic potato boxes and rough hewn trestle tables, made from salvaged storm-damaged beech

trees, providing a real countrystyle dining experience. “Over the last 10 years, Balgove Larder has grown from a team of

Food & Beverage - Fine Fife food

just seven to over 60 members of staff - all passionate about celebrating the very best produce that we’ve grown, reared or sourced from across Fife and

beyond. The farm shop has developed from a small shop and café to a real destination for food lovers and this recognition is testament to the hard work and

highest levels of quality that the team adhere to,” said Will Docker, founder of Balgove Larder.

Will Docker

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Food & Beverage - Gintelligence with... Fiona Holland

Gintelligence with... Fiona Holland

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iona Holland is a journalist and long-time gin lover, collecting and sampling unusual and uncommon

gins for more than 20 years.

Recently, her job amassing the juniper-laced spirit has become significantly easier with the

explosion of craft distilleries in Scotland. It’s difficult to keep up with them all, but you can be assured she’ll try her best…

Gin with a lot of zing!

Jura

Lussa Gin

Isle of Jura 42 per cent ABV £40 for 70cl

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T

here’s remote and then there’s really remote, and the Lussa Gin distillery certainly falls into the latter category.

For those who know little about the Isle of Jura, where it is based, it is famously an island of some 200 souls and 6,000 deer.

Food & Beverage - Gintelligence with... Fiona Holland

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Food & Beverage - Gintelligence with... Fiona Holland

Harvesting botanicals

and the surrounding area is a playground for the gin’s rich selection of botanicals. From elderflowers to Scots pine, bog myrtle to water mint, sea lettuce to wild roses – it is an enviable collection of homespun ingredients, which many-a gin maker would give their eye-teeth for, as the saying goes.

Feolin on the island’s west side before meandering to the south of the island and three quarters of the way up the east, is Ardlussa – home to Lussa Gin.

Back in 2016, Georgina Kitching, Alicia MacInnes and Claire Fletcher stuck a poster up at the shop in the island’s main village of Craighouse. It asked whether locals were Ginspired and invited them to a tasting of this brand new, unnamed spirit. This was the culmination of a chat the three women had had in the summer of 2015 about the possibility of distilling a gin, the various trials and errors, and finally being in a position to go ‘live’, so to speak.

This farming estate lends one of its stables to Hamish, the distillery’s 100 litre copper still

Evidently it was a success and the first bottle of Lussa Gin, complete with its own ‘scarf’ of

Fishing for sea lettuce

It is also home to two distilleries, an otherworldly mountainscape, abundant flora and fauna, untamed moors, turbulent seas and a very, very long single-track road.

More than 30 miles along this single track road, which starts at

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Food & Beverage - Gintelligence with... Fiona Holland Georgina Kitching, Alicia MacInnes and Claire Fletcher

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Food & Beverage - Gintelligence with... Fiona Holland

This gin does not really need a garnish – it has so many of its own defined and delicious flavours going on that to mask them with anything else just seems downright wrong.

Ardlussa tweed, produced by Islay Woollen Mill, was born. The spirit takes its name from the Lussa River which carves through the estate.

This gin positively zings and sings – I should have better words for it, but these serve the purpose well enough.

On the nose, it is like a breath of summer air beside the sea – you can almost hear bees buzzing, waves lapping and birds tweeting, with a rich mix of fruity and floral tones overlaid with maritime ozone and a hint of vanilla. So much so, that all you really want to do is dive in.

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In the mouth, there’s a calming explosion of flavour – a citrusy twang around the cheeks, is matched by smooth floral viscosity on the tongue; the prominent juniper is there, and it’s mixed with berries and a mildly herby aftertaste. And through some kind of magical intervention, it finishes off leaving an almost ice cream like finish in your mouth. Weird, I know – but that’s how it seemed to me.

With Fever Tree’s naturally light tonic added and a sliver of lime, this was splendidly refreshing – but it just didn’t feel quite right; so I fished out the lime and it was absolutely the right move.

You’ve got a fresh whirr from the Scots pine and the juniper, a positive bouquet of loveliness from elderflowers, rosehips and rose petals, as well as the cleansing hits of citrusy lemon thyme and subtle water mint.

It is like some kind of alchemy, made from copper, elbow grease and a sack full of greenery.

So, yes, I did like it and, yes, I would recommend it – it needs only a neutral tonic, one part spirit to one part mixer, and some ice.

Some lovely warm spring weather to chill out in the garden while you sip your lovingly created cocktail would be nice, too; but we can’t have everything.

Food & Beverage - Gintelligence with... Fiona Holland

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Food & Beverage - New direction for liquid deli

New direction for liquid deli

Demijohn at Craigie’s Farm Shop

D

emijohn, the highly successful ‘try before you buy’ liquid deli, has opened a new outlet in Craigie’s Farm Shop just outside Edinburgh.

The company which started in 2004 recently closed its own retail premises in Edinburgh and Glasgow to concentrate on a new sustainable business model, involving the setting up of a string of concessions and more

online sales.

As part of the change the company has opened a shop within a shop, its fourth so far, in the highly successful Craigie’s. Customers can browse a range of large glass demijohns containing a selection of the finest artisan liqueurs, fruit vinegars and oils, as well as some gift products.

The idea behind Demijohn’s way

of selling is for customers to taste before purchasing and then choose the size and shape of the re-fillable bottle. They can even have a personalised message added for free.

Based on the Italian cantina method of selling this approach to sustainable retail appeals to many farm and food shops.

There is minimum packaging, focusing instead on the provenance and quality of the

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Food & Beverage - New direction for liquid deli Photo by Stewart Cunningham

products.

The company recently decided to expand its offerings to more consumers by taking up concessions in other like-minded food shops. Craigie’s Farm Shop was identified as a natural choice as it has been involved with the production of some of Demijohn’s finest handmade fruit vinegars for the last 16 years.

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Food & Beverage - New direction for liquid deli To date Demijohn has opened other highly successful concessions stores at Loch Leven’s Larder Farm Shop in Fife and Luss General Store on the shores of Loch Lomond.

Another five are planned to open throughout the UK within the next few months. The current concessions are hugely popular with regulars and tourists alike who love sustainable retail and

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Food & Beverage - New direction for liquid deli Photo by Stewart Cunningham

Demijohn’s famed recipes.

“We offer a seriously fun and engaging method of shopping which appeals to large numbers of people who enjoy discovering new food and drink tastes,” said Angus Ferguson, owner of Demijohn.

New shelves at Craigie’s Farm Shop

tasting delicious artisan drinks.

Demijohn’s drinks are quite unlike most commercial liqueurs – all are made from natural

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ingredients, with no added colourings or flavourings and are perfect as the basis to delicious cocktails, or on their own over ice or as an ingredient in one of

“Our customers love our quirky, high quality products and increasingly understand our ecofriendly retail concept. Re-using a Demijohn bottle by refilling it makes even more sense in 2020 than it did in 2004 when we first started. We are sharing our knowledge and success with other like-minded independent businesses such as Craigie’s Farm to create smaller, more flexible concession stores.

We aim to make it as easy as possible for our customers to refill their bottles by opening more concession stores in the UK throughout 2020.”

Food & Beverage - New direction for liquid deli Photo by Stewart Cunningham Angus Ferguson, founder and owner of Demijohn

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Baronial home with India connections

by Helen Lloyd

F

or more than a century Newbold House has stood as a testament to Victorian success.

Set amid landscaped grounds, and located on the eastern

outskirts of Forres in Moray, this fine example of Scots baronial architecture dates from the turn of the last century. It was built by a Colonel John Woodcock, a retired Indian army officer who inherited the estate from his uncle and made his fortune trading tea.

The impressive 14-bedroom B-listed mansion, with grounds extending to approximately 6.4 acres, was designed by Inverness based architects Ross and Macbeth in 1893 and completed around 1900.

Despite owning the property Col.

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Living Scotland - Baronial home with India connections

Photos from Galbraith Newbold House

Living Scotland - Baronial home with India connections

Woodcock and his wife were often absent and both the house and landscaped gardens

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were kept by a large team of servants, including eight full-time gardeners.

The gardens remain a focal point of the property. Entrance to the house is along a rhododendron

world, including Atlantic Cedars, Incense Cedars, Copper Beech, and the native Scots Pine.

There is a large lawned area to the south, which is thought to have been a tennis court, while

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Living Scotland - Baronial home with India connections

lined drive through the gardens which were planted with specimen trees from around the

Living Scotland - Baronial home with India connections

to the creative decoration.

A wood staircase, overlooked by stained-glass windows, leads from the main hallway to the guest rooms.

a substantial and beautifully maintained walled garden is located to the north.

The walled garden is a real feature of Newbold and it has been very productive over the years.

It includes a variety of fruit and vegetable beds, two greenhouses and various quiet seating areas.

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Inside the house the Victorian passion for wood is apparent in archways and panelling in all the main four reception rooms on the ground floor which demonstrate the original owner’s links to India.

Decorative plasterwork adorns the ceiling and in the former ballroom plaster motifs of birds of paradise and scallop shells add

The conservatory, which was built by celebrated Liverpool manufacturers Mackenzie & Moncur whose other clients included Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, provides a sense of the tropics. In late spring jasmine scent floats through the air in between the fig trees, and other tropical plants.

Outside the house, beyond the walled garden, lies the Muiry woodland. Owned by Moray Council it provides sanctuary for an abundance of wildlife, including red squirrels, roe deer, badgers, greater spotted woodpeckers and the occasional pine martin, who live among the Scots pines and purple heather.

Living Scotland - Baronial home with India connections

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Living Scotland - Baronial home with India connections

In time the Woodcocks sold Newbold House to a Mr Sommerville and his wife who lived in it until the property was requisitioned by the British government during World War II.

After the war Newbold House fell empty for a time until it was acquired in 1959 by a retired policeman from Keith who bought the property for £3,000 - roughly the same amount as it cost to build some 60 years earlier.

Over the years it has been a private home, a hotel and a residential and educational retreat.

Now it is on the market once again - for less than the price of three-bedroom house in some parts of London - at offers over £800,000.

With all its bedrooms and four reception rooms Newbold has the potential for a wide range of

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Living Scotland - Baronial home with India connections

alternative uses.

“The sale of Newbold House offers a fantastic opportunity to purchase a beautiful and architecturally important property,” said Rod Christie, who is handling the sale for estate agents Galbraith.

“Extensive and well-appointed accommodation is laid out over three storeys. Period features are in abundance throughout from ornate cornicing to deep bay windows and decorative fireplaces, with wood panelling adorning the grand hallway and four reception rooms which include a ballroom, music room, art room and dining room.

“Newbold House would make a superb family home being easily accessible yet offering a good level of privacy while also presenting a business opportunity, subject to obtaining the necessary consents.”

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Living Scotland - Style and substance

Style and substance

Photos from Galbraith

by Helen Lloyd

O

ne of the most beautiful houses in Dundee, and one of its best kept secrets, is up for sale.

The stunning B-listed Arts and Crafts home, tucked away in a secluded location in the city’s west end, was built in 1911 by two of the country’s top

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architects, Patrick Thoms and William Wilkie.

Packed full of original period features, including exposed beams, stone mullioned windows, leaded window panes, stone fireplace and arched entrances, The Boreen, has all its rooms facing south so it feels light and welcoming.

At the heart of the house the wood panelled hall is a most attractive space, with a beautiful stone fireplace and stove.

The well-proportioned formal drawing room benefits from a lovely bright southerly outlook with adjoining discrete bar room.

The exquisite hand-crafted kitchen has been created to the

Living Scotland - Style and substance

owner’s specifications, with a breakfast bar, adjoining dining area, along with granite work surfaces and splashbacks, a SixFour AGA and integrated Miele appliances.

The house has two staircases.

The main one leads to the four double bedrooms on the first floor, along with office, study area, laundry/bedroom five, two bathrooms and further additional accommodation.

The principal bedroom suite, with separate dressing room and en-suite, is particularly impressive. The first floor can also be accessed via a separate back staircase, which would once have been used by servants, leading from the kitchen area.

The attic floor of the house has been set out as a children’s play area/games room but there is considerable potential to use this extensive area for a variety of uses.

“The Boreen is impressive inside and out, with a wealth of reception rooms enhanced by period features and luxurious finishes,” said George Lorimer, who is handling the sale of the property on behalf of Galbraith.

“The attention to detail given to the interior design has resulted in a magnificent home, with substantial space dedicated to family life. It is rare to find a house of this quality in such a central location.

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Living Scotland - Style and substance

“This is a rare opportunity to acquire one of the most beautiful houses in Dundee.”

The Boreen, Dundee

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The house enjoys a highly secluded setting in a prime location, within walking distance

an attractive terrace, mature trees, plants and shrubs.

The Boreen is for sale through Galbraith for offers over £795,000.

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Living Scotland - Style and substance

of the heart of the city. It also benefits from a wonderful private garden, landscaped with lawns,

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Supernatural - Strange Tales from Scotland’s Thin Places with... Thomas MacCalman Morton

Strange tales from Scotland’s thin places with...Thomas MacCalman Morton

Photo by Mike Pennington CC BY-SA 2.0 Members of the Jarl’s squad at Uyeasound Up Helly Aa

An Up Helly Aa souvenir

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he Shetland events called Up Helly Aa, usually translated from the old Norse as The Lightening

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of the Year, are part of a fire festival season in both Scotland and England marking the moment, deep in winter’s heart,

when the days begin once more to lengthen, when the darkness starts its annual retreat.

https://anchor.fm/tom-morton4/episodes/Strange-Tales-from-Scotlands-Thin-Places--Episode-1-An-Up-Helly-Aa-Souvenir-eb5eib

Listen here I say events, as there are a dozen Up Helly Aas which take place in communities throughout Scotland’s northernmost isles.

The biggest, which is held in Lerwick, the islands’ capital, attracts most worldwide attention, and has up to a thousand all male participants, divided into 47 themed squads of guizers.

Only one squad, the chief or Jarl squad, led by the Guizer Jarl, is permitted to dress as vikings, and their costumes are often spectacular and expensive.

Lerwick is alone of the various Up Helly Aasin not permitting women to be members of a squad, march in the procession, carry flaming torches,and finally set fire to full sized viking longship. Spirals of men circle the great, doomed viking galley, always circling to the sun, never anticlockwise, or widdershins as it’s called, and a bringer of bad fortune.

Women cannot participate in this or indeed the later hall dances as anything save partners, dishwashers, hostesses and

preparers of food. Some women have, very forcibly objected to this, and it’s only fair to say that some others have with equal commitment, pronounced themselves happy with the situation.

There are Up Helly Aas in places such as Unst, Northmavine, Nesting, Brae and Scalloway, and second only to Lerwick, in the South Mainland of Shetland, where a woman has been Jarl and which threatens, with its spectacular burnings of the galley at sea, to eclipse the rather more sedate Lerwick, where the longship is consumed by flame in the safe confines of a town playpark.

Up Helly Aa is generally thought to have evolved from the rather more chaotic habit of burning tar barrels in Lerwick as a winter outlet for youthful aggression, though recordings of elderly folk made in 1950s and 60s indicate much older rituals under the same name, as basic as carrying a lighted peat from house to house. It became associated with a romantic view of vikings in the 19th Century and has taken place

continuously, with all its Norse trappings, ever since, apart from a suspension during the Second World War. There was another Up Helly Aa festival, a lost burning, one which was never revived after World War Two, and it took place in a remote and now depopulated part of the western mainland of Shetland. I will call it Virdablutt.

If you go to Virdablutt now, and it’s hard to get to, with only an unmaintained track over some sizable hills and across a tidal causeway, there is little to see but the remains of two or three ruined and roofless crofthouses, one prettily sited in a lovely bay, with a shingle beach stretched in a crescent before it, facing out west to the Atlantic. A beautiful place to watch the sunset. It’s the kind of house you would imagine might have been restored, even as just a holiday home. But noone has. Not even the salmon and mussel farmers have descended on this...I was going to say unspoilt spot. But unspoilt is perhaps not quite the right word.

Virdablutt was all about fishing,

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Supernatural - Strange Tales from Scotland’s Thin Places with... Thomas MacCalman Morton

Photo by Mike Pennington CC BY-SA 2.0 Some of the Jarl’s Squad at Norik Up Helly Aa

Supernatural - Strange Tales from Scotland’s Thin Places with... Thomas MacCalman Morton

the far haaf, where groups of men would row six-oared, square sailed boats, sixareens, far out 40 miles to sea in search of fish, especially ling. It thrived for many years, it seemed.

And then it failed, as many of Shetland’s fishing communities did, dependent as they were on a risky and fragile form of economy.

The late 18th century kirk lacks a roof now and is crumbling, but is famous for the carvings on ancient, heavily worked stones in its sheltered eastern wall which indicate that it is was built on something much older. The Virdablutt carvings are the reason a number of tourists make the difficult trek there every year, partly for the sheela nan gigs, the only examples in the isles

Photo by Mike Pennington CC BY-SA 2.0 Procession at Uyeasound Up Helly Aa

of these giant female fertility symbols, perhaps best known for their embarrassed presence at Rodel in Harris. These are hugely important, the only examples of these sexualised female caricatures in the isles. But it’s the other carving that interest me more. It shows something which indicates Up Helly Aa’s origins could lie not in the drunken antics of rowdy Lerwick tradesmen, or even in the simple illumination of winter darkened townships, but in the desolation of Virdablutt. In a more sinister ceremony.

My attempts to research Virdablutt at the excellent Shetland Museum and Archives

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proved frustrating. There are, strangely, few references to what had been after all, at one point an entire parish of Shetland, and, with the fishing, an important one. It had been nominally under the ownership of the Busta estate but a succession of landlords seem to have largely ignored it, taking their minimal crofting rents and presumably the usual punitive share of the fishing income, and doing little if anything in return. There are

some references to World War Two and the forced removal of the population for military reasons, but no references to what actually happened there.

I did wonder about the kind of germ warfare experiments which took place at Gruinard on the west coast of Scotland, but no post war documentary evidence of this appears to exist. Church of Scotland Presbytery records did indicate, however, that the kirk as such - had been closed “ due

to evacuation” in 1939, and there are various red-faced references to the sexual archaeology and “symbols pertaining to fishing rituals, aimed at securing the benificience of nature”. On my own single trip to Virdablutt I found where in a higher form of church there would have been an altar. There was a broken stone cross, with some withered flowers placed next it, protected from sheep, wind and rain by one of those glass domes you see in

cemeteries.

It took a search through the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, the Church of Scotland’s vast and sometimes damning history of each and every minister who has been called to it, to reveal something of what had happened at Virdablutt. And even then, the ministers who served it, from the 16th century on, did not spend much time visiting the place, based as they were in the much

There were references, though, to ‘rumours of exceedingly sinful and dark activities’ concerning the Virdablutt folk, - about 350 of them according to one census from 1762. And there was a Rev Peter Christopher Oswaldson from the early 1820s who left his charge in Waas for a presumably less demanding one in Fife, but not without a final sermon “noted by many for its condemnatory tone as to the infamous boat burning rituals of Virdablutt.”

Further back, one minister referred to ‘The Virdablutt conflagration’ and how he had

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Supernatural - Strange Tales from Scotland’s Thin Places with... Thomas MacCalman Morton

more thriving and rewarding community of Waas, over the pass and across the causeway.

Supernatural - Strange Tales from Scotland’s Thin Places with... Thomas MacCalman Morton

banned any of his congregation from attendance or observation.

“To no avail, as they are steeped in the damnable consequences of their superstition.”

This ritual, clearly much much older than any of the modern Up Helly Aas, is illustrated in the carving on the kirk’s eastern wall: A boat, crudely rendered, with what appear to be flames surrounding it. The boat is resting on a prone, plainly human figure.

My researches took me, eventually to Professor Sigurd Hakonsson at the University of Oslo. In Edinburgh for a conference, I spent a fascinating afternoon with him. He was familiar with Virdablutt, and indeed had visited during one of his many trips to Shetland.

The prefix ‘VI’ was significant, he said, in viking archaeology, eaming the place of a shrine.

And then he told about the viking concept of blot, or blood sacrifice.

Aimed at appeasing the gods, notably Odin, these saw animals killed and often burnt. As the

Photo by Roy Mullay CC BY 4.0 Lerwick Up Helly Aa galley burning

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raiding and exploration parties began to move westward, these sacrifices became functional aspects of setting out to sea, and were part of a blessing for the boat carrying them on their latest adventure.

“The blot, according to our excavations from Norway and Denmark as far as Newfoundland and mainland Canada, developed and became quite specific” professor Hakonsson told me.

“The availability of conquered or enslaved communities meant several people could be slaughtered in its name for the gods. But thought to be more effective was the death of a young woman.”

“Our researchers in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland discovered that some, but not all of the fishing communities there practised a symbolic form of ‘blot’ until comparatively recently. Just before World War Two, in fact, when it appears to have been stopped by the authorities. As I say, symbolic of course, these things are always about symbols.

But the burning of an old fishing

boat with a kind of puppet or life size doll beneath it on the fire was common. And there was a young girl elected, every year to be the queen of the festival. The Blood Queen, they called her, apparently. Very Freudian.”

The Professor had to leave. We parted on good terms, but not before he shook my hand and said oddly enough, that of course there was no archaeological evidence that Virdablutt had ever been the site of such blood sacrifices. ‘Symbolic,’ he said, ‘or otherwise.’ and he added: ‘Take care. The idea of the blood sacrifice is a very potent one.’ I felt there was much he had failed to tell me.

I travelled home, my mind reeling... Why was the ‘blot’ and its fairly recent symbolic manifestation not more commonly known? The Professor’s research was, strangely, not easily accessible on the internet - it was behind a paywall at the University of Oslo, and an expensive, Scandinavian one.

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Supernatural - Strange Tales from Scotland’s Thin Places with... Thomas MacCalman Morton

I was dumbfounded. If this was so it meant that the colourful and largely innocent tradition of Up Helly Aa was based on human, and indeed female sacrifice. But then the Professor said some thing which shocked me even more.

Supernatural - Strange Tales from Scotland’s Thin Places with... Thomas MacCalman Morton

It was two weeks later that the package arrived. Postmarked Edinburgh, but anonymous.

Inside were several sheets of paper clearly scanned using a smartphone. Part of it was a report, redacted as we’ve

learned to call it, with passages and names blacked out. But it was headed: Evacuation and resettlement of Virdablutt community, Zetland, 1939 and it had come from within what was then the War Office.

Only 100 people had been left in Virdablutt by 1939. The haaf fishing was over, steam drifters were beginning the process of industrial catching with which we are all familiar. Men were in the process of being called up for

military service. One paragraph stood out:

male persons.” A list of names, again redacted.

“It has been decided that, following longstanding reports of irregular social activity including practices deemed sacrilegious, and the complaint of one mother about the kidnapping and alleged murder of her daughter” - and here the name had been erased “ the best if drastic solution is the removal of the entire population of the communtiy known as Virdablutt, and the imprisonment under wartime strictures of these

The other piece of paper was a paragraph torn from a newspaper, placed on a A4 sheet, photographed and printed.

It referred to the trial of one Cowan Ernest Sipsmith, trawler skipper, in 1928 at St John’s, Newfoundland, on charges of child kidnapping, murder and ‘engagement in acitivities of extremely barbarity likely to cultivate superstition and terrorisation within the community

of Viblod.’ Viblod. I looked it up.

On the extreme western tip of Newfoundland, a deserted village near the curiously named bay called Salvage once known for its thriving economy, entirely based on fishing.

Photo by Mike Pennington CC BY-SA 2.0 Guisers at Uyeasound Up Helly Aa

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Nothing about Virdablutt. On the other side of the Atlantic. Nothing but 200 miles of clear water between the two communities with almost the same name.

Up Helly Aa lives and grows and is portrayed as a series of

I watch the galley burnings, now, on the internet, and I feel... anxious. Circles of men and, outside of Lerwick, women, each bearing a flaming torch, marching

sunwise, always sunwise, never widdershins around the blaze.

Sending some invisible viking to Valhalla in flames. The Guizer Jarl is always safely removed from the galley just before it is set on fire.

Another package arrived yesterday. A local postmark. A large padded envelope and inside a plain cardboard box which held, wrapped in tissue paper, what was, even to my unpractised eye, a Barbie Doll. A vintage model, I later discovered. Her viking helmet and glittering chainmail

glittered. Her plastic axed, however, was broken.

The label on the box, professionally printed, said: ‘An Up Helly Aa Souvenir, handmade in Shetland’. And then two words, ‘good luck.’

I sold her on eBay for £167, to a collector of such things. I have never returned to Virdablutt.

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Supernatural - Strange Tales from Scotland’s Thin Places with... Thomas MacCalman Morton

inclusive community festivals.

Eventually, the Lerwick event will crack open and admit women.

There will be grumbling and some heckling and abuse, but Shetland is essentially a welcoming place where equality is treasured and many women take leading and warmly appreciated roles in the community.

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Climate change threat to wild landscapes

W

ild, treeless landscapes are becoming more wooded as climate change leads to warming temperatures and wetter weather, claims new research by Edinburgh scientists.

According to a team of researchers from Edinburgh University environmental changes to temperature are causing trees and shrubs to spread across the tundra and the savanna, transforming these vast, open areas that contain unique biodiversity.

The researchers fear the dramatic transformations to these regions – which account for some 40 per cent of the world’s land – could alter the global carbon balance and climate system. This is because woody plants store carbon, provide fuel for fires and influence how much of the sun’s

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Environment - Climate change threat to wild landscapes

Photo by Jeffrey Kerby National Geographic Society As the tundra warms, habitats for wildlife such as reindeer could be altered and these herbivores, in turn, could influence changes in shrubs

Environment - Climate change threat to wild landscapes

heat is reflected back into space.

Evidence from recent studies has found that as well as affecting

the climate, increasing woody plant cover could alter the unique biodiversity of areas home to diverse species including caribou

in the tundra and elephants in the savanna.

Rapid warming in the Arctic

Photo by Mariana GarcĂ­a Criado Elephants that eat both grasses and woody plants can influence the change in woody cover in savannas with climate change

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by 20 per cent over the past 50 years.

Expanding shrub cover could

raise soil temperatures in the tundra, leading to thawing of the permafrost – frozen ground that contains nearly half of the world’s

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Environment - Climate change threat to wild landscapes

tundra – spanning northern parts of Canada, the US, Greenland, northern Europe and Russia – has increased shrub plant cover there

Environment - Climate change threat to wild landscapes

soil carbon.

Scientists found that shrub and

tree cover in savannas – which include Africa’s plains, Australia’s outback and drylands of South

Photo by Mariana García Criado Woody cover is increasing in the savanna in association with wetter weather, with shrubs and trees moving into previously more open areas

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America – rose by 30 per cent during the same period, as rainfall increased.

compared temperature and rainfall data with more than 1,000 records of plant cover change

from almost 900 sites across six continents.

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Environment - Climate change threat to wild landscapes

The team carried out the largest global woody cover change study of its kind to date. They

Environment - Climate change threat to wild landscapes

Photo by Mariana García Criado Shrubs have been growing taller, faster and expanding into new areas in the tundra as Arctic temperatures have warmed over the last few decades

They also found that other factors – including wild fires and animal grazing patterns – affect shrub and tree cover, revealing that variables shaping the future of the tundra and the savanna are more complex than previously thought.

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“This research indicates the far-reaching effects of climate change across the planet.

Uncovering the ways in which different landscapes are responding requires collaboration among scientists, and cooperation with local peoples to

better understand the changes we’re seeing and their impacts from different perspectives,” said Mariana García Criado, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, who led the study.

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Destination - Scotland

Destination P Scotland

lan your trip to the most beautiful country in the world with our directory of places to stay, eat, visit and enjoy.

Rokeby Manor

Invergarry, Highlands Situated on the edge of the Highland Village of Invergarry Rokeby Manor is the epitome of a late Georgian-early Victorian country house.

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This former country house, as featured in issue 32 of Scotland Correspondent, has been turned into a romantic retreat surrounded by landscaped gardens and natural woodland.

Destination - Scotland

Royal Scots Club Edinburgh

More personal than a hotel the Royal Scots Club offers a rare combination of all the charm of a country house with the added cosy atmosphere of a private members’ club in the heart of Scotland’s historic capital of Edinburgh.

Founded in 1919 as a living memorial to those who fell in The Great War the club is situated in one of Edinburgh’s finest Georgian streets and is open for bed and breakfast, meetings and events, functions and private dining. Featured in issue 22 of Scotland Correspondent.

Meldrum House

Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire More than 800 years of history are wrapped up in this unique boutique country house hotel nestled in the heart of Aberdeenshire’s tranquil countryside.

Complete with its own golf course the 240-acre estate and 13th century baronial mansion is the epitome of luxury. As featured in issue 27 of Scotland Correspondent. Meldrum House provides a truly exceptional experience and is an ideal base from which to explore the rich and colourful north east corner of Scotland.

Chester Residence Edinburgh

A luxurious bolthole in central Edinburgh with an expanse of space and all the perks of a grand hotel as featured in issue 21 of Scotland Correspondent.

Behind the facades of gracious, listed Georgian townhouses in Edinburgh’s New Town these 5-star apartments are spacious and packed with luxury features, including a top of the range kitchen, a heavenly bathroom or two and sumptuously grand living rooms.

9 Rothesay Place (Main Reception), Edinburgh, EH3 7SL. Tel: +44 (0) 131 226 2075 enquiries@chester-residence.com www.chester-residence.com

Embo House Sutherland

Luxury exclusive self-catering accommodation in a Grad-A listed Georgian mansion overlooking the Dornoch Firth. As featured in issue 24 of Scotland Correspondent. Embo House is steeped in history.

This former ancestral castle of Clan Gordon with its 8-spacious bedrooms provides contemporary and luxurious accommodation for large family groups, golfers or even weddings.

Embo House, Dornoch, Sutherland. IV25 3PP Tel: 01738 451610 https://www.cottages-and-castles.co.uk

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Destination - Scotland Gleddoch Hotel

Carnoustie Golf Hotel

An independently owned hotel resort overlooking the Clyde Estuary with 75 bedrooms, an 18 hole championship golf course, an elegant banqueting room and a luxury Imperia Spa.

Carnoustie Golf Hotel offers an extensive collection of facilities, including 75 luxury en-suite bedrooms and 10 suites with amazing views over the Championship course, the sea and the local town of Carnoustie. Featured in issue 16 of Scotland Correspondent.

Glasgow

One of the most prestigious, luxury hotels in the Glasgow area just 10 minutes from the airport featured in issue 13 of Scotland Correspondent.

Isle of Eriska Hotel, Spa & Island Benderloch, Oban

Located on the west coast of Scotland on a private 300 acre island with gorgeous views overlooking Loch Linnhe and the dramatic Morvern mountains beyond.

Featured in issue 3 of Scotland Correspondent. The hotel offers a variety of accommodation with 16 bedrooms in the main house, five spa suites in the gardens with private hot tub, two garden cottages with two bedrooms each which are ideal for families and six hilltop reserves overlooking Loch Linnhe with private hot tub and balconies.

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Carnoustie

Mercure Hotel inverness Inverness

Featured in issue 15 of Scotland Correspondent.

This stylish Inverness hotel has been refurbished throughout, blending traditional Highland hospitality with supreme comfort in the finest waterside hotel Inverness has to offer.

Luss, Loch Lomond

Destination - Scotland

Lodge on Loch Lomond

Portavadie

Loch Fyne, Argyll

The Lodge on Loch Lomond Hotel, on the beachfront at Luss near Glasgow, is the perfect place to relax overlooking Scotland’s favourite loch.

Sitting on the shores of Loch Fyne on Scotland’s west coast, Portavadie is the perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and unwind amid glorious scenery.

As featured in issue 5 of Scotland Correspondent.

The 48-bedroom hotel, complete with a range of conference and banqueting facilities for up to 200 guests and leisure facilities, enjoys an intimate, warm and charming atmosphere. The awardwinning Colquhoun’s Restaurant and Lounge are the perfect place to relax and unwind and watch the changing landscape of the loch.

As featured in issue 2 of Scotland Correspondent.

The resort offers world-class marina facilities, a range of holiday accommodation, restaurants and bars, beauty and wellbeing treatments, shopping and event spaces. The spa and leisure experience provides an exceptional way to enjoy the views over Loch Fyne at any time of year, making Portavadie the destination of choice for all occasions.

Trump Turnberry

Turnberry, Ayrshire Trump Turnberry is an iconic landmark on the spectacular Ayrshire coast providing warm Scottish hospitality.

As featured in issue 7 of Scotland Correspondent.

It offers a range of exceptional venues ideal for meetings, events and weddings. Enjoy the fresh Scottish air while enjoying the wonderful scenery, exceptional dining options, indulgent spa treatments, outdoor activities and championship golf.

Dundas Castle Edinburgh

Dundas Castle is a most spectacular venue for any event. This authentic Scottish Castle has been transformed into a 5-star ‘Exclusive Use’ venue with 17 bedrooms.

As featured in issue 13 of Scotland Correspondent.

Parts of the castle date back to 1416 and has belonged to the Stewart-Clark family since the late 1800s.

Enjoy all the amenities of the finest hotels but with the exclusivity of staying in your own castle.

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Destination - Scotland George Hotel

Inveraray, Argyll Imagine relaxing by an open peat fire, sipping a single-malt whisky after a sumptuous meal before retiring to a luxury bed in a 247-year-old hotel by the side of a spectacular Scottish loch.

As featured in issue 11 of Scotland Correspondent.

Each of the George’s 17 rooms have been beautifully decorated and many boast a super kingsize bed, jacuzzi bath and even a real open log and coal fire to add an extra layer of romantic cosiness.

Glamis House Glamis, Angus

Built in 1798 Glamis House is a stunning, traditional home with an impressive history, as featured in issue 19 of Scotland Correspondent. The house is situated in the grounds of Glamis Castle. With room for up to 13 people to sleep the house is situated in a stunningly beautiful part of the country boasting superb beaches, great walking trails and renowned golf courses close by, including Carnoustie.

Glamis House, Forfar, Angus Tel: 01738 451610 https://www.cottages-and-castles.co.uk

The Station Hotel

Glen Nevis Hostel

Situated in the heart of Scotland’s world renowned whisky country the Station Hotel in Rothes, as featured in issue 30 of Scotland Correspondent, provides the perfect blend of of history, tradition and modern luxury.

Visitors on a budget looking to spend time in one of the most spectacular areas of the Scottish Highlands can do so Glen Nevis Youth Hostel in Fort William, Lochaber.

Speyside

With 14 bedrooms, including five luxury suites, the four-star hotel is ideally placed to serve as a base for visitors interested in exploring the wellsignposted nearby whisky, golf and castle trails of Speyside.

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Fort William

As featured in issue 20 of Scotland Correspondent this jewell in the crown of Hostelling Scotland has recently been refurbished to provide a mix of private en-suite rooms and shared accommodation with all the comforts and modern conveniences of a home from home.

Destination - Scotland

The Chester Hotel Aberdeen

Trump International

Balmedie, Aberdeenshire MacLeod House & Lodge is a five-star luxury hotel located near Balmedie, Aberdeenshire at Trump International Championship Links Golf Course and award-winning five-star resort.

As featured in issue 20 of Scotland Correspondent.

This historic Scottish mansion and lodge, set amid mature woodland, provides sumptuous accommodation, exquisite dining and an intimate bar. Available for exclusive use, corporate events and weddings it has all the facilities and amenities to suit the modern, traveller.

Situated in the heart of Aberdeen’s historic west end The Chester Hotel, with its 50 luxurious bedrooms and suites, renowned restaurant and stylish lounge bar, is ideally placed for accessing some of the most exciting and challenging golf courses Scotland has to offer.

As featured in issue 19 of Scotland Correspondent.

It provides a perfect base to explore the north-east with its abundance of castles, whisky distilleries and breath-taking scenery.

59-63 Queen’s Road Aberdeen, AB15 4YP. T: 01224 327777 Reservations@chester-hotel.com www.chester-hotel.com

Fingal

Edinburgh The former Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) tender, MV Fingal, is Scotland’s first floating hotel, complete with Presidential suit - as featured in issue 31 of Scotland Correspondent.

Now berthed permanently at the Prince of Wales Dock in the historic Port of Leith, it is a unique addition to Edinburgh’s booming hotel scene.

Developed by The Royal Yacht Britannia each of Fingal’s 23 luxury cabins are each named after Stevenson lighthouses, inspired by her rich maritime heritage.

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