SCOTS H e r i t a g e
m a g a z i n e
Official magazine of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs
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Welcome
Ceud mìle fàilte F
irstly, I’d like to start this issue of Scots Heritage with a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all of those readers who have written in with their thoughts on our redesign of the magazine. The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, and where readers have come up with constructive ideas for small tweaks and changes, we’ve done our best to be accommodating. This month I’ve chosen to focus on the Elliot Clan. The Borders do not receive anywhere near as much attention as the Highlands, but the history of these lawless lands is absolutely fascinating. Violent, independent and with a military prowess that outsripped any other guerilla fighting force in Europe at the time, the Border Reivers were the shock troops in the wars between Scotland and England. The Elliots were one of the most powerful and remarkable Borders clans and it has been a privilege to talk to their clan chief, Margaret Eliott of Redheugh, and to find out that this most resilient of clans is still faring so well, both at home and abroad. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it – and the same goes for this whole issue of Scots Heritage!
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The Border Reivers were the shock troops in the wars between Scotland and England
e Yours ay
Contributors ALLAN MASSIE The respected essayist asks whether Scots is a language or a dialect – and explains why the question matters so much
ROBERT LOW The former war reporter and best-selling novelist lives in Largs and is also a Viking re-enactment enthusiast.
LUCY STRACHAN The Edinburgh film buff has worked as a film extra and made pilgrimages to every iconic film location in Scotland.
Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor, Contributing Editor
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Culture
10 PICTURE PERFECT A selection of great images from our chief photographer
58 TEN OF THE BEST Some of the most memorable movies have been filmed in Scotland 74 ISLANDS IN THE STREAM A journey around some of the main islands in the Firth of Forth 88 HEART OF SCOTLAND A combination of old and new makes Stirling a great city to visit
COVER Our cover this month is
Margaret Eliott, 29th Chief of Clan Elliot and was taken by Sir Malcolm MacGregor.
96 ARTIFACTS It’s hard to believe that The Honours, Scotland’s Crown Jewels, were once missing 98 NESSIE AT 80 Why, despite the many hoaxes, the Loch Ness Monster continues to fascinate 101 WHISKY How an Australian has been teaching Scots how to make whisky
Clans 40 CLAN ELLIOT Sir Malcolm MacGregor on the famous Borderers, Clan Elliot 48 BLUFFER’S GUIDE Ten fascinating Clan Elliot facts 50 HEARTLANDS Ten essential Clan Elliot landmarks
Insid 114 MCLETTER FROM AMERICA How the McLeods of Skye became Colorado ranchers
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Contents
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Regulars 06 NEWS from Scotland and the Scots 17 LETTERS Your letters to the Editor
52 SUBSCRIBE To subscribe call +44 (0)1631 568000 or go online to www. scotsheritage magazine.com
72 SUBSCRIBE Subscribe to Scots Heritage
Heritage 18 THE HISTORY MAN Allan Massie on why Scots should be considered a language 26 THE EVENTS THAT SHAPED SCOTLAND How the Battle of Largs changed Scottish history 32 PHOTO ESSAY Intimate family photographs of early 20th-century Brodie Castle 52 ABE’S SCOTS How Scotland influenced Abraham Lincoln’s personal and political philosophies 64 BY GEORGIAN William Adam’s masterpiece, Duff House, has a fascinating history 82 ISLAND ROSE The Scottish merchant’s daughter who became a Hawaiian princess
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People 60 THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN PAST How public records reveal more about James Bond creator Ian Fleming‘s Scottish roots 80 SET IN STONE For over 40 years Jimmy Wyllie has been manufacturing curling stones from Ailsa Craig granite 86 THE CLYDE PIPER Award-winning piper Roddy MacLeod discusses his passion for piping
102 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 104 BOOKS Latest literary offerings 107 MUSIC The best in Scottish music 109 PUZZLES Pit your wits against our puzzles 110 SOCIAL SCOTS Who’s been seen out and about 112 CLANS AND SOCIETIES
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Great Scots: The gambling rake who brought France to the edge of economic ruin
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News
Left: Angus Blackburn, Right: Kevin George/Shutterstock
Cross over This month sees the 1,450th anniversary of the arrival of St Columba on the island of Iona. To mark the occasion, St Oran’s Cross, the world’s first Celtic High Cross, dating back to the 8th century, has been restored and reassembled in Selkirk in the Scottish Borders, before being transported back to Iona Abbey in time to celebrate the anniversary. This was the first time that the cross had left Iona and it is never expected to leave the island again. The cross was in five pieces but has now been put back together inside a special steel structure designed by Borders-based Richard West. The cross had previously been in pieces for most of its existence, and the carvers wanted to build a huge and impressive cross, but were a little too ambitious, making the arms of the cross too long so that it collapsed almost as soon as it was built. They tried to repair the cross by adding a stone ring, but that didn’t work for long and the cross broke again. In 1927 the pieces were stuck together again, but the cross only remained intact until 1957.
Far left: St Oran’s Cross, the world’s first Celtic High Cross, goes home. Above: The island of Iona.
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Black Watch heroes remembered A bronze statue of a Black Watch soldier will be erected in Belgium next year to commemorate the 8,000 troops from the regiment who died and the 20,000 who were wounded during the First World War. The memorial monument will stand 4.5 metres high on a granite base and depicts a Black Watch soldier in a kilt, jacket and bonnet, holding a Lee Enfield rifle. The sculpture is being made in Edinburgh by Alan Herriot at Powderhall Foundry before being transported to ‘Black Watch Corner’ to be erected and mark the start of four years of commemorations of the war’s centenary. It is hoped that around 200 serving soldiers will travel to Ypres for the dedication ceremony of the statue on 3 May 2014, one hundred years since the first battle of Ypres. 8 www.scots.com
News
Left: Alan Herriot works on the sculpture. Right: David McAllister with Rangers’ manager Ally McCoist.
Left: Angus Blackburn, Right: Michael Schofield
Merkel’s Mac He was married in a kilt, supports Glasgow Rangers, drinks Irn Bru and speaks English with a hint of a Scottish accent. Not much unusual there you might think, but David McAllister is state prime minister of Lower Saxony in northern Germany and is currently being touted to succeed Angela Merkel as the next Chancellor of Germany. The 41-year-old was born in West Germany to Glaswegian James McAllister, who was serving with the Signal Corps, and a German music teacher mother. He knows the media – in particular the British – would have a field day if he made it to the top, but McAllister laughs off the attention that he receives from the Scottish media. ‘They find it intensely amusing that there’s a German politician who knows what Irn Bru is, who knows The Broons and Oor Wullie, who knows about the Beano and Dandy, Marmite, porridge and custard,’ he laughed. However he is still working on getting Germans to pronounce his name correctly. McAllister proves to be a bit of a tongue-twister for some, and he is usually nicknamed ‘Mac’. SCOTS heritage summer 2013
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SCOTS HERITAGE’S CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER ANGUS BLACKBURN SHOWCASES THE BEST THAT SCOTLAND HAS TO OFFER
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Picture perfect
Image: Up Helly Aa in Shetland. The lighting of torches and burning of a longboat celebrates the islands’ norse heritage.
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Picture perfect
Above: Young Farmers take part in tug of war competition at the Royal Highland Show in Ingliston, Edinburgh. Left: Farriers at work. Previous page: Heavy rain calls short the display of the Heavy Horses in the main RHS show ring.
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Right: A worker sorts through the dyed wool at a mill on Shetland. Far right: The horse whisperer goes to work.
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Picture perfect
I love this time of year – the light is superb, and the subjects of the photos are also coming to life as spring gives way to summer – Angus Blackburn SCOTS heritage summer 2013 15
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Letters
Letters r e t t e l Star r
And in with the new
f
e Union o he t e ance of th (now ic g if o n g t si e Stickssie’s article about th Highland-born Scot abso-
K. I am me. As a Allan Ma out our U m called for ted with b a a n ly so g n re 1707 feel stro ferendu l for a Re ustralia) I England. living in A ed at the proposa tland from and I o c S te ll ra a a p hshire to sep lutely ap chry, Pert ich aims lo h it w P , P I have in N p S England. by the rought u e v b lo d n are o a ls a rn But I ncestors I was bo d dearly. e of my a n m la e so v d ti n a love my n England a lo-Saxworked in eltic, Ang u lived and C f o e . g th herita y bir at yo English b ingled th le, with a ne peop so interm o l re a a re a e tu u e w W nch: our m Dear orman-Fre e layers that form rendum, who N d n a n o th efe t separate ct to the actual R Editor ere e could no sp ion and th re st e h u it q W le of y. p g m re lo a si a gene not a t if you te? This is ferentiation. Wha r English o v O ? to d n ts ge Engla le dif in p m g s si in a rk o e g utin to it and w cannot b d, contrib aving a but living n a th tl ir o c b S h h es Scottis orking in x-pat? Do ent and w te as an e o v ? but resid te to o t v e to ? Do I g er the ntitle me economy rtificate e s British. I rememb e c th that ir b a arily le – and Scottish yself prim indeed one peop e dreadful m f o k in I th were me th Out with when we to overco ll to all do we war years ve us the strength ld u o w e a W g . t the old... was wha ned us all at threate I have been dismayed for menace th ose years. r th some time regarding the remembe ard, Australia Be n a Jo decline in quality of Scots rs M Heritage magazine since Susan Cromarty was no longer its editor but, having just received a new issue, I can now say ‘hip hip hooray and hallelujah’. It has become a first rate publicaMustelid magic tion once more and I can now look I was fascinated to read your forward again to each new issue article on artisan sporran maker with anticipation of delight in the Kate MacPherson and very contents of its pages. pleased to hear that she attracts The new format is excellent and minimal criticism of her art. She is has renewed my pride in being doing a wonderful job of creating a life member of the Scots something exceptionally beautiful out of what could so Heritage Society. ‘Ceud mìle fàilte’ easily have been nothing. to yourself, Sir Malcolm, as the new It is wonderful that her badger head sporrans are so Contributing Editor. reminiscent of those worn by the officers and sergeants Anita Stiller, of the Argyll and Southern Highlanders. Australia Mark Brodie, USA SCOTS No. 60 published May 2013. © Scots Heritage Media in partnership with Scottish Field. Editor: Richard Bath Creative Editor: Heddy Forrest Deputy Editor: Tim Siddons Staff Writer: Morag Thorburn Contributing Editor: Sir Malcolm MacGregor Designer: Mark Duncan Artworker: Andrew Balahura Photographer: Angus Blackburn Advertising Sales: Emma Craig Publisher: Wyvex Media Ltd SCOTS is published four times a year in February, May, August and November. ISSN 1445-6699
SCOTS HERITAGE UK & Europe 496 Ferry Road, Edinburgh EH5 2DL, Scotland. Tel: +44 (0)131 551 1000. Fax: +44 (0)131 551 7900 SCOTS HERITAGE North America PO Box 32510 Fridley MN 55432 USA. Fax: 763 571 8292. Email: pubminisys@yahoo.com SCOTS HERITAGE Australia CRM Australia, GPO Box 1846, Sydney, NSW 2001. Tel: 02 8227 6486 Fax: 02 8227 6410 Email: scots@crmaus.com.au SCOTS HERITAGE New Zealand PO Box 790 Shortland
My issue of Scots arrived yesterday and as a proud member of Scotland’s diaspora I thought I’d take the opportunity to accept your kind invitation to let you know what’s on my mind – a dangerous invitation! One prominent issue upon which I’d appreciate regular updates via Scots is the progress toward the referendum for restoring Scotland’s sovereignty and Scottish independence. I have an interest and a view, but regrettably no vote. I enjoyed the content and new format of the magazine though query the accuracy of a couple of items. My understanding was that Alexander Fraser was Chamberlain of Scotland when the Declaration of Arbroath was written, although I’m happy to be corrected. There’s a reference to the 2009 World Pipe Band Champions, Simon Frazer University from Vancouver (refer page 13). The correct spelling of the university name is Simon Fraser University (Fraser spelt with an ‘S’ not a ‘Z’), named in honour of Simon Fraser the patriot, who fought with Wallace for independence. Accurate spelling is an issue for anyone of the same name. Thank you for revitalising Scots Heritage magazine – as a subscriber since inception I compliment you on making a previously good magazine into an excellent publication. I look forward to future issues. Can we have an occasional article on Scotland’s wildlife and environmental issues, similar to a previous article on the environmental restoration of the Clyde since the decline in shipbuilding. Derek James Fraser, Sydney, Australia
SEND YOUR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, SCOTS HERITAGE MAGAZINE, FETTES PARK, 496 FERRY ROAD, EDINBURGH EH5 2DL EMAIL EDITOR@SCOTSHERITAGEMAGAZINE.COM WEBSITE WWW.SCOTSHERITAGEMAGAZINE.COM
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Right: Allan Massie argues that the decline of Scots was inevitable after Union of the Crowns and the Reformation.
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The history man
, but one which Scots is a valid language behind by history has - sadly - been left Words Allan Massie Image Angus Blackburn
I
s there a Scots language, or are there only various Scots dialects? One way of looking at the question is to ask: what is the difference between a language and a dialect? This can get the wrong answer, because people often think that a dialect is an inferior or debased offshoot of a language. The truth is different. What come to be regarded as ‘official’ languages derive from dialects. Take Italian: there are lots of different forms of the language spoken throughout Italy, but what is now accepted as Italian is the language of Tuscany. It achieved its dominance originally because the greatest mediaeval Italian writers, Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, were all Tuscans. The authority of their writing meant that Tuscan emerged as the ‘correct’ form of the Italian language. What then about English and Scots? The basis of both is the language of the Anglo-Saxons who settled in England and southern Scotland after the break-up of the Roman Empire. Their tongue was later influenced by the Danish invasions in the north and east of England, and by the Normans who conquered England in 1066 and who made Norman-French for more than two hundred years the language of the governing class. There were however three distinct varieties of Anglo-Saxon or Old English: the language of the south-west; that of the Midlands, which extended south to London; and that of the North, spoken roughly between the River Humber in north-east England and the River Forth in Scotland, a language which also extended up the eastern seaboard to Aberdeen. In England the Midland tongue became what we now recognise as standard English, a national and international language which was carried by colonists and traders all over the world. It became standard English because it was the language of the Court, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and then of Chaucer and Shakespeare What then of the language of Scotland, the northern variety of Anglo-Saxon, which was by the fourteenth century the language of the Scots court? In the two centuries after the Wars of Independence, it continued to diverge from the Midland version of English – though it was still known in Scotland as ‘Inglis’, with ‘Scottis’ being applied to Gaelic. There was a flowering of literature, the first great Scottish poets, Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas, who translated The Aeneid and seems to have been the first Scottish writer to call his ‘Inglis’ language ‘Scottis’.
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Quite evidently a language capable of being used to translate Virgil’s epic is on the way at least to being a full language which can be employed for any purpose. By the mid-sixteenth century a strong and vigorous Scots prose was also being written. Then the progress was halted. First, with the Protestant Reformation, the vernacular Bible came to Scotland in English, not Scots. Second, with the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the royal court was transplanted from Edinburgh to London. This led to the gradual anglicisation of the Scottish governing class. They might still speak Scots north of the Border, but if they wished for careers at Court, they had to learn ‘correct’ English. This process accelerated after the Treaty of Union of 1707. By the mid-eighteenth century Scottish intellectuals like David Hume, Adam Smith, the historian William Robertson, and James Boswell were all writing in English, not Scots, and even striving to eliminate ‘Scotticisms’ from their writing. Consequently Scots failed to develop fully as a language capable of being used for all purposes. In the 1930s the poet Edwin Muir observed that there was no such thing as a Scots prose, an exaggeration, but only a slight one. Scots was, and is, still used for dialogue in novels and plays (some of the best writing in the Waverley novels is the Scots dialogue) but nobody wrote history or philosophy or criticism in Scots, partly because it limited their readership, but principally because the language was inadequate for such purposes. Scots was therefore an undeveloped language, still spoken throughout Lowland Scotland, still a vehicle for the fine poetry of Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns, but too limited for other functions. Burns wrote his letters in ‘correct’ and vigorous English. In the 1920s Hugh MacDiarmid led a Scots revival, yet even he turned to standard English when he was exploring philosophical and scientific themes. This is where we are today. Scots is still spoken and often written, but the language of public discourse is Standard English. This is unlikely to change even if we vote to resume our Independence; Scots is too close to English to be re-created as a separate language. It is not a dialect, but an incomplete language, and one which will probably never be completed.
By the mid-1700s Scottish intellectuals like Hume and Boswell were even striving to eliminate ‘Scotticisms’ from their writing
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The Law Man Words Malcolm Little
The Law
man
A LOVER, GAMBLER, FIGHTER AND VISIONARY ECONOMIST WHO SINGLE-HANDEDLY BROUGHT MIGHTY FRANCE TO THE BRINK OF ECONOMIC RUIN, JOHN LAW WAS AN INTELLECTUAL COLOSSUS OF HIS AGE
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e was a genius who ran the most powerful country in the world, and designed a dazzling plan to make it the richest, too. He set in motion the most audacious and vast development scheme in history, and conducted himself honourably in all his financial dealings. Yet he became despised by his adopted people and is virtually unknown and forgotten in his native land. The chances are that John Law is the most important Scotsman that you’ve never heard of. A visionary mathematician and economist of extraordinary intellect, his work setting up what was effectively the first national bank, complete with the first widelycirculated paper money, laid the foundations for the global banking system that we have today. Yet in an uncanny echo of our current sovereign debt crisis, the French national bank that he set up was brought to its knees by overoptimistic subprime-style investments in Mississippi, taking the most powerful country in Europe to the brink of bankruptcy. Law’s central role in that debacle ensured that he ended his days in Venice on 21 March 1729 as a 57year-old pariah buried beneath a mountain of opprobrium. Yet for most of his life he enjoyed a gilded existence, full of adventure and early promise. But it was a central accident of his birth – that Left: John Law invented he was born into a well-known famthe modern system of ily of bankers and goldsmiths from Fife capitalism still in use. – which was to guide his path in life and lead to his spectacular downfall. Born on Edinburgh’s High Street in 1671, he was the eldest son of John Law, a banker who bought Lauriston Castle estate on the Forth at Cramond when Law was 12. His son’s ability to mentally compute complicated odds and calculations wasn’t lost on John senior, and aged just 14 Law was put to work in the family business. A great beau of the city’s young ladies
Having slipped the Calvanist leash and flown to London, Law the dandy lost no time in hitting the gaming tables while also conducting a string of amorous affairs
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‘‘ Committed to Newgate prison and condemned to death, Law then drugged his guards and escaped to The Hague
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The Law Man
thanks to his impeccable manners and enormous charm, and an enthusiastic gambler, Law prospered under his father’s guiding influence. But when law Senior died on a Paris operating table in 1688, the 17-year-old saw his chance to spread his wings and immediately migrated to London. Having slipped the Calvinist leash, Law the dandy lost no time in hitting the gaming tables while also conducting a string of amorous affairs. It was a high-octane lifestyle that soon unravelled when, despite his prodigious ability to predict odds mentally, he lost his entire fortune (including LauLeft: ‘John Law House’ riston) on the turn of a card while drunk. in Rue Quincampoix, Even worse, it transpired that he had been Paris. Above: A Dutch having an love affair with Lady Elizabeth political cartoon of Law published in 1720. Villiers, the mistress of Prince William of Orange. Honour demanded that love-rivals fight a duel, and Law killed Edward Wilson in Bloomsbury Square on 9 April, 1694, was committed to Newgate prison and condemned to death.
Ever resourceful, Law drugged his guards and escaped, crossing to The Hague and working for the British legation, which was then deeply involved in wartime diplomacy and in foiling Jacobite plots. During his stay in Holland, Law became fascinated by how the Dutch, with a population of under two million, had come to dominate world trade and amass enormous national wealth. By 1697, he was convinced that these achievements were thanks to the Dutch entrepreneurial spirit, unleashed by civic freedoms and underpinned by easy credit from Amsterdam’s impeccably trustworthy Wisselbank. From then on Law was no longer content to be a rich, high-rolling gambler; he would be a creator of wealth and affluence on a national scale. Law researched the great commercial centres of Augsburg, Nuremberg, Venice, Genoa and Piacenza. He also visited Brussels, devastated by Louis XIV’s mindless cannon-fire in his quest to crush the detested Protestant Dutch; and Paris, where he renewed friendship with the Duc de Chartres, the nephew of the French king, that had blossomed in Brussels. Law then returned to Scotland, newly brought to its knees by the utter catastrophe of the Darien expeditions. Honing his theories amid a ferment of anti-English feeling, he presented his ground-breaking economic treatise Money and Trade Considered to the Scottish Parliament on 4 May, 1705, only for it to be summarily rejected. The next year, still an escaped criminal and seeing union with England around the corner, Law departed Leith for the last time. His search continued through setbacks, roguery, trials and failures. Yet he remained undaunted, touring the continent and studying its entire economic system. Europe was in turmoil SCOTS heritage summer 2013 23
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and at a colossal turning-point in its history; commercially, the Dutch were in the ascendant, but London and Great Britain were rising fast. Law could do little but shout from the sidelines until, in September 1715, Louis XIV died and was succeeded by Law’s friend the Duc de Chartres (now the Duc D’Orleans) as Regent for the fiveyear-old Duc d’Anjou. The French, crippled by war debts, hated the rise of the Protestant Dutch and British, and the new Regent knew that the key to bolstering French power lay in transforming the nation into a trading and commercial powerhouse. Law had long spoken to his friend the Regent about his plan for a Banque Generale and it was finally given the go-ahead. On 1 June 1716 he rapidly introduced a series of new policies: a soundly-backed paper currency, lower interest rates and low-cost loans which fostered confidence, brought stable prices, higher production and employment. Industrial output increased by 60% in just two years as the number of French ships engaged in export rose from 16 to 300. In September 1717 Law acquired the lease to develop the 1.5-million-square-mile territory of Louisiana and set about the unprecedented project. He acquired the royal mint and the monopoly of overseas trade, implementing major civil engineering schemes. With Law suggesting huge returns from the Mississippi Company, economic and share-activity boomed and foreign investors flooded into Paris. The Scotsman, benefactor of the poor, was showered with titles and privileges; he was the darling of France. Law was now effectively single-handedly running the gargantuan Mississippi operation and the French economy. His system depended on good governance and tight financial regulation, but there was widespread corruption, with banknotes returned for burning being pocketed and the bank issuing more notes than it had coinage, leading to inflation. Law had wrongly assumed that the Mississippi Valley would yield riches akin to those of South America, so when bad news filtered back from Louisiana, his investors soon began to suspect that the Mississippi Company was a 24 www.scots.com
dangerous financial bubble and began trying to converting their banknotes into coin which the bank didn’t possess, leading to a run on the bank. Law had turned persuaded the Duc D’Orleans to turn the Banque General Privee into the Banque Royale in 1718, effectively meaning that the notes were underwritten by the King, so when in 1720 Law’s opponents tried to remove their money en masse, the monarchy itself came under serious threat. His debauched and sexually depraved sponsor the Duc, undermined by a relentless series of scandals, was in no position to defend him, and stripped Law of the title of Surintendant des Finances for France. After staying on to oversee the conversion back to the old system (which would lead to the French Revolution) on the night of 10 December 1720 he was forced to flee Paris disguised as a woman for his own safety. Despite assurances from the Duc D’Orleans, his possessions and property portfolio were seized. Penniless and shunned, Law moved to Brussels. He eked out a living gambling for small stakes over the next decade with a notable lack of success in Rome, Copenhagen, London and Venice, where in 1729 he died in poverty, marked only by a monument erected by the Marquis de Lauriston, one of Napoleon’s finest generals. An audaciously original thinker and a character of almost superhuman energy and selfconfidence, the man who had created ideas as fundamental to us as a central bank, paper money, increasing the credit supply and issuing shares, was dead and his enemies in London and Paris rejoiced at his demise. His countrymen took little pleasure in his death, but shared the shame of his failure. Then, as now, success has a hundred fathers while failure is an orphan.
The Law Man
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Stripped of his title of Superintendant des Finances for France he was forced to flee Paris dressed as a woman
Far Left: Law lost his family home Lauriston Castle on the Forth on a hand of cards while drunk. Left: Louis XIV.
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Words Robert Low
Viking
burial THE VIKINGS HAD PILLAGED AND TERRORISED SCOTLAND FOR 500 YEARS, UNTIL THEY WERE FINALLY BEATEN AT THE BATTLE OF LARGS
T
Image: National Galleries of Scotland
here is a sky like pewter and a soaking haar everywhere. Bladderwrack and shingle pebbles have been strewn far up the rocks and those who have crept out in the rainwashed aftermath of the vicious storm can see dark, sinister shapes sliding through the mist, brooding shadows of familiar menace. Invaders … It could be the huddled and fearful of Elizabethan
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England, looking out at the Spanish Armada. It might be the lime-haired, painted Britons looking out at Caesar’s battle fleet. It might even be the ill-armed but determined Home Guard imagining hordes of Nazi landing barges. But the creeping fearful who crabbed down to the shoreline to peer at their assailants are Scots from a 13th century Largs and they are seeing an enemy which has struck black terror into them
The events that changed Scotland
from long before they were born, from a time when their granny’s granny warned them to behave ‘or the Vikings will get ye’. Battles are often cited as turning points in the history of a region. Stamford Bridge, Hastings, Waterloo and their ilk become fixed points in the mind of students of British history and for good reason – if the result had been reversed, I might well be writing this in Scandinavian, Saxon or French.
The Battle of Largs is a similar seminal event, yet it has gone largely unnoticed in the gloriAbove: The defeat of ous pantheon of history. Yet, it proved Hako, king of Norway to be the beginning of the end for the by Alexander III at infamous Vikings, the terror from the sea Largs 1263, painted by which had exploded on to history some William Brassey Hole at the Scottish National 500 years previously and been a bloodPortrait gallery soaked horror to Scots ever since. In that time, the Danes and NorweSCOTS heritage summer 2013 27
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gians had punished the Picts and smashed the Saxons. They had ravaged and conquered almost all of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales – but, by 1263, stubborn, dogged resistance had rolled this back. By 1263, Scotland had coalesced into a nation under Alexander III and, at the same time, the Norse had been levered out of almost all of the British Isles. They still held a hem of menace round the fabric of this newbirthed nation - Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles were all firmly in the grip of the Norwegians. Alexander III’s father had attempted to buy the islands from the Norse, to no avail. Alexander the son now proceeded to exert pressure on the Norse lords of the Isles to get them to see matters in a Scots way, with raids and threats. It got so bad that, eventually, King Haakon of Norway got together an army and set sail in 1263 to force Alexander III to keep his hands off the Western Isles. History remains ambivalent about the size of this force – the Scots, ludicrously, portray 20,000 men, presumably on the grounds that the bigger the enemy you defeat, the greater the victory. However large the Norse force was, it was considerable and enough to set Alexander III to worrying. His opponent was known as Haakon the Old and the Norway of 1263 was no fragmented collection of petty Norse jarls and raiding chiefs. This was an established medieval kingdom, sophisticated and energetic, ruled for 40-odd years by a king who had connections with other European monarchs and prelates, including the Pope himself. His reign, in fact, is generally considered to be the golden era of medieval Norway. When this Norse army sailed down the west coast, burning and pillaging, it became a matter of serious concern to a young, untried Scots king – and the fractious nobles he commanded. When Haakon, upping the pressure of this ‘longship diplomacy’ sent a force up into Loch Long it
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Image: Billy Picket
The Norse army sailed down the west coast, burning and pillaging as they went
The events that changed Scotland
Above: The author cuts a scary figure as a Viking in full war cry at a recent Battle of Largs re-enactment.
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‘‘ Image: BBill McKelvie/Shutterstock
A few hundred men fought a bloody, vicious little fight on the rocks until both sides broke apart to lick their wounds
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The events that changed Scotland set the Scots into conniptions. And when this force dragged their ships over the short strip of land at Arrochar – one-and-a-half miles – into Loch Lomond, panic set in. Raiding down Loch Lomond meant that the Vikings were now far inland, yet still capable of escaping on water. It threatened places with strong racial memories of the Vikings of old and, for all the sophistication of Christian medievalism, the Norway of Haakon still exuded that monstrous menace. Alexander, the young Scottish king, was a calm, deliberate, prevaricating commander. He seemed to acquiesce to the Norse pressure, started talks back and forth, made a show of appeasement – and all the time, the last days of summer slid quietly away into autumn … Haakon was not blind to this and turned the screw a little tighter – he moved to a handy island base, within easy sailing distance of the Scottish mainland, hoping that this threat of raid and pillage on the heartland would force a decision in his favour. The island was Cumbrae and, just across from it was a small, miserable fishing village called Largs, lying in the lands of the lordly Boyles. Alexander kept talking – and the autumn dragged on. Anyone who has visited, or lived in that part of the world will know that it is simply a matter of time, now as then, before a ‘big blaw’ arrives. When it did, Haakon’s ships were beaten and battered by it – and five broke loose. Worst of all, they were fat merchant vessels full of supplies for the army. Worse even than that, they were blown on to the Largs shore, where the local defenders – ably assisted, no doubt, by a sudden influx of strangelypatriotic volunteers – handed out some payback by plundering one of them. Haakon, anxious not to lose such a lot of valuable supplies as winter approached, sent forces to chase the Scots off and secure the vessels. They then started to repair them in the hope of getting them away. The local defenders were reinforced and counter-attacked. It is possible that the ancestor of the present-day Lord Glasgow – who tells me it isn’t everyone who can claim that the Vikings were beaten in a battle at the bottom of the garden – was involved in the fore. The Boyles got their local Kelburn estates from a grateful Alexander as a result, so they must have been prominent in taking on the invaders. Next day, Haakon sent more men. Some reports state that he arrived in person and that, during the course of that day, the Scots army came up from Ayr and was commanded in perAbove: The Pencil son by King Alexander. Accounts monument in Largswas differ – there are around eight erected to mark the different versions of the battle, battle that finally rid Scotland of the Vikings. from the Norse account of the battle as early as 1265 through The Chronicle of Melrose, The Chronicle of Man and The Chronicle of Lanercost, the Fordun and Wyntoun Chronicles and 16th
century writers Hector Boece and Raphael Holinshed. No matter who you believe, the end result is always the same – the Norse left, with or without all their stricken ships. There is no evidence that the bulk of the Norse army landed, or that thousands of men struggled for possession of the kingdom. It is likely that a few hundred men fought a bloody, vicious little fight on the rocks of Largs until both sides broke apart to lick their wounds and the Norse quit the fight. Since most such fights of this period took place between relatively small numbers of men, this does not detract much from the significance of the affair. The Vikings leave forever In the end, Haakon abandoned the expedition and sailed back to Kirkwall on Orkney. It might have been a sensible strategy for a man facing winter and more storms – or it may have been the disillusionment of an old man worn out by the exertions of such a campaign. It may well be, as some historians allege, that he had been wounded in the affray. No matter the truth of it, the facts are unimpeachable – he died on Orkney nine days before Christmas and his son, Magnus, was disinclined to pursue the affair of the Western Isles. After all the shed blood and his father’s vehemence, Magnus sold the islands to Alexander III. It was the end of the golden age of Norway, the last time the Vikings ever descended on a British shore – and the beginning of a long period of Scottish peace and prosperity which, if not a golden age, then was certainly gilded in comparison to what came after. The shine went off it, of course, 23 years later when the same Alexander III, now old, drunk and lusting after his new young bride, rode his horse off a cliff. The resultant heirless kingdom spiralled into factions and arguing, into Edward I, Wallace and Bruce … But that’s another story. Robert Low is a member of www.glasgowvikings.co.uk. His latest book The Lion Rampant is out now.
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Words Morag Thorburn Images National Trust for Scotland
Brodie
castle
THESE NOSTALGIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF LIFE AT BRODIE CASTLE ARE A BEAUTIFUL REMINDER THAT THE FORTIFIED TOWER HOUSE OF CLAN BRODIE WAS ALSO ONCE A FAMILY HOME
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Bygone Scotland
Each generation of the Brodie family has put its stamp on the building
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enerations of Clan Brodie have resided within the ample walls of Brodie Castle. In fact, the last clan chief lived there up until 2003. It is unclear exactly how long the castle has stood, as centuries of records were destroyed in a fire set by a rival clan in 1645, but it is thought that Robert the Bruce granted the land that the castle is built on to the Brodie family in 1311 and that the present structure was built in the 16th century. Since then each generation has put its stamp on the building, but it was in the early Left: David, or Kuropatkin 1900s, when the Brodies began to take photoas the family called him, graphs and create albums, which now provide a with Sandy the dog in fascinating record of family life at the castle. May 1908. David died of diphtheria aged 6. Above: It is likely that many of these pictures were Brodie Castle today. taken by family members including Violet Hope, who married Ian Brodie and lived in the castle. Violet was a keen artist and filled many albums with her photographs, sketches and watercolour paintings. SCOTS heritage summer 2013 33
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In the 1900s the Brodies began to take photographs of family life at the castle
Above: Guns and beaters celebrate a successful day’s shooting; the Victorian and Edwardian era was the apogee of shooting in Scotland. Right: Mr JP Grant, Ian Brodie, Violet Brodie and Mr C Eliot enjoy a picnic at Brodie with their ever-present and clearly much-loved dog Sandy.
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Bygone Scotland
Photo album left: Renowned daffodil breeder, Rev George Englehart in his narcissus field at Appleshaw. His influence can be seen in the 400 varieties of daffodils growing at Brodie today. Photo album centre: David with his nursemaid. Photo album right: Unidentified lady on West Drive.
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Violet Brodie was an artist and filled many albums with her photographs, sketches and watercolour paintings 36 www.scots.com
Bygone Scotland
Above: Caldie brodie, Ian Macpherson, Ian Brodie, Vere Brodie. Below: Ian’s sister, Caldie Brodie and Henry the foal, June 1909. Left: All set for an afternoon out with the ponies and trap. Photo album left: Vere Brodie and Kuropatkin, June 1905.
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It is thought that Robert the Bruce granted the lands on which Brodie Castle is built 38 www.scots.com
Bygone Scotland Far left: Picnic with Kuropatkin and his brother Michael, nicknamed Peter the Great in 1911. Left: Ian and Sandy. Photo album left to right: Kuropatkin and Mr Monkey; Ian and Vere Brodie and friends; Hugh MacKenzie working on the drive. Bottom right: Colonel Duff, Mrs Duff, Mrs G St Quintin, Mrs G Elliice and others on a hare shoot.
BRODIE CASTLE is looked after by the National Trust for Scotland: BRODIE CASTLE Forres Morayshire IV36 2TE Tel: 0844 493 2156 WWW.NTS.ORG.UK
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Main image: Margaret Eliott of Redheugh, the clan chief. Far right: The Elliot arms above the door at Redheugh.
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Clan Elliot Words & images Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor
Clan
elliot
FEW SCOTTISH FAMILIES HAVE A HISTORY AS TUMULTUOUS AND VIOLENT AS THE BORDERS CLAN LEGENDARY FOR ITS FIGHTING AND REIVING PROWESS
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oday Liddesdale in Roxburghshire is a pretty tourist spot, well worth a visit. Five hundred years ago this was a land of murder and blackmail. There is a story that a stranger came seeking shelter on a wild night. ‘Are there no Christians to be found?’ he pleaded after another door was slammed in his face. ‘No,’ came the reply. ‘Just Elliots and Armstrongs.’ The Elliots are one of the great riding clans of the borderlands. Their story is one of conflict and survival. Approaching the valley gives a feeling of entering forbidden territory. The route follows east from Canonbie and neighbouring Armstrong country. The land that flanks the border with England is a mix of the wild and beautiful. When the wind whistles up the valley on a dark night you can imagine the riders and raiders of yesteryear. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Liddesdale was an unforgiving place. It was here
that families like the Elliots held the line against English marauders. They lived in ‘debateable’ lands, because no-one knew which country they belonged to. These terrifying riding men came to be known as reivers, and they could quickly traverse the harshest countryside on their small, black ponies. The Elliots were said to be among the finest horsemen in Europe. The main valley is easy to defend. It was good for a surprise attack; rolling hills and deep gullies in which to hide before a raid. The place is still much as it was, with the River Liddel meandering its way towards the River Esk, which in turn flows into the Solway Firth. At the border with England at Kershopefoot, English and Scottish prisoners were traditionally exchanged. Today farms and forestry blocks dot the landscape. Then there is Newcastleton, known as an Elliot village. The present chief, Margaret Eliott of Redheugh, (yes that is correct, there are dozens of ways to spell the
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In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Liddlesdale was an unforgiving place. It was here that families like the Elliots held the line against English marauders
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Clan Elliot
Image: Grant Glendinning/Shutterstock
Image: The forbidding Hermitage Castle was key to controlling the Middle March for 400 years.
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name) lives close by in a once-defensive peel tower. Madam Eliott must be one of the few chiefs who actually lives in her clan lands. One of only nine lady chiefs, she is passionate about her clan. Born and brought up at Redheugh, there is not an aspect of the surrounding land that she does not know about. She is very Above: Lord Heathfield held off the Spanish at knowledgeable about Elliot history. Gibraltar and was one of Margaret Eliott became chief 22 years Britain’s finest generals. ago on the death of her father, Sir Arthur Right: An Elliot reiver. Eliott of Stobs. With invaluable research help from his wife, Frances, Lady Eliott, he wrote the first comprehensive history of the clan in 1974. This was despite most of the records being 44 www.scots.com
burnt in a fire at the family home, Stobs, in 1712. This record of the family led to the forming of the Elliot Clan Society. It is run, by the chief, from Redheugh, just like the old days, except now it operates on a global scale. They have a membership of some 1,500 people from Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. It is splendid to find a clan intact and thriving in its traditional lands.
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fell at Flodden, along with others of his clan and ten thousand other Scots including King James IV. One of the results of the 1513 battle was the end of good governance in the borderlands. Thus began the rise of the reivers. The Elliots were stuck between two hostile nations. It is hard to imagine how desperate borderland life was in the 1500s but it is safe to say it was a time when no man could walk safely or sleep soundly. Scot fought English, then Scot fought Scot. The Elliots feuded with the Scotts of Buccleuch. Rather unwisely they also took issue with the Earl of Bothwell, soonto-be husband of Mary, Queen of
Borderland life in the 1500s was a time when no man could walk safely or sleep soundly
Image Jas Gibson/Alamy
Here local Elliot names are prominent: Wolflee, Redheugh, Braidlee, Arkleton, Falnash, Thorlieshope, Larriston and Hermitage. But, according to legend, the Elliots originated from much further north, near Alyth at the entrance to Glenshee in Angus. It is said they migrated south with Archibald the Grim, Earl of Angus, who became Laird of Liddesdale, as the Red Douglas when they were asked to help defend the border against the English. Robert Elwald of Redheugh, who lived in the late fifteenth century, is believed to be the father of the clan. His son, also Robert, was keeper of the castle known as ‘the guardhouse to the bloodiest valley in Europe’. The Elliots came to be captains of mighty Hermitage as a consequence of their loyalty to Robert the Bruce. His illegitimate son, Robert, was given the Lordship of Liddesdale, and needed a numerous, strong, reliable clan to maintain order in what was a lawless region of Scotland. Robert the 13th Elliot chief, fought and
Clan Elliot
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Scots. When Bothwell was stabbed in a clash with the Elliots near Hermitage Castle – wee Jock Elliot is said to have struck the blow, from which comes the family saying, ‘Wha daur meddle wi’ me?’ – some four thousand soldiers descended on Liddesdale and devastated Elliot lands. When, in 1603, the Scottish king, James VI, went south to become king of England, the Union of the Crowns meant that the Elliots’ time as a marauding family was over. As English troops came north to pacify the borderlands, the clan was broken. Some fled, others were transported to Northern Ireland, from where they made their way to North America. Those who were left supported the crown and were rewarded by Charles II, who creAbove: Margaret Eliott’s ated Gilbert Eliott 1st Baronet of Stobs. He is a direct ancestor of the present chief. father. Right: The Elliot clan room. Far The Elliots who left Liddesdale continued right: The 4th Earl was to use their reiving and martial tradition Viceroy of India. to survive, becoming soldiers and sailors, and fighting with great distinction in the Napoleonic Wars. One was General George Eliott, the eighth son of the 3rd Baronet of Stobs, who raised the first light cavalry regiment in the British army. Officially named the 15th Light Horse, it was more affectionately known as Eliott’s Horse. But Lord Heathfield, as he became, is most renowned for commanding the defence of 46 www.scots.com
Gibraltar against the Spanish and French. The siege in 1779 lasted just over three years, with every attack repulsed despite the defenders almost starving to death. It was the leadership of General Eliott that inspired them to win. The siege of Gibraltar became legendary. Three Hanoverian Regiments adopted the motto ‘Mitt Eliott Rhum und Sieg’ – ‘With Eliott Fame and Victory’. This must be the only occasion in which a clan has become part of a regimental motto. Even
Clan Elliot from Minto crags, is modelled on the 4th Earl’s son, Esmond Elliot, who was killed with the Scots Guards at Ypres in 1917. Much has been made over the years of the fighting prowess of the Highland clans, but the Scottish borderers were equally fearsome. Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, who led the English vanguard at Flodden, said they were ‘the boldest men, and the hottest that ever I saw in any nation’. For a time Elliot chiefs lived in America. Like chiefs from other clans – such as the Macneil – they returned to Scotland to reclaim their ancient lands. Sir Gilbert Eliott, 10th Baronet, did just that and bought Redheugh, where the current chief now lives. She has established a thriving clan museum, runs the clan society, and edits the magazine. Every four years she holds a gathering in the grounds of her home and two hundred clansmen and women come from afar. The Liddesdale countryside is alive with bright blue and red tartan, the sett chosen by the 2nd Countess of Minto from a selection presented to her by a journeyman tailor in preparation for the King’s visit to Edinburgh in 1822 . It is nice to think that given a turbulent history the sound of the pipes echo cheerfully across the borderlands.
ELLIOT CLAN GATHERING 29 AUGUST – 1 SEPTEMBER 2013
WWW.ELLIOTCLAN.COM
the great Robert Burns was moved to write: ‘Yet let my country need me, with Eliott to lead me, ‘I’d clatter on my stumps at the sound of the drum’ Another branch of the family had a no less exciting life. They became Earls of Minto; soldiers, diplomats and serious colonial officers. The 4th Earl was Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India. The war memorial in the quiet village of Minto, near Hawick, is testament to this service. The face of the soldier atop the rocks, excavated
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Bluffer’s
guide
Right: Sir Gilbert ElliotMurray-Kynynmound, the 1st Earl of Minto. Below: Billy Elliot, a member of the Border clan’s diaspora.
TEN IMPORTANT FACTS THAT EVERY ASPIRING MEMBER OF CLAN ELLIOT SHOULD KNOW
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There are numerous theories as to the origins of the Elliot name. Many believe it stems from the village of Elliot, in Angus. However, the common early form of the name was the Old English ‘Elwold’. Other sources suggest the name was derived from a French form of ‘Elias’, which came from the biblical name ‘Elijah’. The Domesday Book also contains the name ‘Ailiet’, which leads to the modern Scottish spelling ‘Elyot’. There are four branches of the Elliot Clan: Arkleton, Minto, Redheugh and Stobs.
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The modern name ‘Elliot’ has a variety of different spellings. It most likely originated in the 13th century with Eliot, when a Geoffrey Eliot, Abbot of Hyde, is documented as having helped in the creation of the Magna Carta. It was in the 15th century when variations of this spelling began to appear. An old rhyme helps to explain these variations: ‘The double L and single T / Descent from Minto and Wolflee, / The double T and single L / Mark the old race in Stobs that dwell. / The single L and single T / The Eliots of St Germains be, / But double T and double L, / Who they are nobody can tell.’ In The Book of ScotsIrish Family Names, the last two lines read: ‘For double L and double T, / The Scots should look across the sea!’
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The early history of Clan Elliot is obscured as few records survive prior to the 15th century; it is likely that most of these were destroyed by a fire at Stobs Castle in 1712. What is known about this Borders clan is that it has existed with a recognised chief since the time of Robert the Bruce. In 1476 the tenth chief was Robert Elliot of Redheugh, in the strategically important Liddesdale valley. The Elliots became famous as one of the great Scottish riding clans. The 13th chief, Robert Elliot, was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The present and 29th chief is Margaret Eliott of Redheugh. 48 www.scots.com
The Elliot motto is Fortiter et Recte, ‘With Strength and Right’. An older motto was Soyez Sage, ‘Be Wise’. The Elliot badge is a raised fist holding a sword – probably a short sword called a ‘whinger’, which was used by a lightly-armed Borders cavalry known as mosstroopers. The motto is stamped into a leather belt surrounding the fist.
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Clan Elliot has a distinctive blue tartan, of which there are two types: the modern and ancient. Both are very similar but the ancient version is lighter in colour and less bold than the modern version because the dyes were made from plants and berries. The ancient tartan also has more condensed bands, with finer lines.
Clan Elliot
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There are a number of famous Elliots. General George Augustus Elliot (1717-1790) was a British Army officer who served in three major wars during the 18th century. He distinguished himself in the Seven Years War but is noted for his defence of Gibraltar during the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779-1783) during the American War of Independence. Sir Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound (1751-1814) was created the 1st Earl of Minto, and his great-grandson, Gilbert, the 4th Earl (1845-1914) broke his neck riding in the Grand National. He made a full recovery and was GovernorGeneral of Canada and Viceroy of India.
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Some of the Border Elliots were part of the notorious Border Reivers – plunderers and cattle thieves. In the early 1600s many were hanged, outlawed or banished after the pacification of the Borders. The most notorious Reiver was John Elliot of Park, the subject of a wellknown Border ballad called Little Jock Elliot – with the famous refrain: ‘My name is Little Jock Elliot, and wha daur meddle wi’ me!’
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The Elliots have always traditionally been allied with Clan Armstrong. Clan Elliot had a major feud with the Scotts in 1565, after Scott of Buccleuch executed four Elliots for cattle rustling. Three-hundred armed men from Clan Elliot rode to avenge these deaths, and the ensuing conflict left many casualties. The Elliots also had a dispute with Lord Bothwell, after Little Jock Elliot severely wounded him in 1566. On hearing of Bothwell’s plight, Mary, Queen of Scots rode to Hermitage Castle to attend him, losing her watch and other possessions during the hazardous journey from Jedburgh.
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According to clan legend, at the time of Robert the Bruce the clan Elliot lived in the north of Scotland and, through loyalty to the Crown, moved to the Borders to protect Bruce’s son, Lord Liddesdale, who was living in Hermitage Castle. The Elliot diaspora mainly covers the UK, parts of Ireland, North America and Canada. During the pacification of the Borders, many Elliots headed to Edinburgh and Glasgow, whilst many of the dispossessed Elliots headed to Ulster to become tenant farmers. Most ended up in Fermanagh, where today they, along with the Armstrongs and Johnstons, they comprise three of the five most common surnames. In the 19th century a number of Elliots moved to the north-east of England to become miners – indeed the award-winning film Billy Elliot, about a miner’s young son who yearns to be a dancer, was set in a mining town in County Durham. SCOTS heritage summer 2013 49
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Hermitage Castle
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Situated in the heart of Elliot country, five miles from Newcastleton – which is also known as ‘Elliot Village’ – the original castle was built in the 1240s by Lord de Soulis – who, according to legend, was boiled alive in a cauldron after selling his soul to the Devil. The present building was started in 1360 and completed by William, the first Earl of Douglas. For 400 years Hermitage Castle was a key to controlling the Scottish Middle March – and has been the scene of numerous battles and skirmishes. In the 15th-century the 10th Chief of the Elliots, Robert, was made captain of the castle, which is widely considered to be one of the eeriest in Scotland.
Heart
lands TEN PLACES THAT ALL MEMBERS OF CLAN ELLIOT SHOULD VISIT BEFORE THEY DIE
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4 HAWICK REIVERS FESTIVAL This annual event sees Hawick take a step back to the 16th century to celebrate the Border Reivers through drama, song, poetry and re-enactments. The festival takes place over three days and has an emphasis on family entertainment. Many of the events are free to the public, and include demonstrations of falconry, archery, horsemanship, a look at the craftsmen of the time and re-enactments. There are also concerts, guided walks, historical lectures and a wealth of other activities.
2013 ELLIOT CLAN GATHERING This year the Elliot Clan Gathering takes place at Redheugh between 29 August and 1 September. The gatherings are held every four years and there were over 250 Elliots at the last gathering, in 2009. This year’s event includes an open house, barbecue, formal gathering and ceilidh on 30 August and an expedition to Flodden Battlefield on Sunday 1 September. For details and tickets visit www.elliotclan.com
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STOBS CASTLE Situated about four miles from Hawick, the impressive Elliot bastion of Stobs Castle was destroyed by fire in 1792 and there are now no structural remains left, apart from the 18th-century gatepiers and a gate lodge, which dates from the 19th century. They sit at the entrance to Stobs Castle Home Farm, part of the 10,000-acre Stobs Estate that was bought by the War Office in 1902 to provide training facilities for the British Army – and continued to do so until the 1950s.
Langholm Common Riding As a riding clan, the Elliots are always keen supporters of the Borders Common Ridings. The Langholm Common Riding, which takes place on the last Friday in July, began after the settlement of a legal dispute in the 18th century, which ensured certain common rights within set boundaries. Every year these boundaries must be re-marked to maintain these rights. Horses have become an important part of the celebrations, and Common Riding kicks off with a ‘ride-out’ of horses on the hills that surround the town.
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Clan Elliot
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BATTLE SITES The reivers were a product of the constant Anglo-Scottish wars. And because of their horsemanship, the reivers regularly provided large numbers of the cavalry. There are four significant battles that involved the reivers: Otterburn (1388), Flodden (1513), Solway Moss (1542) and Ancrum Moor (1545). Otterburn and Ancrum Moor resulted in Scottish victories, whilst Flodden and Solway Moss were devastating defeats for the Scots. The sites (apart from Solway Moss) all have monuments and interpretative panels explaining more about the battles.
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MINTO The parish of Minto was the home of the Elliots for over four hundred years. It was the former site of Minto House, home of the Earls of Minto until World War Two, when it was requisitioned by the army. In 1972 the house was bought by the 6th Earl of Minto, Viscount Melgund. Minto House was built by William Adam and altered by William Playfair and was considered by many to be of underrated architectural value. However, in 1992 the Viscount Melgund had the house demolished, an act that caused a huge controversy at the time. The figure on the war memorial in Minto village is modelled on the 4th Earl’s son, Esmond Elliot, who was killed with the Scots Guards at Ypres in 1917.
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Located in the parish of Castleton in Roxburgh, Redheugh is the main settlement of the original Elliots, and home to the present chief, Margaret Elliott. Its name is derived from ‘Rede’, the burn that runs through the estate and the ‘heugh’ (bank) on which the tower stood. It was the first of a series of peel towers built within sight of each other up and down the valley as an early warning system. A charter for the lands of Redheugh was granted to a chief of the Elliots by Robert the Bruce around 1320. The original towers were probably destroyed in the 17th century. The present house was built in 1790-93.
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The Scottish Borders If you are considering a trip to the Scottish Borders there are numerous sites of historical and architectural interest to visit, including the abbeys of Jedburgh, Dryburgh, Kelso and Melrose and a wealth of castles and mansion houses, including Floors, Thirlestane, Roxburghe and Abbotsford, home of Sir Walter Scott. There are also a number of pretty towns, such as Kelso and Melrose, fantastic museums in Hawick and Jedburgh, plus some of the most picturesque scenery in Scotland.
The Elliot diaspora There are a number of places in Britain and beyond where Elliots have played a part in their development. There are those areas such as Fermanagh in Ulster, north-east England, America and Canada, where Elliots emigrated. There are also areas in which notable Elliots distinguished themselves, in countries such as Canada and India in particular. Elliot’s Beach in Chennai, India, is named after Edward Elliot, Governor of Madras between 1803 and 1820, and there is also an Elliot Lake in Ontario, Canada. SCOTS heritage summer 2013 51
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Image: Orhan Cam/Shutterstock
Words Colin Donald
Image: Scots influenced Lincoln’s thinking on ideology, politics and security.
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Abe’s Scots
Abe’s
scots
ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S MORAL COMPASS AND POLITICAL INSTINCTS WERE INDELIBLY INFLUENCED BY HIS MANY SCOTTISH CONNECTIONS
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n February 1861, on the brink of the American Civil War, newspapers friendly to the eleven seceding Southern states were full of unflattering reports about the new presidentelect, adding to the widespread contempt many then had for this obscure Western bumpkin. It was said that Abraham Lincoln, told of a plot to assassinate him in the pro-Southern city of Baltimore en route from his native Illinois to Washington, had sneaked into the capital disguised as a Scotsman. Cue a wave of hostile cartoons of the lanky Lincoln in full Highland dress, skulking in a cattle car, running away, or dancing a Highland fling.
In fact, the only basis for this was a reporter’s (invented) reference to his wearing a ‘Scots cap and plaid cloak’ instead of his trademark stove pipe hat and frock coat. Cowardice and absurdity were added to the reasons to regret electing a hick prairie lawyer at such a momentous time, when the so-called Confederacy was ripping itself apart from the United States. Fanciful the story may have been, but there was appropriateness to the new president being dressed up as a Scot, if only by the yellow press. In fact, Scots should take pride that the moral greatness brought so spectacularly to life in Daniel Day Lewis’s Oscar-winning performance in Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln, was largely constructed on Scottish foundations. The one fault in Tony Kushner’s screenplay for that film is
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that while it shows the president quoting from Hamlet, Henry IV and Macbeth, it omits any reference to the poems of Robert Burns, whose influence was as strong as that of Shakespeare. One recent study by Ferenc Szanz (Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns: Connected Lives and Legends) makes the point that not only did Lincoln translate the democratic principles of Burns’s poetry into politics, but that Burns’s life story and posthumous career as an object of international worship has many similarities with Lincoln’s own, including humble peasant beginnings, phenomenal selfAbove: Cartoon of education, thwarted love Lincoln fleeing in Scots affairs, satirical power, plaid. Right: This famous depressive tendencies, photo of Lincoln was taken by Scot Alexander premature deaths and Gardener. Far right: posthumous veneration. James Gordon Bennett. As one of Lincoln’s earliest biographers wrote in 1888, ‘What Robert Burns has proverbially been to the people of his native land 54 www.scots.com
and to certain extent all lands as a bard, Abraham Lincoln seems to have become to us.’ Lincoln ‘knew all of Burns by heart’ from his youth in Kentucky and Indiana. The sentiments behind such famous lines as ‘The rank is but the guinea’s stamp/the man’s the gowd for a’ that’ were arguably the most powerful influence on the humane egalitarianism and clarity of expression with which the 16th president remade American democracy. David Donald, the leading US historian of the period, claims that ‘Lincoln won the Civil War with words’. Those words were heavily influenced by those of Robert Burns. According to Szasz, Burns taught Lincoln the simplicity of language that made his great speeches stand out in an age of oratorical windbags. Learning Burns’s work by heart, he picked up the sense of rhythm and cadence that allow set pieces like the
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Abe’s Scots
Lincoln’s Burnsian ability to deploy satire earned him a reputation as a formidable stump performer Gettysburg Address to resemble a kind of political poetry. Likewise a Burnsian sense of wit and satire and Calvinist-derived hatred of pomp and circumstance. Jokes always played a major part in Lincoln’s approach even to the grimmest national emergencies. Although he gave up scathing satirical attacks as unsuited to a wartime president, the Burnsian ability to deploy satire to deflate bigger opponents – now seen as a generic Scottish trait - helped earn Lincoln a reputation as a formidable stump performer in the rough frontier politics of the 1830s, 40s and 50s, eventually making him the surprise Republican candidate for president. Lincoln’s Calvinist guilt Through Burns’s poetry Lincoln picked up his own complex view of Christianity, a subject that, as with Burns, has kept biographers busy ever since. In Lincoln’s case the other strong Scottish element in the mental world of the midWest of his youth was the legacy of the Covenanters, in which the entire nation was seen as chosen by God for a higher purpose, and therefore required ritual repentance for its sins. There were many calls for ‘days of fasting and humiliation’, which Lincoln did not sanction, and national days of prayer, which he did. This Calvinist sense of collective guilt was a constant background factor in Civil War mentality, which Lincoln put into words, in speeches like his Second InauSCOTS heritage summer 2013 55
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gural Address, which saw the war as a kind of a just expiation of the original sin of slavery. Historians have often noted the disproportionate influence of individual Scots and Scots-Americans on Lincoln’s world, although some have been much mythologised in the wake of Lincoln’s elevation to political messiah. Gordon Bennett! One such was Jack Kelso, a frontiersman who befriended the 20-something Lincoln in New Salem, Illinois. Described by one Lincoln biographer as ‘fat and lazy’, Scots-speaker Kelso was unusually well educated and deepened the young Lincoln’s love of Burns and Shakespeare. There are other Scots influences who are only remembered thanks to the myth of Lincoln. One was obscure Roxburghshire religious poet William Knox (1789-1825), whose gloomy poem, Mortality, was a Lincoln favourite, inspiring a youthful urge to be a poet himself. Another was Glasgow-born Presbyterian pastor James A Smith (18021862), a combative theologian who became close to the Lincolns following the 1850 death of their youngest child, Eddie. President Lincoln was later to appoint Smith to the post of US Consul to Dundee, where his widow 56 www.scots.com
Mary Todd Lincoln visited him on a tour of Scotland, home of her covenanting ancestors, in 1869. The two Scots-Americans who played the largest role in Lincoln’s public life have left more substantial marks on history. One was the famously mercurial (ie: untrustworthy) New York Herald editor James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872). One of the great 19th century newspapermen, Bennett was a Catholic immigrant from Banffshire whose pro-Southern sympathies and ability to stir up opposition to the draft made life extremely difficult for the president, especially when the war was going badly for the Union. Lincoln thought him ‘powerful for mischief ’ and the need he saw to placate and woo him materially influenced his conduct of the war, though it did not prevent Bennett’s frequent, sudden and bitter attacks. The other was the man who accompanied Lincoln on that much-regretted incident in Baltimore when Lincoln travelled incognito. Alan Pinkerton (18191884) was born in the Gorbals on the site now occupied by the Glasgow mosque, and emigrated to Dundee, Illinois in the 1840s, before opening a detective agency in Chicago in the 1850s, where he is credited with standardising techniques, including shadowing suspects and undercover opera-
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tions. He also played a key part in Union military intelligence operations during the Civil War. While Lincoln regretted the Baltimore episode, in which taking Pinkerton’s advice exposed him to ridicule, Pinkerton himself was never in doubt that he had saved Lincoln’s life, and always argued that the plot to kill Lincoln in 1861 was better organised than the one that actually succeeded in 1865. Lincoln’s assassination at Washington’s Ford’s Theatre by the actor John Wilkes Booth occurred when the president was guarded by an incompetent junior rather than the man from the Gorbals who, we can be sure, would not have allowed it to happen. Given that Lincoln’s strategic genius was key to winning the Civil War, it’s arguable that the United States owes its continued existence to the ideological inspiration of Burns and the alert professionalism of Pinkerton, two sons of Scotland.
Borders poet William Knox’s gloomy poem, Mortality, was a Lincoln favourite
Far Left: Lincoln is assassinated at the theatre. Left: Gorbalsborn Alan Pinkerton (left) foiled an earlier assassination attempt. Right: Reward poster for the capture of Lincoln’s murderer. Top right: Daniel DayLewis plays Lincoln.
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Words Lucy Strachan
Scotland’s starring
1
role
IF THE RIGHT LOCATION IS THE KEY TO A FILM’S SUCCESS, SCOTLAND DESERVES AN OSCAR
4 West Sands, St Andrews In what is surely one of the most memorable opening sequences in film history, Chariots of Fire (1981) starts with a group of young athletes running along an expansive beach to the sound of Vangelis’s stirring instrumental music. The beach, of course, is St Andrews’ West Sands (which brought audiences in the town’s cinema cheering to their feet), and the athletes were training for the 1924 Olympics. The story recounts the personal battles of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams as they fought to win gold for Britain.
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EILEAN DONAN CASTLE
Eilean Donan Castle has been used as a backdrop to several films, but the most famous is Highlander, starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery. The 1986 film tells the story of Connor MacLeod, one of a select band of immortal warriors. The castle at Kyle of Lochalsh is the dramatic setting as Connor and his clansmen set out for battle. Connor is wounded, apparently fatally, but when he fully recovers the next day (thanks to that handy immortality), he’s banished from the village.
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Glenfinnan viaduct
For decades, the Forth Bridge was Scotland’s most cinematic crossing, thanks to its role in The 39 Steps. But since Harry Potter arrived, that bridge has been superseded by the fabulous Glenfinnan Viaduct on the West Highland Line west of Fort William. The viaduct first appeared in 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, returning in The Goblet of Fire, The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Chamber of Secrets. Best viewed as the Jacobite steam train crosses it.
MOUND, EDINBURGH Restless Natives (1985) was in a similar vein to Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero. Two broke young men find a solution to their money problems by donning masks (a clown and a wolf-man) and holding up tourist coaches in the Highlands. It isn’t long before these modern-day highwaymen become a tourist attraction themselves – the scene where they run down the Mound to the cheers of adoring crowds remains a truly memorable moment of tartan cinema.
Ten of the best
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Rannoch Moor
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DUART CASTLE, MULL
Mull has seen some of Hollywood’s biggest stars come to film at its famous castle. In 1999 Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones shot their romantic thriller Entrapment there. It also features prominently in the 1971 film When Eight Bells Toll with Anthony Hopkins and Robert Morley. Before that, Prince Valiant, from 1954, starring James Mason, Janet Leigh and Robert Wagner, used Duart Castle to great effect.
Trainspotting is a very indoor, urban film which exposes cinema-goers to Edinburgh’s druggy, seedy underside. It does, however, have one scenic location: Corrour Station at Rannoch Moor, where Spud, Renton, Sickboy and Tommy spend a day out in the country. Needless to say, the appeal of the wild Scottish landscape is completely lost on them. Corrour Station now has a café and B&B run by the Scottish Youth Hostel Association.
PENNAN, ABERDEENSHIRE
Local Hero’s fictional West Coast village of Ferness was played by the pretty East Coast village of Pennan (it has no beach – those scenes were filled on the stunning sands of Morar near Mallaig.) The red telephone box next to the pier, where US oil executive Mac (Peter Riegert) calls his boss (Burt Lancaster) in the States, is an icon of Scottish cinema – but it was just a prop. For years, visitors from around the world were disappointed not CASTLEBAY, to find it, until the villagers of Pennan finally installed one BARRA to keep them happy. The Hebridean island of Barra did a fine job standing in for the mythical island of Todday in Whisky Galore!, the 1949 Ealing comedy. Both the film and the novel are based on real-life events from 1941, when the SS Politician sank off Eriskay and the islanders attempted to seize its cargo of whisky. In scenes of much hilarity, we see the islanders try to take advantage of their unexpected windfall, despite staunch opposition from the authorities on the mainland.
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FORTH RAIL BRIDGE
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One of Scotland’s most instantly recognisable landmarks, it’s little surprise that the Forth Rail Bridge has proved a popular location for film shoots. The bridge was famously used in the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock version of The 39 Steps, and also featured in the 1959 film version of John Buchan’s stirring anti-Boche tale of espionage. The bridge didn’t feature in the 1978 version of the film (instead, the Victoria Bridge on the River Severn was used), nor did it feature in the 2008 version. In Buchan’s novel, the bridge is never actually mentioned.
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Culzean Castle, Ayrshire
The Wicker Man, from 1973, is still rated as one of the scariest films of all time. The story is set in the Summer Isles, in the far north-west, but is actually filmed in Plockton, Kirkcudbright and Gatehouse of Fleet. Culzean Castle stands in as the mansion of Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), while the film’s nightmarish climax, when the Wicker Man is set alight, takes place at Burrow Head in Dumfries and Galloway.
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Words Richard Bath
Family
bonds IAN FLEMING WAS THE QUINTESSENTIAL ENGLISHMAN WITH A SCOTTISH ANCESTRY THAT WAS MIRRORED IN HIS MOST FAMOUS CREATION
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ike his most famous creation, James Bond, author Ian Fleming is the epitome of English cool. His father was the MP for that most Home Counties of constituencies, Henley-on-Thames, Fleming himself was born in Mayfair, and was educated at Eton and Sandhurst. His background could hardly have been more Establishment English. 60 www.scots.com
There are, however, some hints of a relationship with Scotland in his Bond novels if you know where to look. One of the homosexual villains from Diamonds Are Forever, for instance, is called Boofy Kidd, and is named after the nickname for one of Fleming’s closest friends, Arthur Gore, 8th Earl of Arran. And after the success of Sean Connery in Dr No, Fleming invented Scottish antecedents for Bond,
Courtesy Fleming Family
Right: Ian Fleming. Far right: Fleming’s mother, Eve, with Ian (right) and his brothers, Peter, Richard and Michael.
Genealogy
which ultimately led to the unforgettable scenes in the latest Bond movie, Skyfall, where Bond returns to the remote Scottish estate near Glencoe where he grew up for a memorably bloody shootout. If those Caledonian connections are so fleeting and tenuous as to be instantly disregarded, they mask a truth that would surprise all but the most nerdish of Bond fans: Ian Fleming’s background is Scottish. His mother may have been a true English beauty called Evelyn St Croix Rose, but his father’s family were as Scottish as Oor Wullie. His story begins in Dundee – or, more accurately, in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of northern Belgium, which is where his ancestors came from (Fleming is the ethnic name for someone from the region). It was an area known for its weavers, with its rich trading towns of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres weaving wool from the Low Countries into cloth. It was also an area that saw constant warfare, leading
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to waves of emigration. At some stage Fleming’s ancestors left Flanders and travelled via Kirkmichael in Perthshire to the port of Dundee, itself a weaving centre and a hothouse for the production of jute. Like all immigrants, the Flemings were intensely ambitious, but it was in the white-heat of the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century that the family fortunes took a serious turn for the better under John Fleming, Ian Fleming’s great-grandfather. John was the first generation of Flemings to work in Dundee, and was something of an entrepreneur who progressed from working as an overseer of warpers in a Dundonian jute mill to setting up a grocery business which quickly prospered and provided the basis for the family’s rapid ascent. In the 1861 census, John’s occupation is listed as the prestigious ‘tea merchant’, and although he primarily sold groceries, he would certainly have sold
Fleming’s father’s family were as Scottish as Oor Wullie
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Images this page: Courtesy Fleming Family. Top right: Photopolis/Dundee City Council
SCOTS heritage
tea too, so this was probably not an outand-out fabrication. It certainly pointed to a man with ambition. In his later years, John returned to his home parish of Kirkmichael in Perthshire to farm at Dalrulzian, Persie. When he died in 1858 at the ripe old age of 86, he was buried in the churchyard at Kirkmichael. His death was registered by another son named John Fleming, who lived in West Port, Dundee, which suggests that there are still relatives of Ian Fleming living in the city today. Although John is often described as a shopkeeper, and his sons’ childhood circumstances as ‘humble’, he nevertheless bequeathed them an invaluable entrepreneurial spirit and a stable home life. His small step up in the world was a major benefit for his sons, and none took greater advantage than Robert, who shared his father’s thirst for self-improvement. That same 1861 census showed that 16-year-old Robert was employed as a clerk in the yarn and cloth industry, and it was the fruits of this vibrant industry that were to make the family’s fortune. Throughout the nineteenth century Dundee’s jute industry made enormous profits, which were invested around the world. Robert’s talent was obvious from an early stage and he quickly rose in the Dundee jute hierarchy so that by 1873 he was helping to invest the profits from the mill. He did this by pioneering investment trusts, launching the Scottish American Investment Trust in 1873, but it was primarily his shrewd investments in the hugely profitable railway reconstruction 62 www.scots.com
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and expansion in post-Civil War America which really got the money rolling in. Having made his name, and with close business and personal links to American business goliaths such as J Pierpoint (JP) Morgan and Jacob Schiff of Kuhn, Loeb & Co, he set up his own investment bank Robert Fleming & Co in London and moved to Newport-on-Tay, the salubrious middle-class enclave just across the Tay Bridge, which was dominated by rich Dundee merchants. By the time he died in his sleep in his house ‘Tighnavon’ in Newport-on-Tay aged 88 in 1933, Robert had built the largest investment bank in the City of London, one which was eventually sold to Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000 for over $7bn. Fleming used his financial resources to provide a legacy for his home city, establishing the Fleming Collection of Scottish Art and the Fleming Collection Gallery, making generous bequests to the city and the new University College (the Fleming Gymnasium, opened in 1905, still bears his name). The Fleming Gardens Estate in Dundee was erected as a result of a gift of £155,000 Fleming made to improve worker’s housing. It was into this background of incredible wealth
The Flemings were conspicuously high achievers – Ian’s uncle Sir John was Lord Provost of Aberdeen, his other uncle Philip won a rowing gold medal at the 1912 Olympics
Genealogy
Left: Robert Fleming. Right: Newport-on-Tay. Bottom: Ian’s war hero father Valentine Fleming.
that Ian Fleming’s father, Valentine, was born in Newport-onTay. His was a conspicuously high-achieving family – his uncle Sir John Fleming was Lord Provost of Aberdeen and his uncle Philip won a rowing gold medal at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm – and his father Valentine was no different. After spending his early years living at Arnisdale House near Loch Hourn in Inverness-shire, he moved to England to become an MP in 1910 and then joined the Army at the age of 32 on the outbreak of war in 1914. A gifted soldier, he quickly rose to the rank of Major but was killed in 1917 by a German bombardment in Picardy, being awarded a DSO posthumously. His glowing obituary was written by his close friend Winston Churchill, but his body was buried at Arnisdale and his name etched onto the war
memorial in the west coast Scottish village of Glenelg. Valentine Fleming died aged 35, leaving behind a young wife and three sons, one of whom would celebrate his ninth birthday just a week after his father’s death. That child, Ian Fleming, may have been born in London, and his memories of his Scottish father may have been hazy, but throughout his childhood the Fleming boys would visit their rich grandfather Robert in Newport-on-Tay, and romp around the hills of Inverness-shire, with Ian’s older brother, famous travel writer Peter Fleming, later buried in Glencoe. England’s favourite son may have grown up in the bosom of Old Albion, but Ian Fleming’s good fortune was undeniably forged in Dundee. With thanks to Scottish Roots, Ancestral Research Service (0131 477 8214; www.scottishroots.com) SCOTS heritage summer 2013 63
SCOTS heritage
Words Elizabeth Swiergala Images Angus Blackburn
By
georgian DESIGNED BY THE FOREMOST ARCHITECT OF HIS TIME FOR THE EARLS OF FIFE, DUFF HOUSE IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S FINEST EXAMPLES OF GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE
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To this day, Adam’s original design, complete with missing wings, hangs on the walls of Duff House
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Duff House
Image: The front of Duff House near Banff, one of Scotland’s most impressive buildings.
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D
uff House in Banffshire was designed by no less an architect than the renowned William Adam (1689-1748) as the seat of the Earls of Fife. Adam was the foremost architect of his time in both Scotland and abroad; indeed his Baroque style spread far and wide, whilst his sons – in particular the renowned Robert Adam – would go on to dominate European architecture. The House was commissioned by William Duff, Lord Braco, who would later become the 1st Earl of Fife. Through his well chosen marriages and business dealings, the Duffs – an ancient Scottish family – became incredibly wealthy. In addition to Duff House he owned estates and property at Balvenie, Glenbuchat, Elgin and Edinburgh, to name a few. The foundation stone for Duff House was laid on 11 June 1735. Although the exterior was completed fairly quickly, it was over a century before the interior was finished, while Adam’s intended enveloping side wings were never added. This is most likely due to the two Williams, owner and architect, irrevocably falling out over the agreed cost of the build. To this day Adam’s original design, complete with missing wings, hangs on the walls of Duff House. The 1st Earl’s fortunes were linked to the rise of the Georgian monarchy. As a Member of Parliament for Banffshire from 1727 to 1734, he supported the crown during both the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745 – even though many members of his family were on the side of Bonnie Prince Charlie. He also never lived at Duff House; perhaps the failure to finish the Adam design dissuaded him. Instead the 1st Earl went on to die at the now demol66 www.scots.com
Duff House
Image: The drawing room at Duff House. The interior was completed by James Duff, the 2nd Earl of Fife.
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ished Rothiemay House, in 1763. William Duff ’s second son, James Duff (1729-1809) became the 2nd Earl of Fife, and was the first member of the family to reside at Duff House. He is credited with finishing off the interiors, including the grand staircase. Following his father into politics, James became a Tory MP for Banffshire. He married Lady Dorothea Sinclair (1739-1818) but it proved to be an unhappy marriage: it is even recorded that while at Duff House the Countess went as far as to attempt to shoot her husband. After the 2nd Earl’s death in 1809, the estate was inherited by his younger brother, Alexander Duff, who died two years later. The estate was then passed to Alexander’s eldest son, James, the 4th Earl of Duff, who had a distinguished military career in the British Army, the Austrian Army and the Spanish Patriotic Army at Cadiz – where he fought Napoleon’s forces in the Peninsular Wars. Indeed, there
It was an unhappy marriage: while at Duff House the Countess even went as far as attempting to shoot her husband
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is a portrait of the 4th Earl, wearing his medals, by Henry Pickergill after an original by Henry Raeburn, which currently hangs in the north drawing room. The Duff family continued to rise through the ranks of society, and reached its zenith in 1889 when Alexander Duff, the 6th Earl, married HRH Princess Louise, the eldest granddaughter of Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. He was created 1st Duke of Fife and Marquess of MacDuff, and this royal connection can be seen in the names of
Duff House
Main image: The drawing rooms are now galleries that have been stocked with masterpieces by the National Galleries of Scotland. Top left: The first stone was laid in 1735 and the exterior was finished in 1740. Bottom left: The sweeping staircase leads to the formal gardens.
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Duff House Royal Golf Club and Victoria Park, for example. In December 1911, the Duke and his family were shipwrecked off the coast of Morocco. Whilst the family survived, the Duke developed pleurisy and died in January 1912. He was buried in Mar Lodge Mausoleum in Braemar. The 1st Duke was the last of the Duffs to reside at Duff House. He left in 1906, after which the house was left to the people of Banff and MacDuff. Between the years of 1908 and 1913, and again in the 1920s, the house became an exclusive luxury country house hotel. Duff House’s connections with the then late Queen Victoria and reigning Edward VIII, as well as the benefits of sea air, country living and the crucial access provided by the Banff railway Station, proved this reincarnation a great success. The House was also promoted as ‘The Sportsman’s Paradise’ due to the exceptional quality of the golf, trout and salmon fishing and shooting on the estate. All quiet on Northern Front At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 Duff House was requisitioned for the war effort in order to be used as an internment camp. The House was made out of bounds to civilians and the Pioneer Corps put up an electrified fence. Search lights and machine gun pits were also installed, while nissen huts (made from concrete and corrugated iron) with their characteristic half-cylinder shape, were also quickly built and used as aircraft Image: This impressive stairwell hangers for RAF Banff. houses several portraits of members of the Duff family, Between 1939 and some of the wealthiest 1946 Duff House was inhabitants of north-east used as a military base, Scotland. first as an Allied headquarters for both Scottish and English regiments, as well as being the head70 www.scots.com
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With no warning, a Heinkel 111 bomber dropped two incendiary bombs through the main stairwell
quarters for the Norwegian Brigade in 1942, before finally becoming a base for the 9th Polish Lancers awaiting resettlement after the war. Troops based there include the 9th Battalion Gordon Highlanders, the 13th Battalion Highland Light Infantry and the 70th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The house was also home to captured members of the German Kriegsrmarine - such as those from the submarine U-26, which had been captured by the Destroyer HMS Rochester off the Irish coast on 1 July 1940. However, Duff House was not immune to attack. With no warning and no time to hide, the morning of Monday 22 July 1940 saw a German air raid on Duff House. A Heinkel 111 bomber attacked the then POW camp, dropping two incendiary bombs right through the main stairwell – fortunately both turned out to be duds. To this day it remains unclear why the Luftwaffe bombed Duff House when German POWs were being held there. Due to its geographical position location in the north of Scotland, Duff House became integral to the war effort on the Northern Front after Nazi Germany invaded Norway in April 1940 and established a pro-Nazi government under Vidkun Quisling. Duff House, with its secure site on Allied soil, became headquarters to the Norwegian Brigade in Scotland, from where they conducted sabotage missions against German ships and government buildings, as well as training Norwegian Resistance forces. A key, and often overlooked, benefit of this northern base was the ability to persuade Hitler that the Allies could invade Germany from the north, rather than through France. This forced the Germans to deploy 300-350,000 troops in Norway, which significantly reduced their numbers in Normandy and elsewhere. After the war, Duff House remained empty and unused until the 1950s. The exterior of the building was in a sorry state, victim of years of neglect, water damage, vandalism and theft. In 1956 the house was taken into care by what is now Historic Scotland. In the 1990s The National Galleries of Scotland agreed to provide a loan collection and the decision was made to create a gallery. After painstaking research and analysis and a cool £2 million, Historic Scotland completely renovated and refurbished the house, returning it to its position as one of the world’s greatest Georgian houses.
Duff House
IF WALLS COULD TALK Duff House ARTWORK The National Gallery of Scotland provides most of the House’s artworks. Highlights include works by Henry Raeburn, El Greco and Thomas Gainsborough. Duff House is currently showing an outstanding loan exhibition of drawings and paintings by impressionist seascape artist William McTaggart until 30 June. SANATORIUM From 1913-23 Duff House was a sanatorium at which Senior Physician Dr Edmund Spriggs conducted pioneering research into the then relatively unknown condition of diabetes. SMUGGLING In the 18th century smuggling on the north east coast was common, and the Duff family enthusiasticially joined in, buying fine teas, silks, wine and brandy as contraband from Portsoy merchant Alexander Brebner. THE DUFF MAUSOLEUM The grounds of Duff House provide lovely walks either south along the River Deveron or north along the Banff coastline. A walk through the Wrack Woods will take you past the ice house and the Duff Mausoleum, which contains the remains of 21 family members including the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Earls and three Duff children, one a six-year-old who died after an accident on the estate. THANKS To Duff House’s curator Rachel Kennedy. www.duffhouse.org.uk
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Words Stephen McMurray
new look
Islands in the
stream FORTH HAVE A FASCINATING THE MANY ISLANDS IN THE FIRTH OF G FROM RELIGION TO WAR HISTORY ENCOMPASSING EVERYTHIN
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SCOTS H e r i t a g e
m a g a z i n e
Now the official magazine of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, the new-look Scots Heritage magazine is an unbeatable read. With features on clans, genealogy, great Scots, the events which forged a nation, and a wealth of articles on Scottish history and culture, no other magazine is as successful at keeping Scots at home and abroad in touch with their heritage. To subscribe to Scots Heritage call the subscriptions number, fill out the form opposite and post to the relevant address or visit the website and click on subscribe. It couldn’t be easier.
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SCOTS heritage
Words Morag Thorburn Images Angus Blackbur n
Traditional artisans
Set in
stone JIMMY WYLLIE HAS BEEN CRAFTIN G CURLING STONES FROM AILSA CRAIG GRANIT E FOR 42 YEARS
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K
ays of Scotland have been producing curling stones in Ayrshire since the 1860s and Jimmy Wyllie is the third generation of artisans to take up the craft. His grandfather took over the business when he was a boy; Jimmy was doing odd jobs at the workshop from the age of six. That was 56 years ago. Between 800 and 900 stones are made each year at the workshop in Mauchlin e, most of which go overseas to North America and the continent. Kays produce stones for the Olympic Games, the Curling World Championships and most ice rinks who host curling around the globe. They have the exclusive benefit of being the only curling stone manufacturers to have access to the best raw material: Ailsa Craig granite. This right was granted to the company by the Marques s of Ailsa, whose family has owned the island since 1560. Curling stones are made from two different types of granite, both of which come from the famous volcanic plug in the Firth of Clyde. The surface of the stone that is in contact with the ice is a circular band about 5-6mm in width and about 125mm in diameter, made from a disc of hard-wearing Blue Hone granite. This is a fine grain stone which prevents water being absorbed as this would eventually freeze and expand, damaging the precious running surface. The other 90% of the stone is made from Common Ailsa, which is a much coarser grade stone. Curling has been an Olympic sport since the 1998 Winter Olympic s and the profile of the sport in the UK has been raised dramatically by recent successes like the Scotland women’s curling team’s victory over Sweden to take the title and the gold medal at the world curling championships in Riga, and the silver medal won by the men’s team. www.kaysofscotland.co.uk
Kays has the benefit of being the only curling stone manufacturer to have access to Ailsa Craig granite
SCOTS heritage summer 2013
which was was veryone associates the Firth of Forth, last glacial period, with formed by the Forth Glacier in the ever wondered about its famous bridges, but have you its waters? The islands the many islands dotted around tales. fascinating harbour but of the river are often overlooked from the Gaelic term for Inchgarvie Island, whose name derives underneath the Forth Image: King Alexander 1 ‘Rough Island’, Innis Garbhach, nestles sought shelter at Incholm Queensferry. The island Rail Bridge between North and South during a storm in 1123. of the Forth Rail Bridge provided a vital role in the construction acquired the island after the Forth Railway Bridge Company side west the on built was in the Nineteenth century. A pier cantilever central the for foundations of the island which allowed
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Coming soon
Image: Jimmy Wyllie with an Ailsa Craig granite curling stone.
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SCOTS heritage
Words Stephen McMurray
Islands in the
stream THE MANY ISLANDS IN THE FIRTH OF FORTH HAVE A FASCINATING HISTORY ENCOMPASSING EVERYTHING FROM RELIGION TO WAR
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veryone associates the Firth of Forth, which was was formed by the Forth Glacier in the last glacial period, with its famous bridges, but have you ever wondered about the many islands dotted around its waters? The islands of the river are often overlooked but harbour fascinating tales. Inchgarvie Island, whose name derives from the Gaelic term for ‘Rough Island’, Innis Garbhach, nestles underneath the Forth Image: King Alexander 1 Rail Bridge between North and South Queensferry. The island sought shelter at Incholm provided a vital role in the construction of the Forth Rail Bridge during a storm in 1123. after the Forth Railway Bridge Company acquired the island in the Nineteenth century. A pier was built on the west side of the island which allowed foundations for the central cantilever
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Above: The submarine defences around Cramond Island are exposed at low tide. Right: Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone’s depiction of wartime activity on Inchcolm.
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to be sunk. The island was fortified during both world wars and played a central role in defending the Forth Rail Bridge. Inchcolm Island lies a few miles east of Inchgarvie, just off the coast of the Fife town of Aberdour. The Island is named after St Columba, an Irish monk who supposedly visited the Island in 567. Similar to Iona, Inchcolm was long used as an exclusive burial site. King Alexander I had to seek shelter at Inchcolm during a storm in the Forth in 1123. After staying in cramped conditions with a hermit, the King then promised to build a monastery at Inchcolm and granted it to the Black Fathers of the Augustine Order. The monastery was later elevated to the status of an abbey in 1235.
War island Similarly to Inchgarvie, Inchcolm was heavily fortified during the first and second world wars to defend the Forth Rail Bridge and Roysth Navel Dock. The Royal Engineers constructed a munitions supply tunnel on the east side of Inchcolm as a store for the battery of guns. Cramond Island is connected to Cramond in North West Edinburgh at low tide, while at high tide it lies a mile from the shore. A stone burial cist has been found on the island, implying that it had 76 www.scots.com
significance to the ancient people who used to live along the coast of the Forth. Cramond Island was fortified during World War II to defend the coastline if enemy ships came up the Forth. A row of concrete pillars connecting the island to the mainland, constructed as a defence against submarines, is still clearly visible. Inchmickery Island lies in the middle of the Forth. The island gets its name from the Gaelic for ‘Isle of the Vicar’, implying a religious settlement. During World War II, Inchmickery was used as a gun emplacement, but it is now a designated bird sanctuary that is managed by the RSPB. Inchkeith Island lies several miles to the east of Inchmickery, in the middle of the Forth between Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy. The name has likely come from
Cramond Island was fortified during World War II in case enemy ships came up the Forth
Top: Crepesoles/Shutterstock, Left:
Imperial War Musuem
Islands in the stream
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Legend has it that Egyptian princess Scota left ancient artefacts on Lamb Island
the Gaelic, Innse Coit, meaning ‘wooded island’. In the 15th century, it was the site of an extraordinary experiment when King James IV sent a deaf and dumb woman from Edinburgh, along with two infants, to Inchkeith to discover what the original language of humans was. The woman was to nurse the infants until they came to the age of speech. It was hoped that when the children learnt to speak, they would reveal the original tongue. Rumours had it that the infants grew up speaking Hebrew! Inchkeith lighthouse was designed by Robert Stevenson and Thomas Smith and first became operational in 1804. Similar to the other islands in the inner Forth, Inchkeith was heavily fortified during World War I and World War II with a number of guns placed there. The lighthouse 78 www.scots.com
was automated in the 1980s, and the lighthouse keepers left the island. An animal sanctuary was set up for a few years, but the manager and animals ended up returning to the mainland. Fidra Island lies around two miles north west of North Berwick, with the island’s name believed to be Old Norse and to refer to the sizeable number of bird feathers found on the island. Its most prominent feature is the lighthouse which was designed by the Stevenson family in 1885. It is believed that Fidra inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Treasure Island. Lamb Island or The Lamb lies just along the coast from Fidra Island, and is likely to have been named after its shape in the water. Uri Geller purchased the island in 2009 for £30,000 as he believes the local legend that the Egyptian Princess Scota left ancient artefacts and buried treasure on the island. Craigleith Island lies off the coast of North Berwick and its name derives from the Gaelic for ‘grey rock’. Historically, the island was a rabbit warren, where they were bred for food but sadly the entire population was wiped out by a virus in the 1950s. The Bass Rock is located around three miles North East of North Berwick. No one is sure how it got its name. The Bass Rock is a steep volcanic
Islands in the stream against Charles’s Roman Catholic style religion and John Blackadder, one of the best known dissenters, was imprisoned on the Bass Rock and died there in 1686. In the lead-up to the Union of Parliaments, the Scottish Government was concerned that the Bass Rock may end up in rebel Jacobite control, so they granted ownership to Sir James Dalrymple and it has remained in the hands of the Dalrymple family ever since.
plug which reaches around 350 feet at its highest point. The island is famous for its huge colony of gannets and is a site of special scientific interest. The Bass Rock was for many centuries in the ownership of the Lauder family, who constructed a castle on the island before they eventually lost ownership of the Bass Rock in the 17th century during Cromwell’s invasion. The island then became a prison during the rein of Charles II, where many political and religious prisoners were sent. The Covenanters rebelled
Top left: Bass Rock is known for its vast gannet colony. Below left: Bass Rock was used as a prison for political and religious prisoners like the Covenanters. Top right: The bow of submarine K17 was torn off during the Battle of May. Above: A Stevenson lighthouse on Isle of May.
St Adrian’s grisly demise The Isle of May is the largest island in the Forth, situated at the mouth of the river. The name is possibly Old Norse in origin, meaning ‘Island of the Seagulls’. Another explanation is that the word May derives from the Scottish word ‘maiden’ and may well refer to female priestesses. One of the first residents on the island was believed to be St Adrian, a Fife missionary who was killed by Danish invaders in 875. The island had one of the earliest Christian churches in Scotland, founded in the 9th century, although in the 12th century King David I of Scotland expanded the church and founded a priory. The Northern Lighthouse Board purchased the island in 1814 and Robert Stevenson constructed a proper lighthouse in 1816. A smaller lighthouse was constructed in 1843. The smaller lighthouse is no longer in use and was established as a bird observatory in 1934. During one foggy night in early 1918, a number of Royal Navy warships and submarines accidentally collided near the island, with the result that two submarines were sunk and a number of other vessels were damaged. Over 200 men died in a notorious incident which sarcastically became known as the Battle of May Island. The island is best known for its wildlife and has been dedicated as a National Nature Reserve since the 1950s. Indeed, the island is an important breeding site for seals and seabirds, with an estimated 200,000 seabirds nesting on the island at the height of the breeding season. SCOTS heritage summer 2013 79
SCOTS heritage
Words Morag Thorburn Images Angus Blackburn
Set in
stone JIMMY WYLLIE HAS BEEN CRAFTING CURLING STONES FROM AILSA CRAIG GRANITE FOR 42 YEARS
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ays of Scotland have been producing curling stones in Ayrshire since the 1860s and Jimmy Wyllie is the third generation of artisans to take up the craft. His grandfather took over the business when he was a boy; Jimmy was doing odd jobs at the workshop from the age of six. That was 56 years ago. Between 800 and 900 stones are made each year at the workshop in Mauchline, most of which go overseas to North America and the continent. Kays produce stones for the Olympic Games, the Curling World Championships and most ice rinks who host curling around the globe. They have the exclusive benefit of being the only curling stone manufacturers to have access to the best raw material: Ailsa Craig granite. This right was granted to the company by the Marquess of Ailsa, whose family has owned the island since 1560. Curling stones are made from two different types of granite, both of which come from the famous volcanic plug in the Firth of Clyde. The surface of the stone that is in contact with the ice is a circular band about 5-6mm in width and about 125mm in diameter, made from a disc of hard-wearing Blue Hone granite. This is a fine grain stone which prevents water being absorbed as this would eventually freeze and expand, damaging the precious running surface. The other 90% of the stone is made from Common Ailsa, which is a much coarser grade stone. Curling has been an Olympic sport since the 1998 Winter Olympics and the profile of the sport in the UK has been raised dramatically by recent successes like the Scotland women’s curling team’s victory over Sweden to take the title and the gold medal at the world curling championships in Riga, and the silver medal won by the men’s team. www.kaysofscotland.co.uk
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Kays has the benefit of being the only curling stone manufacturer to have access to Ailsa Craig granite
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Traditional artisans
Image: Jimmy Wyllie with an Ailsa Craig granite curling stone.
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Words Dawn Zandstra
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Stevenson was enchanted by her vivacity and achievements
Island
rose
THE UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON AND HAWAIIAN PRINCESS, KA’IULANI SPARKED HER PASSION FOR SCOTLAND
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or the young Hawaiian princess, the four months during which she would run along the beach, shuttling between her leafy estate at Ainahau and the beachfront house occupied by Robert Louis Stevenson, were among the most important of her short, eventful life. She was only 13 when they parted for the final time, but the Scottish writer filled Victoria Ka’iulani’s fertile imagination with music and culture and Above: Young princess fun. The ideas and views that formed in her mind durKa’iulani in her riding ing that short time would stay with her forever, through gown. Right: Ka’iulani in the most turbulent period in her nation’s history. 1897 at the age of 21. Stevenson lent her books, sparking a love of literature that would last until her death at the age of just 23. The feted author and his sparky 13-year-old muse would laugh at her beloved peacocks and sketch each other, or Stevenson might play his flute for her. But mostly they would talk. And when they 82 www.scots.com
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talked, it was always of Scotland. Stevenson would regale her with legends and folk-tales from his homeland; tell her about life in his home town of Edinburgh, describing Princes Street and the Royal Mile in minute detail; and expound upon Scottish history and the castles that littered his land. She may have been an Hawaiian princess, but she was also halfScottish, the daughter of Archibald Scott Cleghorn, an upstanding Edinburgh merchant who had moved halfway around the world as a teenager and grown to love the Polynesian islands and their people. Archie had arrived in Hawaii as a 16-year-old to start a new life with his parents, with his father Thomas determined to be a scientific gardener. Instead, he started up a shop but died of a heart attack within the year. His distraught wife moved on to New Zealand but Archibald decided to stay, quickly building the drygoods store his father had founded into a thriving business that made him a very rich man. After dissolving an early marriage to a Hawaiian woman who bore him three children, the 35-year-old Archie married King Kalakaua’s 19-year-old sister, Princess Miriam Kapali Likelike (pronounced ‘lee-keh-lee-keh’). Five years later, in 1875, Ka’iulani was born and was swiftly christened in St Andrews Episcopal Church in Honolulu. They didn’t know it at the time, but she was to be the only royal child of the four Kalakaua siblings: in other words, the heir to Hawaii. Archibald was popular and prosperous, and played an active role in civic life. He and Likelike moved to an estate in Waikiki, four miles from Honolulu, and renamed it Ainahau, meaning ‘cool land’, since wonderful breezes kept the house airy SCOTS heritage summer 2013 83
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despite the tropical climate. Archie had inherited his father’s green fingers and at Ainahau he was able to exercise his talent for landscaping. Archie and his daughter were tremendously close, but even he couldn’t help the girl when her mother died unexpectedly in 1887. Princess Likelike, a celebrated society hostess who was usually so full of life, had suddenly and inexplicably become very withdrawn. Doctors attended her constantly but could find nothing wrong. She refused food and became weaker and weaker. After several months of this, she called Ka’iulani to her bedside one morning, telling her that she could see the future; she told the girl that she would live away from Hawaii for a long time and that she would never marry or become queen. She died that afternoon. Ka’iulani, just 11 at the time, was inconsolable. Her father’s Scottish roots were to prove central to Ka’iulani’s life, and helped to prepare her for a campaign of dignified defiance in the face of her nation’s gradual annexation by the USA between 1894 and 1898. Her death in 1899 is still seen as a national disaster. It was her father’s Caledonian ancestry that drew Stevenson into Ka’iulani’s world. It had been decided that the young princess should be sent to school in Britain, but in January 1889, just six months before she was due to depart
She became a compelling advocate for the return of the Hawaiian monarchy
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by steamer for San Francisco, the author sailed with his family into Honolulu Harbour. He had journeyed from the South Seas, where he was known as ‘Tusitala’, the Teller of Tales. Stevenson had come to see his stepdaughter Isobel Strong, wife of the court painter Joseph Dwight Strong. He soon became firm friends with the cultured, erudite King Kalakaua, who introduced him to Archie, who in turn invited him to spent time at Ainahau. There, he stuck up a great friendship with Ka’iulani. He and his wife Fanny and their family were enthralled by the young princess, and while she thought he looked rather strange (he was extremely thin, having been ravaged by illness, with longer hair than any Hawaiian man she had ever met), she lapped up the stories he told as they took tea under the huge banyan tree in front of her home. (One of Hawaii’s most revered cultural treasures is a painting of Ka’iulani and Stevenson talking of Scotland under a banyan tree.) Stevenson was enchanted by the vivacity and achievements of this remarkable young woman. An expert surfer, croquet player, canoe paddler, horse rider and tennis player, she also excelled at singing and playing the guitar and ukulele. As comfortable ballroom dancing as she was with the Hawaiian hula dance, she was also an expert gardener and seamstress. Fluent in French, English and German, she was a formidably bright student who loved the Old Masters and wanted to become an artist herself. Indeed, Stevenson so inspired in her a love of art and of Scotland that her fin-
Island rose
est work is a Scottish landscape which now has pride of place in Honolulu’s principal museum. Ka’iulani reciprocated Stevenson’s affection, frequently inviting him and his family for meals. On one of their final visits Ka’iulani was surprised to be asked by Stevenson to provide him with her autograph book. He sat for some time looking at the pages and then wrote a short poem dedicated to her, ‘The Island Rose’. Trying to buoy her spirits ahead of what he feared would be a bruising time in Britain, he also gave her a music box that played operatic melodies from Verdi. He needn’t have worried. Once at school in Britain, the princess was a sensation. And, at every opportunity, she would visit Scotland. She saw the whole country on her travels, but most regularly visited three sets of family friends: Robert MacFie and his family at Dreghorn Castle in the Edinburgh suburb of Colinton (MacFie used to fly the Hawaiian flag and was a Knight Commander of the Hawaiian Order of Kalakaun); Stevenson’s relatives at Johnston Lodge in Anstruther; and the Barbours at Balemund in Pitlochry.
The end of the monarchy In her seven years in Britain from 1889, Ka’iulani blossomed into a popular, confident woman. But the deaths of so many close friends (including Stevenson, who died in 1894) took a heavy toll on her, and she took to heart the news that her aunt, Queen Liliuokalani, had been deposed in 1893 by a cabal of American businessmen. She became a compelling advocate for the return of the Hawaiian monarchy, travelling to Washington and personally lobbying President Grover Cleveland. Charmed and persuaded by her, he even commissioned a report which concluded that the Queen’s removal was illegal. But his election loss of 1896, in which he was replaced by the pro-annexation William McKinley, ended any such prospects. Ka’iulani was distraught, declaring that ‘I have nothing to live for now, they have taken all my life from me.’ Her health began to suffer, and she developed debilitating migraines. At every opportunity she would escape Honolulu, where she found conditions under the new regime unbearable. On one such trip out to the countryside for the wedding of a friend, she was out riding and was caught in a fierce storm. She returned to her host’s home wet through and was soon diagClockwise from top left: nosed with ‘inflammatory rheumatism’ Princess Likelike; a royal and confined to bed at her Waikiki home. feast thrown by King Kalakaua, with Stevenson Her stricken father remained by her bedside and Queen Liliuokalani; until she passed away on 6 March 1899. the family home on He spent the rest of his life tending the tenOahu; extended family, acre botanic gardens he dedicated to her. including Princesses Liliuokalani and Likelike She was only 23 when she died and (seated centre) and had survived the monarchy by just Archie (standing right). seven months, but her love of Hawaiian culture, the ferocity of her struggle to save the monarchy, and the manner of her death combined to make her a national icon. More than a century on, her pull remains as strong today as it was in her tragically short life. SCOTS heritage summer 2013 85
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Words Roddy MacLeod Image Angus Blackburn
The Clyde
piper
ACCLAIMED PIPER AND DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL PIPING CENTRE, RODDY MACLEOD MBE, IS PASSIONATE ABOUT BRINGING PIPING INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
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have my parents to thank for my lifelong passion for Highland music and piping. My father’s side of the family were from Lewis, and my mother is from Benbecula. We moved to Cumbernauld just after I was born but my father was involved in the local pipe band, the Gaelic choir and other associations, and he was keen for my brothers and I to take up the pipes. When I was twelve I joined my first pipe band, the Glasgow Schools Pipe Band, and began my association with the man who would become my teacher for the next 30 years, the late Duncan Johnstone – renowned piper, composer and teacher. I was playing in solo competitions from the age of thirteen and when I was sixteen I joined a Grade 1 pipe band (there are generally four grades, with 1 being the highest) The Red Hackle. After a degree in maths with economics at Strathclyde University I did my teacher training and taught maths for thirteen years. I joined the British Caledonian Airways Pipe Band, which then became the Scottish Power Pipe Band. In 1995 I became Pipe Major and remained so for ten years, during which time we did pretty well, and won a few championships. Whilst there’s a great team spirit Main image: Roddy involved in a band solo piping was MacLeod stops always more important to me and I the traffic as he have won a number of awards, includpipes on Glasgow’s George Street. ing the Glenfiddich Piping Championship four times, the MSR twice and the piobaireachd event a record eight times. One of my proudest moments was in 1996, when I was appointed Director of Piping at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, a position that has allowed me to develop the piping cause. And since then we have achieved a
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tremendous amount, with the centre quickly becoming a hub for international pipers. One of our greatest successes has been our partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for the BA in Scottish Music – piping, as well as Masters and PhD programmes. We are also launching an HNC in piping, and we have links with the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and St Andrews for study abroad programmes. We also run summer schools in the US and Germany. We also established and run the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland. This has been a really tremendous project, which I believe has had a profound impact on the improvement of standards amongst young pipers and drummers in Scotland. Another of our great successes is the Glasgow International Piping Festival, Piping Live! which takes place every August and is this year celebrating its tenth anniversary. I am also passionate about being true to the heritage and tradition of piping but I also believe that in order to ensure its future we need to embrace the modern. To that end there have been a number of innovations, such as our e-learning web portal, and we are in the process of digitising our tutor books; they’ll soon be available on iTunes. Scottish piping is in a very good place right now. Piping Live! is more popular than ever, there is a healthy contingent of youthful contestants in the World Pipe Band Championships and the success of bands such as The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Breabach, Rura and Daimh demonstrates that piping has a young and vibrant scene. It’s a real privilege to have played a part in this resurgence. www.roddymacleodpiobaireachd.com
Iconic Scots
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I am passionate about keeping true to the heritage and tradition of piping whilst also embracing the modern
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Words Tim Siddons
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Stirling is a modern university town and retail centre that is also full to bursting with evidence of a fascinating 800-year history
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Scotland’s heart
Scotland’s
heart WITH GREAT SHOPPING, A FEAST OF CULTURE AND AN ENVIABLY RICH, VARIED AND OFTEN VIOLENT HISTORY, NO TRIP TO SCOTLAND WOULD BE COMPLETE WITHOUT VISITING STIRLING
Left: Stirling was one of the most important towns in medieval Scotland.
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Scotland’s heart
Above: Angus Blackburn, far left: Tamara Kulikova/Shutterstock
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ith a population of just over 41,000, Stirling is Scotland’s second smallest city; but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in culture, entertainment and history. When you talk about Stirling it really is a tale of two cities: on the one hand you have a modern university town and retail centre, whilst on the other you have a city full to bursting with evidence of a fascinating 800-year history. Stirling describes itself as ‘Scotland’s best small city’, and it’s not difficult to see why; there is something here to suit all ages and interests. The city has long been a mecca for shoppers, boasting a wide range of different outlets to suit all budgets. You’ll find typical mixed shopping on Murray St/Port St and Barnton St, and visit Baker St and Friars Street for antiques, gifts, books and music. The Thistles Shopping Centre has over 100 outlets,
Stirling has long been a mecca for shoppers
whilst the Victorian Stirling Arcade contains 25 specialist retailers. Also, on the second Saturday of every month you can enjoy the Stirling farmers’ market. Just north of the city is the pretty town of Bridge of Allan, which has an excellent selection of independent shops, cafes and restaurants. With its large university population it’s perhaps unsurprising that Stirling is brimming with culture. There are a number of very good art galleries, including the Smith Art Gallery and Museum (where you can also find out about the history of the city), the Concourse Gallery at the university, which houses some works by famous Scottish painters, and Left: The Wallace Changing Room, which Monument. Above: has an excellent collection St John’s Street in Stirling’s pretty Old of contemporary art. Town. Stirling also hosts two book festivals: Off the Page, which is now in its eighth year, and Bloody Scotland, SCOTS heritage summer 2013 91
Top Right: Angus Blackburn, Right & bottom right Chris Green, Rafa Irusta/Shutterstock
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a festival dedicated to crime writing, which was established last year and proved to be immensely popular. Both festivals are held in September. Stirling is also a great city to bring children to. King’s Park has a wealth of activities for kids, from crazy golf and giant draughts, to a tyre swing, trampoline park and a toddlers play area. Further out of the city you have the Brucefield Family Golf Centre at Bannockburn and the fabulous Blairdrummond Safari Park. If you’re unlucky with the weather, Stirling has two cinemas and a visit to the Old Town Jail is a great experience for the whole family. One of Stirling’s biggest attractions is its heritage; indeed since the 12th century – when Stirling was granted its Royal Charter – it has played a pivotal role in the shaping of Scottish history. The city quickly established itself as one of the most important towns in medieval Scotland. One of the Left: Wallace’s shield at reasons for this was the fact that prior to the the Wallace Monument. draining of bogs and marshland, Stirling was Far left: Outside the castle walls. Above: the lowest crossing point of the River Forth; The former Erskine the so-called gateway to the Highlands. Mary-Kirk. Because of its strategic importance, Stirling was the site of a number of important battles, including William Wallace’s famous defeat of an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 SCOTS heritage summer 2013 93
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Top Left: St Ninian’s Kirk. Above: The statue of Robert the Bruce at the castle. Bottom Left: Stirling Castle has changed hands over 50 times.
and Robert the Bruce’s rout of another English army at Bannockburn in 1314, the first decisive battle in the First War of Scottish Independence. There have also been around sixteen sieges of Stirling Castle – several times during the Scottish Wars of Independence and three times during the reign of James VI. In 1651 the castle was captured by Oliver Cromwell and the last siege was by Bonnie Prince Charlie during the 1745 Jacobite Uprising. 94 www.scots.com
A great way to begin a trip to Stirling is to visit the National Wallace Monument, built in the 1860s on Abbey Craig overlooking the city and Stirling Bridge, the site of Wallace’s famous victory. Here you can trace the remarkable story of Wallace, view his broadsword and listen to an interpretation of his trial. The monument also commemorates generations of famous Scots in its Hall of Heroes. The visitor centre also has an excellent café and a gift shop. And if you want an unrivalled view of the city and its rural hinterland, then it’s certainly worth making the climb to the top of the monument. In Stirling itself the obvious place to start is at the city’s oldest
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HEART OF SCOTLAND
building, Stirling Castle. The castle was recently voted the UK’s Best Heritage Attraction by the readers of top consumer magazine, Which?, and it’s not difficult to see why. Amongst the highlights include the magnificent Royal Palace, tapestry studio, castle exhibition and the Great Hall, and there are also a number of costumed interpreters who provide visitors with an insight into what life might have been like in a Renaissance court. Right next to the entrance of the castle is the Church of the Holy Rude. Founded in 1129 it is Stirling’s second oldest building. The present structure was completed in 1530 and was used by Mary, Queen of Scots. The coronation of her son, James V1, took place there, making it one of only three churches in Britain that have held state coronations.
Walking into Stirling from the castle, the old town at the foot of Castle Rock has plaques describing the history of the 16th and 17th century merchants’ houses. Other notable historical sites include the tolbooth, mercat cross, St Ninian’s Kirk, Mar’s Wark, the Old Grammar School, John Cowane’s Hospital and Argyll’s Lodging. And no trip to Stirling is complete without a trip to the Bannockburn Heritage Centre, which is currently undergoing major renovations in time for next year’s 700th anniversary. Stirling has a wealth of accommodation and restaurants to suit all budgets, and because of its central location and proximity to Edinburgh and Glasgow, the city is also an excellent base from which to explore the rest of Scotland. It really is the heart of Scotland.
BATTLE OF STIRLING BRIDGE One of the battles of the First War of Scottish Independence, it took place on 11 September 1297 between an army commanded by William Wallace against a larger English force. The English were confident that the Scots would surrender, but Wallace had other ideas, telling the English: ‘we are not here to make peace but to do battle, defend ourselves and liberate our kingdom.’ The crushing defeat of the English sent a warning sign to King Edward that the Scottish ‘rabble’ meant business and also cemented William Wallace’s position as Guardian of Scotland and a national hero. BANNOCKBURN In 1314, Robert the Bruce’s rout of a vast English force was a defining moment in Scottish history. The Scots army of about 6,000 faced a force of 2,000 horses and 25,000 infantry but a knowledge of the terrain and some excellent tactics ensured the Scots outwitted the English. Bruce’s victory paved the way for the negotiations that would eventually signal the end of English rule and the freedom of the Scots. 2014 marks the 700th anniversary of Bannockburn – there are numerous events planned for this special occasion. THE CORONATION OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS AND JAMES VI The infant Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland at Stirling Castle in 1543 after the death of her father, James V. Tensions with her cousin Elizabeth I began after the catholic Mary refused to stop persecuting French protestants, and led to Mary’s 18-year imprisonment and eventual execution in 1587. Mary’s son, James, was crowned King of Scotland at The Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling in 1567 at the tender age of one. James proved to be a strong monarch, and upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, he was crowned James I of England. Whilst he failed to create an imperial throne of Great Britain, it could be argued that the Union of the Crowns paved the way for the Act of Union in 1707. Follow SCOTS heritage magazine get updates now
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Clockwise from top left: Heartland, Rafa Irusta, Doug Stacy/Shutterstock
At Stirling Castle costumed interpreters provide visitors with an insight into what life might have been like in a Renaissance court
Three events in Stirling that shaped Scottish history
SCOTS heritage
Words Morag Thorburn Right: Scotland’s Honours were locked in a trunk in Edinburgh Castle for over a century until ‘liberated’ by Sir Walter Scott.
Crowning
glory THE HONOURS OF SCOTLAND ARE THE OLDEST REGALIA IN THE BRITISH ISLES
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© Crown Copyright reproduced courtesy of Historic Scotland. www.historicscotlandimages.gov.uk
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he Scottish Crown Jewels – The Honours, as they are known – date from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, from the reigns of James IV and James V, the grandfather and father of Mary, Queen of Scots. The crown as we know it today was created on the request of James V, who had inherited an arched crown that is said to have contained gold from the circlet once worn by Robert the Bruce. He commissioned legendary Edinburgh goldsmith John Mosman to incorporate this, along with Scottish gold from the Crawford Moor mine in Dumfriesshire, plus pearls and precious stones, to fashion a new crown. The sceptre was gifted by the Pope to James IV in 1494, and James V also remodelled this, lengthening the shaft and requesting that thistles, fleur-de-lis and his initials be added. The sceptre is topped with a Scottish pearl mounted on a cut and polished rock crystal. The sword of state was a gift from another Pope to James IV in 1507. When the Treaty of Union was signed in 1707, the Honours were locked in a large oak chest in the Crown Room in Edinburgh Castle. Rumours abounded around the whereabouts of the Honours, many believing that they had been taken to England. In 1818 it was Sir Walter Scott who eventually obtained authority from the Prince Regent to search the castle for the jewels. With Scott present, the crown jewels were discovered, as he says in his own words, ‘the ponderous lid of the chest being forced open, at the expense of time and labour, the regalia was discovered lying in the bottom covered with linen cloths exactly as they had been left in the year 1707’. Today, these ancient and beautiful symbols of sovereignty still reside in the Crown Room in Edinburgh Castle, but are now proudly on display for all to see.
Artifacts
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Rumours abounded. Many believed that Scotland’s crown jewels had been taken to England
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0 8 t a Nessie
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s Nessie the only beast lurking in Scotland’s darker waters? What about Morag, the death omen mermaid who swims in Loch Morar? Or the beast with the shaggy dog-like head reputed to inhabit Loch Oich? There are plenty more, too. Following widespread reports in 1929, Loch Lochy is believed to contain a three-humped plesiosaur called Lizzie, as is nearby Loch Quioch. Ancient entries in the Clan Cameron archives speak of a ‘lake horse’ serpent with a horse’s head in Loch Arkaig, a kelpie that Above: The famous hoax was seen by a stalker and his two sons. ‘Surgeon’s Photograph’ of And if the locals are to be believed, 1934 stoked the Nessie hysteria. Right: A press Loch Shiel contains a 70-foot long report from the 1930s. three-humped beast and Loch Maree in Wester Ross is still patrolled by a waterborne ‘slug-pig’ named Muc-Sheilche. On the 80th anniversary of the day on which Drumnadrochit Hotel manageress Aldie Mackay 98 www.scots.com
first reported seeing a ‘whale-like creature’ in the calm waters of Loch Ness near Aldourie Castle, Nessie fever is back. In a recent poll of Scots, over 17% said that they believed there was a monster in the huge loch, a body of water so long and deep that it contains more water than all of Britain’s thousands of other lochs and lakes combined. Aldie Mackay’s account of her sighting of Nessie was reported in the Inverness Courier of 2 May 1933 by Loch Ness water-bailiff Alex Campbell, and immediately sparked a frenzy. The huge list of people who said that they had also seen the beast included fishermen, water bailiffs, office workers, forestry workers, clergymen, town clerks, students and even bank managers. The throngs of people who flocked to the area included celebrity naturalists such as authors Gavin Maxwell and Sir Compton Mackenzie. When respected British surgeon Colonel Robert Weaver published his famous
Talking point
rt of ‘a whale-like po re ’s dy la nd la ss Ne ch A Lo ked a frenzy. Today, ar sp o ag s ar ye 80 ’ re tu crea e Nessie exists... ev li be l il st s ot Sc 6 in 1
Left: AF archive/Alamy
Words Lachlan Macdonald Words Lachlan MacDonald Image Paul Reid
picture of Nessie in 1934 – later revealed to be a toy submarine with a serpent head – excitement gave way to hysteria. Not that Aldie was the first person to have reported seeing the monster. That honour went to Irish monk St Columba, who apparently saw a ‘water-beast’ in the River Ness in the 7th century. But Aldie sparked the real interest. Since 1933, obsessives and opportunists have dedicated their lives to proving the existence of the Loch Ness monster, all to no avail. So why is the legend of Nessie so enduring? There are several reasons. The idea of a cold-blooded reptile surviving in chilly Scottish waters is 24-carat bunkum, but less implausible is the idea that this is a great wealth-creation scheme by enterprising Highland hotel proprietors. VisitScotland says that Nessie tourism brings £1m a year into the Loch Ness area,
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and a high proportion of those who claim to have seen Nessie are cafe or B&B owners, yet their accounts are often corroborated by others, sometimes several others. Dr Charles Paxton, a research fellow and statistical ecologist at St Andrews University, who has sifted through all 1,000 reported Nessie sightings, says many locals are reluctant to report sightings for fear of being accused of being drunk (Aldie Mackay certainly didn’t want to put herself forward). ‘The vast majority of people are reporting the truth,’ he says. ‘They believe they have seen something strange. They may be mistaken but I think they are sincere.’ Marine biologist Adrian Shine, the Nessie-hunter turned sceptic who now runs The Loch Ness Project, believes that people such as Aldie Mackay are suggestible. In the only interview she ever gave, Aldie described Nessie as ‘black, wet with the water rolling off it – it went in a circle, round and down. I yelled at my husband: “Stop! the beast!”’ That, says Shine, suggests that ‘it’s as though she knew there was something strange in the loch.’ Another plausible theory is that there are large fish in the loch. The best bet is sterile ‘eunuch’ eels, with two Canadians finding one of 25 feet in the loch’s shallows in 2004. But whatever the case, the one thing that’s for sure is that, eighty years on, Nessie continues to enthrall like no other mystery in the world.
Many locals are reluctant to report sightings of Nessie for fear of being accused of being drunk
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Whisky Words Lachlan MacDonald
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nectar WHEN IT COMES TO WHISKY AUSTRALIAN BILL LARK IS PROVING THAT SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
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legacy of the British Empire – a construct run by ambitious Scots – is a passionate love affair with whisky. For some countries just consuming Scotch is not enough, and the need to distil their own uisge beatha has become overwhelming. India, for instance, has a multiplicity of molasses-based ‘whiskies’ such as The Bagpiper, while Canada, Australia and America have all followed suit. They’re even making whisky these days in Wales, the Isle of Man and England... Yet all of the distilleries in those countries are effectively for domestic consumption. Only one country – indeed, only really one man – has come to Scotland and taught grandma how to suck eggs. Step forward Bill Lark, a maverick Tasmanian who has exploited the disillusionment Above: Bill Lark is an of many whisky aficionados with the evangelical advocate domination of the Scotch whisky world by of micro-distilling. large multi-nationals. The bearded enthusiast has almost single-handedly kick-started the ‘small is beautiful’ micro-distillery movement which is revolutionising the whisky world. Lark doesn’t just talk the talk. In 1992 he not only established the first distillery on Tasmania for 150 years, but he has made a huge success of distilling in the tiny copper stills. His cask strength
LD 100 whisky winning awards at home and abroad, and Jim Murray gave his Sullivan Cove six-year-old bourbon 95% in his Whisky Bible, which places it on a par with a 20-year-old Talisker. Lark’s model of high-quality artisan whisky being distilled in tiny boutique distilleries, with the whisky being sold on at a premium and money made from the attached visitor centres has been eagerly adopted by operations such as the owners of Edradour and Kilchoman. Lark is also an inspiration for enthusiasts such as the Cuthbert brothers, who farm near Cupar full-time and make Daftmill whisky in their spare time using the spare barley in the byre. The burgeoning popularity of whisky, the willingness to look at three-year-old malts (where once anything less than eight-yearsold would have been sniffed at) and the vogue for unusual or small-run whiskies has pushed up prices so that such small-scale operations are becoming increasingly attractive financially. Lark, who distils in Hobart using 500-litre and 1800-litre copper stills, was involved in the attempts to get the Kingsbarns distillery off the ground until the Wemyss Family stepped in, but remains still a formidably energetic force for change on the worldwide whisky scene. He particularly likes the idea of bringing some knowledge back to Scotland: not so much coals to Newcastle as haggis to the Highlands. ‘There’s nothing I can teach Scotland about making whisky, but what I can do is to share my passion for making whisky on the sort of small-scale that hasn’t been a feature of commercial whisky distilling for centuries,’ says Lark. ‘We’ve had to develop innovative ways of doing things and a business model based on tourism and opening a visitor centre so that you sell direct to the public. But it works: I’ve been involved in helping set-up five distilleries on Tasmania, all of which are flourishing and making great whisky.’ And there is, as we all know, no such thing as too much great whisky. SCOTS heritage summer 2013 101
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Q What animal is being described in this traditional Kircudbrightshire riddle? ‘Ayont the dike, adist the thorn, I heard an auld man blaw his horn, His beard was flesh, his neb was horn, And sic a beast was never born.’ A A cockerel
Q What is a Baobhan Sith? A This is a type of female vampire in Scottish mythology. Sometimes known as the ‘white women of the Scottish Highlands’, they take the form of beautiful women in green dresses who prey on travellers by night. Much like other vampires, the Baobhan Sith cannot tolerate daylight. However, as well as just using their fangs to draw blood, they are also said to use their long fingernails.
Q What is the largest island in Scotland? A The largest island is Lewis and Harris which extends to 2,179 square kilometres. Scotland has over 790 offshore islands, most of which are found in Shetland, Orkney and the Hebrides. There are also clusters of islands in the Firth of Clyde, Firth of Forth and Solway Firth, as well as numerous small islands within bodies of fresh water.
Q What is a deochandorous? A A drink taken before departure, often known as ‘one for the road’.The song, Just a Wee Deochandorous was popularised by the Scottish comedian and singer Sir Harry Lauder, who was described by Sir Winston Churchill as ‘Scotland’s greatest ever ambassador’. 102
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Questions & Answers
Q Why is the Lake of Menteith not a loch? A
Although the Lake of Menteith is not the only Lake in Scotland – Raith Lake in Fife, Pressmennan Lake in East Lothian, Cally Lake in Gatehouse of Fleet and Hirsel Lake near Coldstream being the others – it is the only natural expanse of water that is referred to as a lake. The Lake of Menteith was actually known as a loch until the 1880s. It may have changed to commemorate the ‘False Menteith’ who betrayed William Wallace to the English in 1305, or it has been suggested that lake is a corruption of the Gaelic ‘laicht’ for low-lying ground, the laicht o’ Menteith being the area around the lake. However, there is no proven reason as to why the name changed.
Q What is Skerryvore? A As well as being an award-winning Scottish folk rock band, Skerryvore is a semi-submerged black reef in the Atlantic Ocean, 12 miles to the west of Tiree. The reef was a serious threat to sailors and many ships were wrecked on the rocks here before the famous Stevenson lighthouse was built. The debris that washed ashore from the wrecks was collected by islanders on Tiree as their ‘harvest’ from the sea.
Q What was the Schiehallion Experiment? A Between Loch Tay and Loch Tummel, ten miles north of Aberfeldy in Perthshire, Schiehallion dominates the skyline. Often known as the Fairy HIll of the Caledonians, this munro is 3,553ft high and is rich in botanical life and archaelology. In 1774 Charles Mason chose the mountain for a ground-breaking experiment to estimate the mass of the earth. The experiment involved measuring the tiny deflection of a pendulum due to the gravitational attraction of a nearby mountain. Schiehallion was considered the ideal location due to its isolation and almost symmetrical shape.
Q What is a first-foot? A This is the first person to cross the threshold of your house after midnight has struck on Hogmanay. It remains a requirement of first-footers that they bring a gift for the people who they are visiting. This is traditionally a lump of coal, but will often be shortbread, black bun (a fruit cake surrounded by pastry) or, if you are lucky, a bottle of whisky. The physical attributes of the first-footer are of utmost importance. Ideally a tall, darkhaired man will bring luck to the household for the year. Often, so much sway was held with this that many families arranged their first-foot in advance. It was thought that it was especially bad luck for a red head or a woman to be your first visitor. It was also considered unlucky not to have a clean and tidy house to welcome in the New Year. Another way to risk bad luck on Hogmanay is to be away from your own home at the time of ‘the bells’, that is the moment that your local church bells chime in the new year (or, more recently, when Big Ben heralds midnight on the television). SCOTS heritage summer 2013
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In print A selection of literature to ensure that your reading has a truly Scottish perspective Three Men on the Way Way By Hamish Brown A great book for anyone planning to walk the West HIghland Way. This story of three protagonists who undertake this challenge is humorous, light-hearted and is designed for anyone for whom walking is a pleasure and not to be taken too seriously. As well as accounts of the magnificent scenery encountered, much is made of the interesting and often eccentric characters that were met on the way.
Whittles Publishing £14.99
Edinburgh Through Time By Liz Hanson A virtual walk around Scotland’s capital with a fascinating history lesson thrown in for good measure. This book is well illustrated, as befits what is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The ‘then and now’ photographs are particularly interesting and provide a fascinating insight into the changing face of Edinburgh. A great read, with plenty for first-time or regular visitors and even residents to enjoy.
Twentieth Century Castles in Britain By Amicia de Moubray The castles featured within these pages tell tales of bloodshed and battle, but many of them were born of eccentricity and entrepreneurial endeavours. Eighteen castles are featured, with Scottish entries from Eilean Donan and Corrour Lodge. The many colour photographs serve to illustrate the beauty of some of Britain’s most spectacular castles and are sure to inspire readers to head off on a few pilgrimages this summer.
Frances Lincoln Limited £30.00
Amberley Publishing £14.99
Scots Who Enlightened the World By Andrew Ferguson The Scottish Enlightenment has touched everyone and this book celebrates some of the most creative, scientific and exciting discoveries that took place during this period in the not-so-distant past. This book is packed with images and artwork and tells of the most celebrated inventors, as well as some of the less high profile, but nonetheless important men and women who have helped shape our modern world.
Polwarth Publishing £25.00
Dr Beeching’s Axe 50 Years On By Julian Holland Trainspotter, author and photographer Julian Holland tells the story of the aftermath of the Beeching Report and what was effectively the end of Britain’s Golden Age of Railways. The use of the original maps from the report are particularly helpful in illustrating the railway line closures that ensued, which are each catalogued here. This is a nostalgic look at the way Britain’s railways once were and the sad story of their demise.
David and Charles £18.99 104
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Birnie Bairn: a Morayshire Childhood 1944 - 1957 By Margaret Jeary A nostalgic tale of rural life after the Second World War, when life was hard but simple. This account looks back fondly on the author’s memories of living with grandparents at a whisky distillery and with her parents in their haunted house at RAF Kinloss and provides a valuable account of how glorious a childhood without TV, computers and modern technology can be.
Self Published £6.29
Books
After Flodden By Rosemary Goring This highly readable work of historical fiction focuses on the weeks after the Battle of Flodden. Each of the characters in the narrative had a hand in bringing the country to war or were profoundly affected by the outcome of the battle.
Polygon £14.99
Hearts: The Golden Years By Tom Purdie Scottish Clans: Legend, Logic and Evidence, Volume I & II By Adrian C Grant This two volume work comes complete with CD and delves deep into the truth of the origins of the Scottish Clans. This also enables the book to dispel many of the myths that surround the stories of the clans. These guides cover heraldry, DNA and place names and the colour illustrations of heraldic arms provide an attractive reference guide.
A trip back in time to Heart of Midlothian, and Scottish football’s glory days. A must-read for Jambos (slang: Jam Tarts + Hearts) all over the world, this account waxes lyrical about some of the legendary players and coaches who have graced the turf at Tynecastle at a time when the team won the Scottish Cup, the league championship twice and the league cup three times.
Amberley £14.99
The Killing Fields of Scotland AD 83 to 1746 By RJM Pugh This is essentialy the story of warfare in Scotland over eighteen centuries. Certainly one for the dedicated historians among us, this book is a detailed account of the battles that have raged on Scottish soil from Roman times right up to the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie on Culloden Moor in 1746. The main players involved in each conflict as well as the events leading up to and the aftermath are also covered.
Fast Print £30.00
Pen and Sword £25.00
Hebridean Princess in Pictures Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx By Bryan Kennedy By xxxxxxxx
This book commemorates the 25th cruising season of the iconic Edinburgh-based William Coles’ follow-up to The Well-Tempered Hebridean Princess. The wonderful photography certainly does Clavier is an entertaining romp about a journalist who fallsonfor an justice to this stunning ship and the equally stunning waters intelligent, despite the fact that she’s happily which shebeautiful sails and woman the incredible landscapes that surround them. embroiled man.detail This isand a witty, romance Her story iswith toldanother in fascinating coversfast-paced her transformation which teasesMacBrayne out some ferry eternal truths aboutvessel the nature of from aneatly Caledonian to the luxurious that she love. has become today.
xxxxxxxxxxx Ferry Publications £8.99 £26.00 The Devil’s Recruit By S.G. Maclean The depth of the author’s historical knowledge is evident in this, the fourth book in the Alexander Seaton series. A thriller set against the backdrop of Aberdeen during the Thirty Year’s War, the plot focuses on Seaton, a university lecturer, who is soon to be a pastor as he investigates the mysterious dissappearance of one of his pupils.
The Race to the North: Rivalry and RecordBreaking in the Golden Age of Steam By David Wragg
Quercus Fiction £18.99
Pen and Sword £19.99
This is the tale of the commercial race to provide the fastest passenger express train service between London and Scotland. The story is one of fierce competition and the narrative is interspersed with stories of huge construction projects, battles for passengers and freight and incidents like the collapse of the first Tay Bridge.
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Death of Yesterday By MC Beaton The latest in the Hamish Macbeth series of Highland mystery novels, Death of Yesterday, weaves a many stranded web, leaving the reader guessing up to the last. This is a light-hearted and easily consumed whodunnit which would make a great holiday read.
Constable and Robinson £18.99
A Timber Idol: Mr Punch in Scotland By Martin Macgilp 2013 marks the 350th anniversary of the first appearance of the Punch and Judy show in Scotland. This is a well illustrated description of the history of the genre, including some insight into its Italian heritage. The book also honours and includes the stories of some well-loved Scottish puppeteers who have given pleasure to audiences over the years. A nostalgic journey into a time when the goodies always win in the end.
Gilpress £25.00
Kirkcaldy & Central Fife’s Trams and Buses By Walter Burt The author, a bus driver based in Fife, is well qualified to lead the reader through the history of public transport in the Kirkcaldy area. This story, begins with electric trams in 1903 and travels through the introduction of a bus service in 1928, detailing the subsequent demise of the trams. A good mix of colour and black and white photos help to make this a gem for vehicle enthusiasts and anyone with a historical link to the area.
Island Wife: Living on the Edge of the Wild By Judy Fairbairns This is a moving and personal account of one woman’s experiences of raising a family, holding together a challenging marriage and running a farm and other businesses on a remote Hebridean Island. Judy Fairbairns’s story is inspirational and her writing will appeal to anyone who enjoys an open and honest account of the challenges of island and family life.
Two Roads Books £16.99
Amberley £14.99
Death Was Our Bedmate Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx By Agnes McEwan and Campbell Thomson By xxxxxxxx This is the story of the little known regiment, theWell-Tempered 155th (Lanarkshire Edinburgh-based William Coles’ artillery follow-up to The Yeomanry) Field Regiment who fought in the ill-fated Malayan Clavier is an entertaining romp about a journalist who fallscampaign for an of 1941/42.beautiful Sadly, many moredespite of the regiment prisoners of emwar intelligent, woman the factdied that as she’s happily than fell inwith action. The soldiers slaved thefast-paced infamous Burma Railway, in broiled another man. This is a on witty, romance which copper mines and camps throughout the Far East. The photographs and neatly teases out some eternal truths about the nature of love. letters serve as a moving reminder of the bravery of these men.
xxxxxxxxxxx Pen and Sword £8.99 £19.99
Six Percent By Graham Miller This pictorial black and white work documents the reality of everyday life for Scottish families living with a person with Down’s syndrome. Capturing intimate moments and personal relationships, this book is designed to challenge any preconceived ideas that we may have about Down’s syndrome and celebrate the person behind it.
www.photohonesty.com £29.95
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So Much Wind: The Myth of Green Energy By Struan Stevenson The president of the European Parliament’s Climate Change, Biodiversity & Sustainable Development Intergroup does his part to dispel myths about what the answer to the 21st century energy crisis are. A detailed account of the failings of wind farms and wind energy.
Birlinn £7.99
Music
In tune A round up of the latest Scottish and Celtic music releases. All available from www.musicscotland.com From Dee To Don (CD) Aberdeen Strathspey and Reel Society A second album release on CD, in celebration of the Society’s 70th year, recorded at BBC Beechgrove studios in Aberdeen 1998. A great variety of music, from jigs and reels including the lovely pipe air ‘Highland Cathedral’, with the orchestra accompanied by piper Graham Thomson. The Aberdeen Strathspey and Reel Society perform regularly in venues in and around the city.
A Toss Of The Coin (CD) Eric Bogle with John Munro A long-awaited album, securing his place as one of Scotland and Australia’s eminent and most prolific songwriters. Twelve powerful and emotional tracks.
£11.69 UK & EU and £9.74 USA & ROW
£9.58 UK & EU or £7.98 USA & ROW
Room Enough For All (CD) Battlefield Band A superb CD from this dynamic band at the forefront of the Scottish music scene, who play with rare passion and joy. A mix of old songs and music with new self-penned repertoire, inspired by their rich heritage of Celtic music and played on a fusion of ancient and modern instruments. Four world-class traditional musicians named after the Glasgow suburb of Battlefield, where the group was formed in 1969.
£11.69 UK & EU or £9.74 USA & ROW
The Definitive Collection (CD) The Corries An excellent collection of favourite tracks from the charismatic and well-loved performers Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne. These tracks have been selected from their huge collection of recorded repertoire. This CD is sure to bring back memories of the great Scottish singing duo, with a mix of stirring patriotic ballads, gentle laments and humorous songs. The third in a series of three budget-priced CDs.
Kale Water (CD) Bob Liddle An album of original new compositions by Kelso composer and versatile instrumentalist Bob Liddle, a musical journey of the Kale Water area.
£12.24 UK & EU or £10.20 USA & ROW
£7.63 UK & EU or £6.36 USA & ROW
Cruinn (CD) Cruinn A debut album of contemporary and traditional songs from some of Gaeldom’s finest singers.The Highland-based quartet Cruinn brings together premier Gaelic singers James Graham, Fiona Mackenzie, Brian Ó hEadhra and Rachel Walker. Much admired for their presentations of songs in Gaelic, this is a beautiful album with an outstanding use of harmonies and skilful arrangements.
£11.92 UK & EU or £9.93 USA & ROW
Celtic Airs & Reflective Memories Celtic Connections vol 15 An outstanding album of slow airs and reflective melodies by many of Scotland’s finest musicians.
£8.30 UK & EU or £6.92 USA & ROW SCOTS heritage summer 2013
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Developing independence within a homefrom-home
Young people enjoy developing their independence at Scotland’s boarding schools whilst belonging to a supportive community where they can make firm friendships and thrive. Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS) gives information, advice and guidance about choosing an independent school. For more information, visit scis.org.uk/for-parents
Scan this QR code to view the website on your mobile phone.
Gilmerton House EAST LOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
Call +44 (0)131 556 2316 for a copy of our free Guide to Boarding Schools.
Gilmerton House-conveniently located just 30 miles (35mins )from Edinburgh Airport and 22 miles from the centre of Edinburgh is a handsome Grade A listed Georgian Mansion situated in the heart of East Lothian, one of Scotland’s most picturesque counties. Having recently undergone complete refurbishment the house now offers an exceptional level of accommodation and comfort. Matched with our professional and experienced service the house is suited to any social or corporate event. Our in house team are here to make your comfort and enjoyment the top of their list. Each individual styled bedroom keeps up the overall tone of understated style, with a mix of antiques, muted colours, plush fabrics and luxury modern bathrooms, all going towards making your stay comfortable & memorable.
Gilmerton House, North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland EH39 5LQ
t: +44(0)1620 880 207 e: reception@gilmertonhouse.com
www.gilmertonhouse.com 108 www.scots.com
Puzzles
Puzzles PIT YOUR WITS AGAINST OUR SCOTTISH QUIZ
Where are we?
Guess the year 1. The Scottish Daily News Britain’s first worker-controlled, mass-circulation daily newspaper – was created by 500 workers made redundant when the Scottish Daily Express moved to Manchester.
2. The first North Sea oil is pumped ashore at Sullom Voe in Shetland
The 11th Earl of Sutherland was murdered at the castle here in 1567. The remains of the castle were demolished in the 1970s in order to build the new A9 road bridge. The Gaelic name for this place is Bun llidh and Norse settlers called it Hjalmundal, meaning Dale of the Helmet. A famous Highland Games are held here each year on the third Saturday in August. One of the largest herring fleets in Europe once sailed from here.
3. Actor Joseph McFadden was born in Glasgow.
Who said? ‘So this is your Scotland. It is rather nice, but dampish and Northern and one shrinks a trifle under one’s skin. For these countries, one should be an amphibian.’
4. Changes were afoot in Scottish league football when a new Premier Division was created from the best teams in Division One.
Word search 5. The Queen formally opened a petroleum pipeline from Cruden Bay to Grangemouth.
Gloamin’ How many English words can you make from the word above? We can find 89. Try to find as many as possible. Words must be at least three letters. 35 WORDS: good, 55 WORDS: excellent, 65 WORDS OR MORE: you are a genius
ANSWERS: Where are we? – Helmsdale. Who said? – DH Lawrence Guess the year – 1975. Advertising Terms and Conditions: Your attention is drawn to the following terms and conditions which relate to the placing of advertisements in all publications owned by Wyvex Media Ltd. Parties to this agreement are the Publisher, Wyvex Media Ltd. on the one part and the Advertiser on the other part. The Publisher publishes newspapers, magazines, books and provides advertising space therein or provides for the delivery of advertising materials to the public within these publications. 01 Advertising copy shall be legal, decent, honest and truthful and comply with the British Code of Advertising Practice and all other codes. 02 The Publisher does not guarantee the insertion of any particular advertisement. 03 The Publisher reserves the right to cancel or alter the advertisement by giving reasonable notice. 04 An order for an advertisement shall be deemed to be made on acceptance of the advertisers’ order by the Publisher whether placed by telephone, mail, fax, email or in person. 05 Cancellations or postponements of orders must be notified in writing and cannot be accepted later than 30 days prior to the scheduled publication date. Cancellations not in accordance with these terms will be subject to payment of the full cost of the advert. Advertisments that are part of an agreed discounted campaign or series and have appeared prior to cancellation will be re-charged at full rate. 06 The parties submit to the jurisdiction of the Scottish Courts and Scots Law. In the event of any dispute or action by the Publisher to recover payment from an advertiser, it is agreed that matters will be settled in the Oban, Argyll Sheriff Court or such other Court as the Publisher may choose. 07 The Publisher shall not be liable for any loss or damage occasioned by any total or partial failure (however caused) of publication or distribution of any newspaper or edition in which any advertisement is scheduled to appear. In the event of any error, misprint or omission in the printing of an advertisement or part of an advertisement, the Publisher will either re-insert the advertisement or relevant part of the advertisement, as the case may be, or make rea-
sonable refund or adjustment to the cost. No re-insertion, refund or adjustment will be made where the error, misprint or omission does not materially detract from the advertisement. 08 Errors must be notified to the Publisher in writing within fourteen days of publication. In no circumstances shall the total liability of the Publisher for any error, misprint or omission exceed the amount of a full refund of any price paid to the Publisher for the particular advertisement in connection with which liability arose or the cost of a further or corrective advertisement of a type and standard reasonably comparable to that in connection with which liability arose. 09 The Advertiser/Advertising Agency agrees to indemnify the Publisher in respect of all costs, damages or other charges falling upon the publication as the result of legal actions or threatened legal actions arising from the publication of the advertisement in any one or more of a series of advertisements published in accordance with copy instructions supplied to the publication in pursuance of the Advertiser/ Advertising Agency order. 10 Adverts under the value of £75 must be paid on acceptance of order by the Publisher. All advertising on a credit basis must be agreed with the Publisher in advance. 11 Payment of any invoice raised by the Publisher will be due 15 days from the date of invoice or as otherwise directed on the invoice. In the event of non-payment the Publisher may charge late payment interest at a rate of 2% and this is chargeable on a daily basis from the due date until the bill is paid. In addition the Publisher may charge a late payment levy of £10 as an administration fee. In the event of late payment the Publisher reserves the right to disallow any discounts given and to raise an additional invoice for the discount which will be treated as though it has been raised with the original invoice. 12 A request to insert an advertisement assumes acceptance of our conditions. Photographs etc. must be accompanied by a SAE. Although every care will be taken, Scots Heritage is not responsible for loss, damage or any other injury as to material provided.
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SocialSCOTS SCOTTISH HERITAGE WEEKEND AWARDS BANQUET HELD AT ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY, LAURINBURG, N.C.
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1 Bill Caudill, Dr. John Sprague, June Skinner Sawyers, Paul Baldasare 2 President Paul Baldasare 3 Bill Caudill with award winner June Skinner Sawyers 4 Walter Campbell of the Clan Campbell Society Educational Foundation 5 Paul Baldasare presents Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews Alisair Moffat with a tie 6 Walter Campbell presents Bill Caudill with a cheque for a scholarship fund 7 Award winner Dr. John Sprague with past and present members of the North Carolina State University Pipes and Drums
Social Scots
SCOTTISH NATIONAL GAELIC FILM AWARDS HELD AT THE ARCHES, GLASGOW
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1 The band, Macanta 2 Scottish actresses Laura McMonagle and Jayd Johnson 3 The Awards presenters Vic Galloway and Emma MacInnes 4 Gillian Mackechnie of Oban High School 5 Linda MacLeod, Molly Robertson and Siobhan MacInnes 6 Television presenters Kirsteen Macdonald, Alasdair Fraser with award winner Ricky Hannaway 7 Commendation award winners, Alison Lang, Sophie Maureen and Amy Warnock
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&societies
Clans Clan Crest emblems © Gaelic Themes Limited, Glasgow, Scotland.
CLAN ELLIOT USA We are part of a worldwide organization, with active branches in Australia Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1977 the ECS was formed by the Clan’s late hereditary Chief, Sir Arthur Eliott, 11th Baronet of Stobs and Laird of Redheugh the ancient seat of the Clan Chiefs. Our present Chief is Sir Arthur’s daughter, Margaret Eliott of Redheugh. Judy Elliot : US Branch president elljudscot@aol.com www.elliotclanusa.com
AUSTRALIAN SCOTTISH HERITAGE
CLAN DONALD
CLAN DONNACHAIDH
ASSOCIATED CLAN DONALD SOCIETIES OF NEW ZEALAND High Commissioner Harold McIsaac harold@financialaccounts.co.nz
Why Belong to the Clan Society in Scotland? In essence, the job of the Society in Scotland is to be the trunk of the tree from which the branches spring. Its health depends on support from clansfolk who wish to preserve and enhance their heritage. Branches: Arizona - Carolinas - Florida - London & Southern Counties - Mid-Atlantic - Midwest -New Zealand - Northeast - Northern California - Ontario - Pacific Northwest - Queensland - Rannoch & Highland (Scotland) - Rocky Mountain Donnachaidh of the South - Southern California New South Wales, Western Australia - Texas - Upper Midwest Branch Clan Secretary: secretaryclandonna@btconnect.com Membership Secretary / Catherine McCartney managerclandonna@btconnect.com Clan Donnachaidh Centre, Perthshire PH18 5TW, Scotland www.donnachaidh.com
South Island Commissioner Elwyn Martin – elmart@ihug.co.nz Federal President Grant MacDonald macsol@paradise.net.nz Auckland Secretary Tom McDonald tom.mcdonald@xtra.co.nz Canterbury Secretary Margaret Donald margaretdonald@xtra.co.nz Hawkes Bay Secretary Jill Macdonald houseofmacdonald@xtra.co.nz Otago Secretary Bill McDonald invergarry@xtra.co.nz Southland Secretary Elma McDonald 700 Tweed Street, Newfield, Invercargill 9812, NZ
Dedicated to the preservation of Scotland’s customs and culture. Visitors welcome. Functions can be checked at www.clandonald.org.nz
Join the Donnachaidh DNA Surname Project Family History Research and DNA testing; www.clandonnachaidhdna.org Contact: Tim Duncan HC-1 Box-86, Kelso, CA 92309 Phone: (760) 733-4002 Email: tim@clandonnachaidhdna.org
CLAN MACNAB
CLAN GUNN
CLAN LOGAN SOCIETY
Clan MacNab Society of North America is the only active clan MacNab society in existence, we are very active, setting up clan tents at about 20 Highland games in the US, publish a 40-page quarterly newsletter, have a clan library for members as well as a genealogy program to help members find more ancestors in their family trees and sell over a dozen clan items thru the society at a discount for members. We also organize a clan trip to Scotland every 5 years (the next one being 2014), and have an excellent web site: www.clanmacnab.org. society contact: mcnabbprescott@ aol.com and (928) 771-1218.
The Clan Gunn is one of the oldest Scottish Clans and descends from the Norse Jarls of Orkney and the Pictish Mormaers of Caithness. From the fifteenth century, the senior line was based in the Strath of Kildonan in Sutherland while the junior lines established seats in Braemore, Cattaig and Dalemore in Caithness. The clan is led by Commander Iain Gunn of Banniskirk and further information about the clan can be found at www.clangunnsociety.org.
Membership is open to all persons descended from or connected by marriage or adoption to the Logan’s of the UK and Ireland, and their friends. Our purpose is to foster Clan sentiment and spirit, collect and preserve our Clan history, encourage our children to be proud of their heritage, and participate in cultural events by wearing Clan Logan attire. Associated names include: Lagan, Laggan, Leonerd, Loban, Lobban, Loben, Logane, Logan, Logen, Loggan, Loggane, Loggans, Loghane, Loghyn, Login, Logyn, Lopan, Lowgan, Lyndon.
CLAN KEITH
Vernon E. Logan (President) 6255 Towncenter Dr., Suite 636, Clemmons, NC 27012. E: clanlogan_president@yahoo.com James C. Logan (Vice President) 6255 Towncenter Dr., Suite 636, Clemmons, NC 27012. E: clanlogan_chairman@yahoo.com Peter Logan (UK Commissioner) 2 Grenville Close, Haslington, Crewe CW1 5TU. E-Mail: rury@uwclub.net Membership Information: 6255 Towncenter Dr., Suite 636, Clemmons, NC 27012. E: clanlogan_membership@yahoo.com www.clanlogansociety.com
Clan group society contacts, information, events and worldly news. Scottish history, heritage and culture. Interested in family stories of Scots that settled in Australia? We are the perfect organisation for you. We sell a variety of Scottish items, also interesting items on our ebay page, many recycled or antique.’www. australianscottishheritage.com
CLAN YOUNG Membership is open to all Scottish Young and their ancestors by birth or marriage. Younger, Youngs and Younge, are also welcome. We have National branches in Australia, Canada and America. For more details and membership please contact; Stuart Young, Clan Young, Machair Tigh, Dowlans Road, Great Bookham, Surrey. KT23 4LF. UK. stuartyoung@clanyounguk.co.uk. www.clanyounguk.co.uk.
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Wellington Secretary Kathryn MacDonald macsol@paradise.net.nz
Austen, Dick, Dickison, Dickson, Dixon, Dixson, Falconer, Hack, Hastron, Hake, Harvey, Haxton Henry, Hervey, Hurrie, Keith, Lum, Lumm, Lumgair, Mackeith, Marshall, Urie or Ury, are names associated with the ancient Clan Keith. Enquiries welcome. Australian convenor - Brenton Dick dickscot@bigpond.com New Zealand convenor Ian Dickson convenor@ceitteach.org.uk www.clankeith.org/australia
Clans & societies
CLAN MACLACHLAN
CLAN MACLENNAN
The MacLachlan clan is headed by the Clan Chief, Euan Maclachlan of Maclachlan from his seat at Castle Lachlan on the shores of Loch Fyne in Argyll on the West Coast of Scotland. The clan motto ‘Fortis et Fidus’ means ‘Strong and Faithful’ or ‘Brave and Trusty’. www.clanlachlan.ca
Chief Ruairidh (Scotland) and Chieftain Greg (NSW) are the worldwide leaders of the proud MacLennan Clan. If you have any connection with the names MacLennan, Lobban, Logan or similar names there are two active branches of the Clan in Australia which would love to hear from you. Please contact:
Clan MacLachlan Society Canadian Branch www.maclachlanwusa.com Clan MacLachlan Society Western USA Branch www.kilts.co.nz/lachln00.htm Clan MacLachlan Society New Zealand Branch www.scotsofaus.org.au/clanassociations/maclachlan/ Clan MacLachlan Society Victoria, Australia Branch www.maclachlans.org Clan MacLachlan Association of North America www.castlelachlan.com
Max McLennan (Chief’s Representative) Unit 1, 6 Fisken Street, Ballan, Victoria 3342, A. Tel: 0431 231 933 e: max_mary_mclennan@msn.com.au Graeme MacLennan (President, Melbourne Association) ‘Seaforth’, 722 Balloong Road, Woodside, Victoria 3874. Tel: 03 5187 1291 e: seaforth@wideband.net.au Malcolm McLennan (President, Grafton Association) PO Box 247 South Grafton, NSW 2460. Tel: 02 6642 4290 e: kaemac1@bigpond.com.au
Website of the Clan Castle www.castlelachlancottages.com Website for Accommodation on the Castle Lachlan Estate
Graeme McLennan (Sydney, NSW representative) 82 North Road, Denistone East, NSW 2112. Tel: 02 9809 5152 e:maclennan.kintail@bigpond.com
CLAN MACLAREN
www.clanmaclennan-worldwide.com
The Clan MacLaren Society of Australia welcomes enquiries from descendants of MacLarens/McLarens (and other variations), and their derivations Lawrence, Laurence, Law, Low, Lawson, Lowson, Lawrie and Laurie. The main sept is Pat(t)erson. A popular newsletter is published twice a year. Contact the Secretary, Bruce D McLaren, 152 Ramsgate Rd, Ramsgate Beach, NSW 2217. Tel: 02 9529 7784. E: bruce_d_mclaren@hotmail.com
CLAN CAMERON ASSOCIATION OF SCOTLAND The Clan Cameron Association was formed in 1889 thanks to the endeavours of a number of enthusiastic Camerons who valued the clan and its links throughout the world. Over the years the fortunes of the Association have waxed and waned with the development of new Branches at home and abroad. Duncan G Cameron - Commisioner Hillockhead, Fortrie, Turriff, Aberdeenshire AB 53 4JA E: info@clancameron.org.uk You can also read and leave comments in our WEBLOG: www.clancameronassociationscotland .blogspot.co.uk www.clancameron.org.uk
THE NORTH COAST SCOTTISH SOCIETY We have been part of Humboldt County for over thirty years and enjoy the history, tradition and culture of Scotland. We hold many different events throughout the year Laurene Thorpe - Vice-Chieftain Tel: (707) 839-4153 E: Info@northcoastscots.org North Coast Scottish Society 77 Sole St. Eureka, Ca. 95503 www.northcoastscots.org
To feature your Clan or society here, contact Emma Craig: emma@scotsheritagemagazine.com or call
+44 (0) 131 551 7919 CLAN CRAIG ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA The CCAA is a voluntary, nonsectarian, non stock, and non profit organization. The purposes for which this corporation is formed are to: Honor, preserve, promote and perpetuate the traditions and heritage of the Scottish-American people, with particular emphasis on descendents of and family of the descendents of the Scottish Clan Craig; Preserve and perpetuate for the present and future, the history of the ancient Clan Craig of Scotland; Foster and promote education by providing assistance to deserving students and supporting educational institutions in programs of Scottish literature, history, dance, music and similar activities; Preserve and promote Scottish and Celtic culture including art, music, dance, athletics through the establishment of competitions, awards, and scholarships for deserving students, artists and athletes; Preserve, foster and promote Scottish-American heritage and to facilitate communication between members and promote a fraternal atmosphere through periodic newsletters and other publications, and through meetings, and gatherings of the membership of the Association and their families and guests. Michael A. Craig - Association President E: president@clancraig.org E. Jeffrey Craig - Vice-President E: vicepres@clancraig.org www.clancraig.org
THE SCOTTISH TARTANS AUTHORITY
CLAN MACKENZIE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND THE UK
We’re a charity and are independent so we have no hidden agendas. We maintain the world’s largest and most comprehensive tartan database, the most extensive woven tartan archives and an unsurpassed archive of books and documents on tartan and its many strands.
The Clan Mackenzie Society in the UK is for the benefit of members of the Clan who are interested in finding their roots and exploring their genealogy. We have an Annual Magazine, a 5 yearly Gathering in Strathpeffer, an Annual AGM weekend this year in Burnham and Dunkelt on 18th, 19th, 20th October and other special events during the year.
Brian Wilton Tel: +44 (0)1764 655 444 E: admin@tartansauthority.com Fraser House, Muthill Road, Crieff, Perthshire, PH7 3AY Scotland www.tartansauthority.com
To join our Society you may contact the Secretary. E: sweinmann@btinternet.com www.clan-mackenzie.co.uk
SCOTS heritage spring 2013 113
Final fling
SCOTS heritage
m o r f r e McLett a c i r e m A
ndence on A loss of land and indepe ica’s West Skye helped open up Amer Words Susan L McIntosh Illustration Bob Dewar
T
here is a connection between land and heritage. If I didn’t understand that before I met Tom McLeod I understand it now. Tom is the patriarch of six generations of McLeods to have ranched cattle and elk on the Black Mesa in southwestern Colorado. Their Homestead Ranch sits at 9,000 feet along a natural gorge; it’s thousands of miles from the Isle of Skye but lessons learned in Scotland centuries ago have fuelled this Scottish-American family’s enduring drive to acquire, steward and tenaciously hold on to over 2,000 acres of Colorado high country ranch land. Tom isn’t bashful about letting you know that this is special country up on Black Mesa. His great grandfather Alexander McLeod chose this land for its abundant water and stirrup-high grass. He settled the family up in the middle of nowhere and, says Tom, that ranch will always be the McLeod family base. Alexander’s homestead cabin is lovingly cared for and is a perpetual reminder of his family’s story. Scots are determined, critical thinkers whether they are sipping tea in a Glasgow cafe or struggling across the great North American continent looking for home. To Alexander McLeod’s way of thinking, if clearance and removal were the tragic and horrible conclusion in the Scotland his family left behind, the lack of a secure personal right to enough productive land was the cause. With land ownership comes independence. In Alexander McLeod’s Scotland, land ownership was concentrated in the hands of a surprisingly small group of grandees. As the ancient reciprocal clan traditions that came with the duthchas were disregarded, McLeod and his Celtic neighbours sought that security in Colorado’s wild mesas and valleys. Alex chose to settle the Black Mesa in the late eighteenth century ‘because of all the water up there’. In the late 19th century the United States
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government made much of the west available for homesteading, a process that allowed individuals to gain ownership of potentially productive land. This was an opportunity to secure what Alex McLeod’s family back in Scotland could not gain - a landed future that allowed the freedom to live life as they chose. At the turn of the 20th century, Homestead Ranch was finally relinquished to Alex by the government. No part of homesteading was easy. To secure the relinquishment of claimed ground – and many never received the patent signed by the US President which was the land title – a homesteader had to prove to the government over many years that he or she (there were many shes) had tamed the land and brought it under productive agricultural use. Wintering in tents was not unheard-of. Alexander McLeod chose a particularly remote piece of property to homestead: just 50 years ago Black Mesa ranchers would ski or snowshoe 18 miles to the village of Sapinero in winter, pulling the supplies home on a sled. Such was the importance of land to Alex McLeod, who had none of his own on Skye. The sixth generation of McLeods on Black Mesa came into the world four years ago. Cayden Thomas McLeod will receive the same education about his Scottish heritage that Tom McLeod says was ‘beat into’ his head by his own father and grandfather. Cayden will soon understand why that land is so important and why it must be protected. The last time I saw Tom McLeod, he was giving a talk on the history of Black Mesa for the Crawford-Hotchkiss Historical Society. The room was packed full of folks very much like Tom, Celts and not, eager to hear the stories. Many weren’t McLeods; they were just friends and neighbours but that didn’t matter. On Black Mesa, like it was on Skye before, neighbours are family too. Susan McIntosh is the President of the Council of Scottish Clans & Associations, www.COSCA.net