A Beauly taxidermist is facing criticism from animal rights campaigners for creating sporrans from local road kill. Kate Macpherson, a trained taxidermist for over 20 years, collects badgers, foxes, deers, and stoats from country roads near where she lives, and has licences to handle protected animals. However, this hasn’t stopped a number of complaints from […]
On Sunday (01/08) Castle Sinclair Girnigoe will open to the public after a ten-year long restoration. The £700,000 facelift will try to help preserve the castle’s archeological and historical importance, and there are a further two phases planned, making the restoration a multi-million pound project which intends to turn Castle Sinclair Girnigoe into a major […]
Not all men in the 16th century Border Country were Border Reivers. Many endeavoured to live in peace but were inevitably caught up in the theft, feud and blackmail. It would seem Jamie Telfer was one who fell foul of the animosity and confrontation yet, in this incident, achieved a more than satisfactory outcome.
The name Cameron originates from the Gaelic words ‘cam’, meaning wry or crooked, and ‘sron’ meaning nose, suggesting that the progenitor of the Clan Cameron had a crooked nose! Cameron is one of the most popular in the Highlands, and the name of Lochiel, the Chief of the Clan, has always stood for everything that […]
A set of medals, including the Victoria Cross, and a cannonball, has sold at auction for £252,000, more than doubling its predicted £120,000 price. The medals, which were awarded to John Simpson Knox during the Crimean War, were accompanied by a Russian cannonball that was responsible for blowing off Knox’s left arm during the Seige […]
A team of archaeologists led by Dr. Tony Pollard from the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Battlefield Archaeology (Guard) have concluded in a report that the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans probably took place 1/2 km further east than what was initially believed. It is now thought, after extensive work, that the main battlefield was actually […]
If you’re walking through the Abriachan Gardens you will come across a heart-shape stone which is deeply embedded in the ground called the Font Stone. The flat rock has a hole in the middle which is filled with water. The stone is within the Abriachan Community Gardens, if you follow the path up through the […]
Sandwood Bay in Sutherland has been named as one of the best 50 beaches in the world by Travel magazine; and only one of five listed from the UK. The bay is around 5 miles south of Cape Wrath, the mainland’s most north-westerly point, and lies in a very remote part of the country. With […]
The capture and rescue of Kinmont Willie Armstrong brought together three of the most colourful characters in the history of the Border Reivers. The impasse that existed between Sir Walter Scott, probably the most notable person to live on the sixteenth century Border, and Thomas Lord Scrope, English West March Warden, is a story of a clash of personalities of awesome proportions. Kinmont Willie? He was lost in the diplomatic wrangling. His capture changed nothing. He went on to reive until his death in about 1603.
After a £500,000 facelift, taking two years to complete, the National Trust for Scotland has announced that Craigievar Castle is to completely reopen to the public in May. The 17th century castle, which is near Alford in central Aberdeenshire, has had extensive work done to get it back to looking how it originally did back […]
