Highland Homecoming will welcome locals and visitors to enjoy the best of the Highland’s rich heritage and culture with a programme of over 100 events including spectacular street theatre, music, storytelling and of course world famous ceilidhs. Some of the programme highlights include a performance by the sublimely talented award-winning Gaelic singer songwriter Julie Fowlis, […]
On the 8th of February, 1587 Mary I of Scotland was executed for treason at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire. She was found guilty of conspiring against her cousin Elizabeth of England, and so after 18 years of confinement, Mary was eventually taken to the scaffold where she was beheaded at the age of 44. The […]
During our holiday to Mull we saw an amazing variety of wildlife, including this stag that was just stood beside the wee train we were riding to Torosay Castle. We were also very lucky to see a sea otter off the pier at Tobermorary – which is an animal I’ve always wanted to see. The […]
On the Caithness east coast, five miles north of the town of Helmsdale, you will see the ruinous remains of the once inhabited village of Badbea which saw its last resident leave at the start of the 20th century. The Highland Clearances affected thousands of Highland families who were made to move from their homes. […]
At a speech given to a gathering of chiefs at this years Gathering, Robert McWilliam president emeritus of the Council of Scottish Clans and Associations, said that Scotland’s Clans must turn to social networking websites such as facebook and twitter to increase their ranks in the 21st Century. Holyrood was host to the Clan Covention […]
The 13th of July, 1680 saw the last significant clan battle to be fought in Scotland, with the Sinclairs, under the command of George Sinclair of Keiss, taking on the Campbells led by Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy, fighting over the right to the Girnigoe Estates in Caithness. In 1676, George Sinclair, the 6th Earl […]
Lachlan Cattanach has been titled as the ‘only bad chief of Clan MacLean‘. Just outside the south-east corner of Pennygown chapel, near Salen on the Isle of Mull, there are two carved slabs lying on the ground. Apparantly, these graves are of this chief and one of his wives. The two were reported to have […]
Iain Sempill – Old Longyne and Auld Langsyne, originally uploaded by Amanda@ScotClans. Iain Sempill told me a fantastic story at The Gathering about how Auld Langsyne by Robert Burns, was based on a less known verse by a certain member of Clan Sempill. A great wee story by a very charismatic clansman.
This tiny ruined church sits in solitude overlooking the sea at Trumpan. Once the centre of a medieval village, Trumpan church now stands as a monument to a dark history where an entire population were massacred. Back in the 1500s The MacDonalds and The MacLeods were engaged in fierce clan rivalry. This came to a head in […]
This tale is one of the saddest stories on Mull. At the foot of the 1,000ft cliffs of Gribun stands Clach na Leannan, the Stone of the Courting Couple. The stone is just 50 yards inland from a road where it passes the first farm coming from Salen direction, with a windbliwn elder tree at […]
