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 […]
Opposite the car park in Invermoriston a small wooden sign points to Saint Columba’s Well. The well can be seen after you descend down a few steps. It is believed that a well or spring has been on this site since early Pictish times. Until the 6th century AD the water here was considered to […]
The Well of The Seven Heads sits off Loch Oich, south of Invergarry, you can see it from the roadside. This unusual obelisk was erected by Colonel MacDonnel of Glengarry in 1812 as a memory to his two murdered sons. The sons were murdered in In 1663 when a viscous fight took place with an […]
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 […]
What is claimed as a carving on a glacial boulder in the town of Westford, in Massachusetts, USA, is argued to be proof that an expedition, led by Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, landed on the North American continent almost 100 years before Christopher Columbus. The ‘carving’ is subject to much speculation over its authenticity, […]
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 […]
I came across this article in an old copy of Celtic monthly : a magazine for Highlanders (1893). An article by J. G. MACKAY, Portree looks at the physical differences between the average Scot and Englishman. Thought I’d share it: “It is long since I noticed in the course of business that the sizes of […]
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 […]
