Gordon Casely, a heritage consultant in Aberdeen, has inadvertently discovered that Prince William was a direct descendant of a 17th century Middleton from the small town of Luthermuir in south Aberdeenshire. Mr Casely was trying to discover if William’s soon-to-be wife Kate Middleton had Scottish ancestry, when he came across John Middleton, the son of […]
A Bodach is a mythical spirit or creature, rather like the bogeyman. The word is a Scottish Gaelic term for “old man”. Historically its meaning is “mature person”, from bod “penis” and the suffix -ach, literally “someone who has a penis”. The bodach was said to slip down the chimney and steal or terrorize little […]
At the weekend, whilst trying to entertain my mum on a visit down to Edinburgh, I visited the National Galleries for the first time. There’s a great collection of artwork there, a lot of lovely pieces, but the painting that I found most striking and alluring was John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Lady Agnew of […]
The origins of Clan MacFie/MacPhee and all it’s name variations are said to be descended from a Selkie or seal woman. Selkies are a mythical people who can change from human form to seal form with the aid of a detachable skin. These skins are individual and only can be used by the person who […]
This made me chuckle. For those of you that don’t know Stovies are basically a load of old leftovers, usually from a Sunday Roast.
The MacThomas Society has decided that the 2011 Clan MacThomas Gathering will be based around the beautiful Dalmunzie Castle Hotel near Glenshee. All events, other than the Cockstane Gathering, will take place at the hotel. This lovely hotel is situated in its own grounds a mile north of the Spittal of Glenshee and has its […]
The origin of the Hay family, Earls of Errol, is said to date from the time of the Battle of Luncarty believed to have taken place in 971 A.D. The Danish were invading Scotland. The reigning sovereign was Kenneth III who, at the time of the event, was residing at Stirling. The battle took place […]
Men and women have long been recognised in Scotland as equals. A good example of this is that female chiefs supply a goodly number of places in the current 135-strong listings of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs. They hold exactly the same responsibilities as their male counterparts. Here are some shining examples of female […]
With Mother’s day approaching I thought it would be good to do a series of female orientated blogs. It’s interesting to see how many crest use the image of a woman within them. Think the Urquhart crest was most definitely designed by a man. Here are the ones I have found:
I just found out that outside of the English speaking world, Argentina has the largest number of people of Scottish descent, which I thought was pretty interesting. The Argentine-Scot population currently stands at an estimated 100,000, and has existed, at varying levels, for over 180 years. Over the years there have been some very notable […]
