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 […]
Glamis Castle near Forfar in Angus is Scotland’s, and one of Britain’s most haunted castles. However it is trying to distance itself from the paranormal stories that the place is famous for, and instead attempt to rebrand as a family-friendly visitor attraction. Glamis, a gift from Robert II to Sir John Lyon, is the ancestral […]
The Beatons of Mull, the famous ‘Ollamnh Muileach’, were a family of doctors, whose origins can be traced back to Béthune in France, and are said to have been very talented with a rather unique medical ability. They family were hereditary physicians first to the Lords of the Isles, and then to the MacLeans of […]
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 […]
A stunt pulled by the Menie Liberation Front (MLF) has seen around twenty statues in four of Scotland’s cities given a Donald Trump mask and a plastic toy golf club in an attempt at a light hearted protest against the American tycoon’s £1bn golf resort plans for Menie in Aberdeenshire, which Trump claims will be […]
The relationship between Scotland and England wasn’t always as amicable as it is today. From the late 13th century to the 16th century, Scotland and England were constantly at war with each other. This created a lawless environment where crime soared, people from both sides of the border would live more like outlaws, taking advantage […]
The aftermath of the 1650 Battle of Dunbar saw the grave mistreatment of 5,000 Scottish prisoners-of-war at the hands of the English Parliamentarian army. These battle-weary prisoners were starved of food and sleep, whilst at the same time force-marched over 100 miles to a makeshift prison in hellish conditions. Yet this is one of the […]
The story of how Scotland got it’s name is an interesting one. Tradition has it that the legend starts back in ancient Egypt, where a pharaoh’s daughter, called Scota, and two Greek princes formed a group which was very troublesome and they were banished because traditionally, Scota and her group had a reputation everywhere […]
Thomas Learmonth from Ercildoune (now Earlston), better known as Thomas the Rhymer was a 13th century Laird, poet and a supposed prophet. Legend tells us how Thomas the Rhymer went out walking one day and fell asleep beneath a tree on the side of the Eildon Hills. He awoke to find a shining woman sitting […]
