Recently people living in Scotland witnessed spectacular displays of the Northern Lights far more than previous years. Even here in Edinburgh we saw them. Tim Peake up in the international space station also watched them. The northern lights are also known as ‘Aurora borealis’ and the southern lights as ‘Aurora australis.’ In Roman mythology Aurora […]
To get the title of ‘The Worst Reiver Ever’ you must have been really bad, the worst of the worst. Â Lang Sandy Armstrong of Rowanburn is known as ‘The Worst Reiver Ever’. Â He gained this nickname mostly because of his height he was well over six foot tall which was a giant 400 years ago. […]
According to Legend, in the moors surrounding the village of Elsdon, lives the Brown Man of the Muirs. A man of dwarven statue dressed in brown, with bright red hair, and a ferocious glare. He is said to be a guardian of the moors and protector of the wild beasties who live there, punishing those […]
More often than not feuds happened between the clans because of a dispute over livestock.  Cattle and sheep owned by different Clans would roam freely and  would often graze together.  The animals were marked by small cuts on their ears to show who owned them.  Even to this day in areas like Lewis the […]
Firstly can I introduce myself I am heriditary Clan Chief of the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe Pokanoket Nation, otherwise known as  Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson Suki Wompsikuk (Black Eagle).  I live in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and have long known about my combined Native American and Scottish Ancestry.  My surname is Scottish and even have red haired […]
For a long time in the fifteenth century and beyond the families of Cunninghams of Glancairn and the Montgomeries of Eglinton were deadly and bitter rivals, a bloody feud that makes Romeo and Juliet looks like child’s play.  It was described by John Lesie (exiled bishop of Ross who wrote the ‘Historie of Scotland’) as ‘the auldest […]
This mask could come straight from a horror film, originally it even had false teeth stitched into it’s mouth. It’s made of leather and the hair is all real human hair. This mask was first discovered in the 1840s in a cottage near Cumnock. Along with the wig and a sword it had just been […]
A few weeks ago, we took a peek into the late nineteenth-century world of frontier Colorado with a most remarkable little Victorian era explorer named Lady Isabella Bird. On one of her many adventurous journeys around the globe, Englishwoman Lady Isabella introduced us to the Chalmers family in the foothills of the front range in […]
Before Christmas just passed there were various threads on Scottish Clans and Families about rights to the title ‘Scot’ or ‘Scottish’.  Far from a relatively minor Facebook debate, there was an issue at stake – how we Scots (if I may be so bold) regard our diaspora cousins. Amanda (who is English, by the way) […]
Isle Maree is a tiny wooded island on Loch Maree in Wester Ross. Â Loch Maree is the largest loch in the North West of Scotland and lies in a glacial trough. There are 66 islands on Loch Maree. Isle Maree may be one of the smallest islands on the loch but this tiny island […]
