July-August 2022

History Scotland

The world's premier Scottish history magazine

History Scotland1 min read
From The Editor
Welcome to our July/August issue, which I hope you will agree reflects the current vibrancy of Scotland’s history, heritage and archaeology communities. It’s wonderful to be able to report on the opening of two new museums, as well as pioneering digi
History Scotland1 min read
Applications open for Charles McKean Memorial Prize 2022
Supported by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), the Scottish Castles Association (SCA) is sponsoring a £1,000 prize in memory of the late Professor Charles McKean, a former secretary (chief executive) of the RIAS and president
History Scotland2 min read
Meet The Contributors
Dr Felicity Loughlin is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently researching varieties of unbelief in Scotland, and the diverse responses elicited from the Christian mainstream, c.169
History Scotland2 min read
History Scotland
PATRONS David Breeze Christopher Smout Historiographer Royal Elizabeth Ewan University of Guelph Richard Oram University of Stirling Murray Pittock University of Glasgow Mr Derek Alexander Archaeologist, NationalTrust for Scotland Dr John Atkinson Ma
History Scotland1 min read
New Jacobite Museum Opens In Prestonpans
The exhibition, which is free to visit (with donations welcomed), focuses on the battle of Prestonpans, a critical Jacobite conflict in 1745 which left a historical and cultural legacy that is still felt today. A programme of supporting exhibitions w
History Scotland1 min read
5,000 Years Of Orkney History Told Through 90 Stories
Members of the public can now explore 35 sites across Orkney, including those that make up the Heart of Neolithic Orkney UNESCOWorld Heritage Site, and discover the stories that shaped them, from wherever in the world they are, with a new digital tou
History Scotland1 min read
Launch Of History Scotland’s Summer Lecture Programme
Dr Thurley will demonstrate how the Stuart monarchs expressed themselves through art and architecture in a lecture on 21 June. The varied summer programme also includes writing historical fiction, the legacy of Scotland’s ‘Swinging Sixties’, and the
History Scotland1 min read
An Auspicious Opening For Roman Museum
21 April, an auspicious day in the Roman calendar recognised as the birthday of Rome, was a fitting date to reopen the Trimontium museum, which houses one of the finest collections of Roman military objects on display anywhere in the UK. The duke of
History Scotland6 min read
Exploring The Prehistoric Landscape With Mesolithic Deeside
Mesolithic Deeside was established in 2017 and is now well-established in making a major contribution to our understanding of human activity in the prehistoric period along the River Dee corridor. The group owes its existence to the work and enthusia
History Scotland11 min read
Scotland And Japan
Japan today contains many traces of Scottish engagement and influence, and the same is true of Japanese influence in Scotland. Whether it is the playing of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ at the closing of bars and supermarkets, or the success of the giant Japanese
History Scotland6 min read
Uist Unearthed: Interpreting An Ancient Site For A Modern Audience
Over 2,000 years ago in the Iron Age, a broch on an islet towered against the water of Loch an Sticir, North Uist, in the Outer Hebrides. Over 1,000 years later, at the height of the Lordship of the Isles in the 14th century, a grand medieval hall wa
History Scotland3 min read
…the Murder Of Cardinal Beaton
When King James V died in 1542, he left behind him a precarious kingdom. In part, this was because his heir and successor, Mary I, was a six-day-old baby, setting the scene for vicious power-struggles among the prominent people of the kingdom. More g
History Scotland15 min read
The Search For classical Caledonia
When it comes to the grand narrative of Scottish history, the exploits of the Romans in north Britain are often overlooked, dismissed as an inconsequential footnote in the nation’s long and eventful story. No doubt due to the common misconception tha
History Scotland3 min read
Annie Mcdonald dresser To The Queen
Anne (Annie) Mitchell, the first child of William Mitchell, a blacksmith, and his wife Margaret Gordon, was born at Carn-na-Cuimhne, 1.5 miles from Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, on 3 January 1832 and baptised one week later. Over the next seventeen
History Scotland14 min readCrime & Violence
Bookshops And Blasphemy In 1840s Edinburgh
In 1837, a 23-year-old publisher and bookseller named Henry Robinson set up shop in Glasgow’s Brunswick Place, just off the Trongate. His advertisements drew attention to the shop’s large supply of newspapers and its ‘rare and valuable works on scien
History Scotland13 min read
John Brown and His Bible
It is unlikely that many people in Scotland are aware that 2022 is the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Reverend John Brown of Haddington. However, by the time of his death in 1787, Brown was a household name in his native land and was beginning
History Scotland2 min read
Researching the Career Of Merchant Marine Seamen
Merchant seamen were responsible for crewing British Merchant Navy ships, which kept the country supplied with raw materials during times of both war and peace. Those who were lost at sea in the twoWorldWars and whose bodies were not found are commem
History Scotland2 min read
Rare Medieval Site Discovered Near Stornoway
The site, discovered close to the hamlet of Gress near Stornoway, and made up of linear stone features, pits and postholes, produced over 100 shards of pottery, an unidentified coin, plus fish and animal bones. Following analysis of the finds, the si
History Scotland4 min read
Diary Dates
From traditional remedies and cutting-edge technologies, to the challenges of saving lives in a rugged and rural landscape, Health, Wealth and Happiness is an exhibition exploring the history of healthcare in the highlands. Hospitals, healthcare work
History Scotland13 min read
Fractured Fatherhood robert The Bruce, David Bruce And Robert Stewart
Fatherhood is many things. It is a set of obligations, a caring relationship and a biological imperative. It is deeply influenced by a range of social and economic factors: race, class, culture and the gender of the child can impact the development o
History Scotland2 min read
Scottish Local History Forum
Current information on the Scottish Local History Forum (SLHF) website includes details of a new website on the places and stories ofWest Dumbartonshire: www.spanglefish.com/explorewestdunbartonshire The Scottish Local History Forum Journal issue 111
History Scotland1 min read
SPOTLIGHT ON… KIRKINTILLOCH & DISTRICT SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES
A second reason for the founding of the society was the existence of local archaeological and historical collections that lacked a museum to display them. Despite committed attempts by the new society to establish a museum, the town remained without
History Scotland6 min read
Typewriter Maestro
It was a factory that produced 20th-century design classics still prized today – now the man who became its mainstay is being warmly, and widely, remembered. Modest typewriter maestro John Brady was a vital part of Olivetti’s Glasgow workforce, whose
History Scotland3 min read
Representations of Burns
Performing Robert Burns: Enactments and Representations of the ʻNational Bard’ Edited by Ian Brown and Gerard Carruthers Edinburgh University Press, 2021 224 pages Hardback, £75.00 ISBN: 9781474457149 This book sets out to demonstrate how the work of
History Scotland3 min read
A Reign In Essays
James VI and I: Collected Essays by Jenny Wormald Edited by Miles Kerr-Peterson, with a foreword by Diarmaid MacCulloch Birlinn, 2021 526 pages Hardback, £100.00 ISBN: 9781910900253 The late JennyWormald, charismatic teacher of history at the univers
History Scotland3 min read
The Intersection Of Science And Religion
Miracles of Healing: Psychotherapy and Religion in Twentieth-Century Scotland Gavin Miller Edinburgh University Press, 2020 184 pages Hardback, £80.00/paperback, £19.99 ISBN: 9781474446969/9781474446976 Gavin Miller’s Miracles of Healing, which he ca
History Scotland1 min read
Recently Published
The Secret History of Here: A year in the Valley By Alistair Moffat Published by Canongate Books at £10.99 ISBN 9781838851149 In uncovering the history of one piece of land, Moffat shows how history is all around us, if only we have the eyes to see i
History Scotland3 min read
A New Chapter For HMS Unicorn
The Unicorn is a very unusual ship. She is a frigate, a rare survivor from the age of sail, built for the navy and launched in 1824 in Chatham, Kent. She was built in the years following the Napoleonic wars, but the subsequent period of relative ‘pea
History Scotland3 min read
A Window Into 14th-century Society
Since the Reformation, relations between most of Scotland and theVatican have been chilly, at best. This has been unfortunate for many reasons, but particularly for the understanding of Scottish medieval history. It was only in 1961-62 that the futur
History Scotland4 min read
Rait Castle saving A Rare Hall House
Rait Castle was the ancient seat of Sir Gervaise de Rait, who was constable of Nairn Castle in the 1290s. It is not actually a castle, but a rare example of a ‘hall house’, a style common in the 13th century, and one of only a few still standing toda
History Scotland2 min read
History Scotland
PATRONS David Breeze Christopher Smout Historiographer Royal Elizabeth Ewan University of Guelph Richard Oram University of Stirling Murray Pittock University of Glasgow Mr Derek Alexander Archaeologist, NationalTrust for Scotland Dr John Atkinson Ma
History Scotland1 min read
From The Editor
Welcome to our July/August issue, which I hope you will agree reflects the current vibrancy of Scotland’s history, heritage and archaeology communities. It’s wonderful to be able to report on the opening of two new museums, as well as pioneering digi
History Scotland2 min read
Meet The Contributors
Dr Felicity Loughlin is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently researching varieties of unbelief in Scotland, and the diverse responses elicited from the Christian mainstream, c.169
History Scotland1 min read
Applications open for Charles McKean Memorial Prize 2022
Supported by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), the Scottish Castles Association (SCA) is sponsoring a £1,000 prize in memory of the late Professor Charles McKean, a former secretary (chief executive) of the RIAS and president
History Scotland1 min read
New Jacobite Museum Opens In Prestonpans
The exhibition, which is free to visit (with donations welcomed), focuses on the battle of Prestonpans, a critical Jacobite conflict in 1745 which left a historical and cultural legacy that is still felt today. A programme of supporting exhibitions w
History Scotland1 min read
5,000 Years Of Orkney History Told Through 90 Stories
Members of the public can now explore 35 sites across Orkney, including those that make up the Heart of Neolithic Orkney UNESCOWorld Heritage Site, and discover the stories that shaped them, from wherever in the world they are, with a new digital tou
History Scotland1 min read
Launch Of History Scotland’s Summer Lecture Programme
Dr Thurley will demonstrate how the Stuart monarchs expressed themselves through art and architecture in a lecture on 21 June. The varied summer programme also includes writing historical fiction, the legacy of Scotland’s ‘Swinging Sixties’, and the
History Scotland1 min read
An Auspicious Opening For Roman Museum
21 April, an auspicious day in the Roman calendar recognised as the birthday of Rome, was a fitting date to reopen the Trimontium museum, which houses one of the finest collections of Roman military objects on display anywhere in the UK. The duke of
History Scotland6 min read
Exploring The Prehistoric Landscape With Mesolithic Deeside
Mesolithic Deeside was established in 2017 and is now well-established in making a major contribution to our understanding of human activity in the prehistoric period along the River Dee corridor. The group owes its existence to the work and enthusia
History Scotland6 min read
Uist Unearthed: Interpreting An Ancient Site For A Modern Audience
Over 2,000 years ago in the Iron Age, a broch on an islet towered against the water of Loch an Sticir, North Uist, in the Outer Hebrides. Over 1,000 years later, at the height of the Lordship of the Isles in the 14th century, a grand medieval hall wa
History Scotland11 min read
Scotland And Japan
Japan today contains many traces of Scottish engagement and influence, and the same is true of Japanese influence in Scotland. Whether it is the playing of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ at the closing of bars and supermarkets, or the success of the giant Japanese
History Scotland3 min read
…the Murder Of Cardinal Beaton
When King James V died in 1542, he left behind him a precarious kingdom. In part, this was because his heir and successor, Mary I, was a six-day-old baby, setting the scene for vicious power-struggles among the prominent people of the kingdom. More g
History Scotland15 min read
The Search For classical Caledonia
When it comes to the grand narrative of Scottish history, the exploits of the Romans in north Britain are often overlooked, dismissed as an inconsequential footnote in the nation’s long and eventful story. No doubt due to the common misconception tha
History Scotland3 min read
Annie Mcdonald dresser To The Queen
Anne (Annie) Mitchell, the first child of William Mitchell, a blacksmith, and his wife Margaret Gordon, was born at Carn-na-Cuimhne, 1.5 miles from Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, on 3 January 1832 and baptised one week later. Over the next seventeen
History Scotland14 min readCrime & Violence
Bookshops And Blasphemy In 1840s Edinburgh
In 1837, a 23-year-old publisher and bookseller named Henry Robinson set up shop in Glasgow’s Brunswick Place, just off the Trongate. His advertisements drew attention to the shop’s large supply of newspapers and its ‘rare and valuable works on scien
History Scotland13 min read
John Brown and His Bible
It is unlikely that many people in Scotland are aware that 2022 is the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Reverend John Brown of Haddington. However, by the time of his death in 1787, Brown was a household name in his native land and was beginning
History Scotland2 min read
Researching the Career Of Merchant Marine Seamen
Merchant seamen were responsible for crewing British Merchant Navy ships, which kept the country supplied with raw materials during times of both war and peace. Those who were lost at sea in the twoWorldWars and whose bodies were not found are commem
History Scotland2 min read
Rare Medieval Site Discovered Near Stornoway
The site, discovered close to the hamlet of Gress near Stornoway, and made up of linear stone features, pits and postholes, produced over 100 shards of pottery, an unidentified coin, plus fish and animal bones. Following analysis of the finds, the si
History Scotland13 min read
Fractured Fatherhood robert The Bruce, David Bruce And Robert Stewart
Fatherhood is many things. It is a set of obligations, a caring relationship and a biological imperative. It is deeply influenced by a range of social and economic factors: race, class, culture and the gender of the child can impact the development o
History Scotland4 min read
Diary Dates
From traditional remedies and cutting-edge technologies, to the challenges of saving lives in a rugged and rural landscape, Health, Wealth and Happiness is an exhibition exploring the history of healthcare in the highlands. Hospitals, healthcare work
History Scotland2 min read
Scottish Local History Forum
Current information on the Scottish Local History Forum (SLHF) website includes details of a new website on the places and stories ofWest Dumbartonshire: www.spanglefish.com/explorewestdunbartonshire The Scottish Local History Forum Journal issue 111
History Scotland1 min read
SPOTLIGHT ON… KIRKINTILLOCH & DISTRICT SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES
A second reason for the founding of the society was the existence of local archaeological and historical collections that lacked a museum to display them. Despite committed attempts by the new society to establish a museum, the town remained without
History Scotland6 min read
Typewriter Maestro
It was a factory that produced 20th-century design classics still prized today – now the man who became its mainstay is being warmly, and widely, remembered. Modest typewriter maestro John Brady was a vital part of Olivetti’s Glasgow workforce, whose
History Scotland3 min read
A Reign In Essays
James VI and I: Collected Essays by Jenny Wormald Edited by Miles Kerr-Peterson, with a foreword by Diarmaid MacCulloch Birlinn, 2021 526 pages Hardback, £100.00 ISBN: 9781910900253 The late JennyWormald, charismatic teacher of history at the univers
History Scotland3 min read
Representations of Burns
Performing Robert Burns: Enactments and Representations of the ʻNational Bard’ Edited by Ian Brown and Gerard Carruthers Edinburgh University Press, 2021 224 pages Hardback, £75.00 ISBN: 9781474457149 This book sets out to demonstrate how the work of
History Scotland3 min read
The Intersection Of Science And Religion
Miracles of Healing: Psychotherapy and Religion in Twentieth-Century Scotland Gavin Miller Edinburgh University Press, 2020 184 pages Hardback, £80.00/paperback, £19.99 ISBN: 9781474446969/9781474446976 Gavin Miller’s Miracles of Healing, which he ca
History Scotland1 min read
Recently Published
The Secret History of Here: A year in the Valley By Alistair Moffat Published by Canongate Books at £10.99 ISBN 9781838851149 In uncovering the history of one piece of land, Moffat shows how history is all around us, if only we have the eyes to see i
History Scotland3 min read
A Window Into 14th-century Society
Since the Reformation, relations between most of Scotland and theVatican have been chilly, at best. This has been unfortunate for many reasons, but particularly for the understanding of Scottish medieval history. It was only in 1961-62 that the futur
History Scotland4 min read
Rait Castle saving A Rare Hall House
Rait Castle was the ancient seat of Sir Gervaise de Rait, who was constable of Nairn Castle in the 1290s. It is not actually a castle, but a rare example of a ‘hall house’, a style common in the 13th century, and one of only a few still standing toda
History Scotland3 min read
A New Chapter For HMS Unicorn
The Unicorn is a very unusual ship. She is a frigate, a rare survivor from the age of sail, built for the navy and launched in 1824 in Chatham, Kent. She was built in the years following the Napoleonic wars, but the subsequent period of relative ‘pea

History Scotland

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