The time capsule’s contents

Construction workers have discovered a 121 year old time capsule buried in a bridge near Kingussie in the Highlands.

The tin box, roughly the size of a shoe box, was deeply buried inside the Ruthven road bridge, and contained what appears to be a bottle of whisky, a paper scroll, and a newspaper dated Saturday, September 29, 1894.

The contents of the time capsule have been passed to the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, where the staff there are investigating the artefacts further, and doing their best to preserve them. It is believed that the box was placed in the bridge during its construction.

The construction company who found the time capsule are working towards replacing the bridge – which was built during the reign of Queen Victoria – for Highland Council in a £622,000 project.

The suspected bottle of whisky

The company’s area director for infrastructure, Robert Ogg, said, ““It is fascinating to think these items have been sitting in the bridge’s structure for 121 years.

“The changes which have occurred since it was placed there are extraordinary. If you think that the bridge was being used by horses back then, it gives you a sense of the time which has passed.

“We have actually been working with Kingussie primary school to create our own time capsule which we hope will last as long.”

Newspaper ‘The People’s Journal’ dated September 1894

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Darren Walsh, winner with his joke about German names on his phone

For the past few years the TV channel ‘Dave’ has put a selection of jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe to a vote to find out which one’s the best. Here are the top 10 “funniest”:

1. Darren Walsh: I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans free.

2. Stewart Francis: Kim Kardashian is saddled with a huge arse … but enough about Kanye West.

3. Adam Hess: Surely every car is a people carrier?

4. Masai Graham: What’s the difference between a hippo and a Zippo? One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter.

5. Dave Green: If I could take just one thing to a desert island, I probably wouldn’t go.

6. Mark Nelson: Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fishes and a loaf of bread. That’s not a miracle. That’s tapas.

7. Tom Parry: Red sky at night: shepherd’s delight. Blue sky at night: day.

8. Alun Cochrane: The first time I met my wife, I knew she was a keeper. She was wearing massive gloves.

9. Simon Munnery: Clowns divorce: custardy battle.

10. Grace the Child: They’re always telling me to live my dreams. But I don’t want to be naked in an exam I haven’t revised for.

A shortlist of jokes was selected by a panel of judges who saw an average of 60 shows each this year, and then they were put to a vote.

This year’s winner, Darren Walsh, whose show ‘Punderbolt’ is on at the Pleasance, said of winning the award, “What a punderful feeling.”

Tenth place, Grace the Child, is the youngest comedian to make the shortlist at just 12 years old.

What do you think about the top 10? Are there any jokes from this year’s festival that you feel should have topped this list?

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Gilnockie Tower

Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie was once one of the most popular, powerful, and feared clan chiefs in the Scottish borders. However, after his execution in 1530 by order of James V, Clan Armstrong have been without a chief for over 450 years.

The Border Reivers were a band of raiders along the Scottish-English border from the late 1400s to the beginning of the 1600s, with their heyday arguably during the last 100 years of their existence. They consisted of families from both sides of the border, and one of the most significant and powerful of these border clans was the Armstrongs.

The Armstrongs had a rather uneasy relationship with the Scottish monarchy for a long time, and one of the most notable incidents between the two was the execution of Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie along with a number of his men.

Johnnie Armstrong was a popular character who had a lot of followers, and he was also a wealthy man, having amassed great wealth. There has been a lot of speculation as to how Armstrong gained such a fortune in which he was able to maintain his high style of living. It is said that after disappearing for a number of years he reappeared with immense wealth, which allowed him to pay his brother a commission to build Langholm Castle.

It is generally considered that a lot of his fortune came from reiving throughout the lands just south of the border, into England, though there is not a single complaint of reiving recorded. It has also been suggested that Armstrong’s wealth came from piracy.

Langholm Castle today

Some say that Johnnie Armstrong specialised in black mail or black rent, and that there was no town of prominence between his home Gilnockie Tower and Newcastle, that did not pay protection money to him. This protection racket Johnnie had was there to act for security for each town so they would not be attacked by the Border Reivers.

Armstrong’s power and influence was considered an embarrassment to the Scottish monarchy, and this enraged the 17 year old King James V. The Scottish king had already been under some pressure to put an end to the raids that were encroaching south-of-the-border by his English counterpart Henry VIII because they were threatening the peace between the two countries.

Mosspaul – in the narrow defile on the A7 Johnnie and his followers were ambushed on their way to join the King

James V decided that he would hold talks with Johnnie Armstrong, sending a letter to Armstrong inviting him to meet up with the royal hunting party at Carlinrigg Chapel. Johnnie  rode north from Gilnockie Tower with his men to Carlinrigg dressed in their fine clothes which was to show their wealth and status, and hoping that they would be well recieved by the king, they were all unarmed. But they were greeted by an ambushed of the king’s accompanying army, which was said to have been 10,000 men strong, and the demonstration of wealth did nothing but infuriate the short tempered and education deprived young James V especially since he was said to not have been dressed as well.

It became clear to Johnnie Armstrong that the king had no intention of holding talks, and knowing that his life was in danger he attempted to bribe the king, and even make reassurances that he never killed a fellow Scotsman. But these promises of wealth did nothing for the king and he ordered the execution of Armstrong and all of his men.

In a final act of defiance it is claimed that Armstrong said directly to James these words,

“I am but a fool to seek grace at a graceless face, but had I known you would have taken me this day, I would have lived in the Borders despite King Harry (Henry VIII) and you both.”

Johnnie Armstrong and his men (figures range between 24, 36, and 50+) were all taken out and hanged from the trees, and then buried in a mass, unmarked grave.  It is believed that Armstrong only attended such a meeting with the King because he had given unequivocal assurance that he would be safe.  In the king’s official statement he said the reason for the hanging was because Johnnie Armstrong attended their meeting better dressed than himself which was a public display of disrespect for his King.

History states that one of Johnnie Armstrong’s sons managed to escape the scene and fled to England where he settled under a different name. It was not uncommon for some of the border reivers to flee and change there names by either adopting something completely different such as Blackburn or Walker, but they have even been known to have simply just spelt their name backwards to avoid detection. So a blood line of the last Chief of the Armstrong‘s exists.

Even though over the years a lot of the border families fought amongst each other, even to the point of death, whenever one of them was attacked by an outsider they would stand shoulder to shoulder, united. The death of the popular Johnnie Armstrong by James V caused great indignation throughout the border clans. The King’s actions were considered underhand and unjust, especially since Armstrong and his men were unarmed, and the King’s popularity along the borders hit a low.

The mass grave of Johnnie Armstrongs and his followers was discovered

A memorial stone to Johnnie Armstrong

The grave of Johnnie Armstrong and his men remained undiscovered until around 30 years ago when a farmer working the field opposite Carlinrigg Chapel overturned a large stone. The stone was rectangular in shape and had unusal markings. The farmer contacted the Armstrong Association who were excited at the thought that he may have found discovered the final resting place of the infamous Johnnie Armstrong.

A group of dowsers were brought in and positioned at different points of the field. They all set off, each of them finally came to a hot point at the same place -where the stone sat. Archaeologist arrived to survey the area and a mass grave was found at the point of the stone, which contained a large number of men, and it is generally accepted to be the grave of Armstrong and his men.

The border reivers finally came to an end around the time of the Union of the Crowns in 1603. James VI, the grandson of James V, forcefully put an end to the raids by splitting up the families and deporting them to Ulster, or conscripting them off to Holland, or just executing them.

There have been stories as to what happened to Johnnie Armstrong’s vast fortune. One of the most prominent stories is that it is in fact buried at Langholm Castle, under a point where there is a risen part of the ground where a vault could easily be hidden.

Quick Links to Clan Armstrong Products from The Clan Shop

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Visit the Armstrong Clan Shop  where we sell the largest amount of Clan Armstrong products available, in the Armstrong tartan and the Armstrong Clan Crest >>

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Ceylon Tea is famous the world over for its quality, and it all began with a Kincardineshire man. The son of a wheelwright, James Taylor was born on the 29th of March 1835 at Mosspark near Auchenblae. In 1852, at the age of 17, he immigrated to Ceylon (now modern day Sri Lanka) to work on a coffee plantation. By the mid-1870s Ceylon was the world’s largest coffee producer, however it wasn’t to last. In 1869 the first signs of coffee-rust, a coffee plant disease, were discovered, and it only took just over ten years for it to wipe out the entire coffee enterprise in Ceylon. This was a potential disaster since the Ceylonese economy and its people were heavily dependent on the coffee industry. But disaster was avoided with thanks to the reclusive James Taylor who had been experimenting with growing a different type of plant, growing it along the edges of the roads on his coffee plantation, Loolecondera. This plant was tea.

In 1866 Taylor had visited neighbouring India to learn the basics of growing tea on plantations. He returned and started a plantation at Loolecondera estate in Kandy in 1867 where he started growing small amounts of tea along with the coffee. By the time of the coffee-blight he had nearly 20 acres (77,000 m²) of the Loolecondra plantation planted with tea, and it wasn’t long before the local people, who were losing so much from the coffee-blight, came to Loolecondera to learn about the cultivation of and manufacture of tea. The uptake was rapid, and it eventually saved Ceylon’s economy and its plantation industry.

James Taylor was the first Ceylon planter to succeed with tea, and during his time at the Looleconderra estate the export of tea expanded from just 23 pounds to 22,900 tonnes by 1890. He died on the 2nd of May in 1892 at the age of 57. His gravestone says “In pious memory of James Taylor of Loolecondera Estate Ceylon, the pioneer of the cinchona and tea enterprise in this island, who died May 2, 1892, aged 57 years”.

Even though Taylor isn’t well known in his country of birth he is still widely revered in Sri Lanka, and in 1992 a museum was built to commemorate him, and the British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, John Field, said of Taylor at the 100th anniversary of his passing: “It can be said of very few individuals that their labours have helped to shape the landscape of a country, but the beauty of the hill country as it now appears owes much to the inspiration of James Taylor, the man who introduced tea cultivation to Sri Lanka”.

For more information about Scotland’s Tea Festival and their events in Auchenblae and Laurencekirk, visit their website: www.scotlandteafest.co.uk/

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European cave spiders, also known as Meta menardi, need very dark places to live, usually being found in caves and tunnels away from the light, but a colony have made a home for themselves in an 8ft opening within the 15th century castle’s walls.  The conservation work on the former Clan MacDougall stronghold will take a number of years to complete.  The ruins have suffered badly over the years from both the weather and the ivy that covers a large part of the exterior, but there is a strong desire to leave the spiders in peace.
Mike Robertson, secretary of the MacDougall of Dunollie Preservation Trust which is overlooking the restoration, said, “We are talking about work that could take six or seven years and the spiders will have to be specially protected.
“Basically it’s the darkness that they need, we can’t put bright work lights there. They will have to be kept in the dark, but it’s for the experts to decide how best to protect them.”
European cave spiders are one the UK’s largest spider species, reaching several centimetres in size, but they are completely harmless to humans.

The current ruins of Dunollie Castle, which sits looking over Oban Bay, was built in the 1400s. However, it’s believed that the third chief of the MacDougall clan, Ewan MacDougall, built a castle on the same site sometime in the 1200s, and there was even a known fortification there well before the unification of Scotland.
The MacDougalls lost Dunollie a couple of times over the centuries; forfeiting the land after siding with their allies the Comyns against Robert the Bruce, and again in 1644 when the castle was captured by the Marquis of Argyll, though it was returned in 1661. Dunollie Castle was finally abandoned by the clan in 1746 and they built Dunollie House not far from the castle ruins.

Dunollie Castle

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It seems to have begun in 1656 when the Glasgow town council spoke of their worries about the low quality of bread its local bakeries were producing, and two bakers from neighbouring Edinburgh cheekily offered to supply the city with their bread, claiming that it was made to a considerably greater standard. This irritated the Glaswegians and things became quite heated between the two cities.

University of St Andrews Professor and author of On Glasgow and Edinburgh, Robert Crawford, said: “The gloves were off and the jousting between Edinburgh and Glasgow had now begun.” Professor Crawford says that it is not uncommon for two of a country’s main cities to develop a rivalry, though there is something unique about the one between the east and west coast cities.
“In the English-speaking world, the rivalry between Edinburgh and Glasgow is foundational in that it precedes, and to some extent prefigures all other fully developed, long-standing urban rivalries – those between New York and Boston, Sydney and Melbourne, Toronto and Vancouver come later,” Crawford added.

Though fortunately, nowadays, any rivalry between Scotland’s two largest cities seems to be purely good-hearted, or even just a thing of the past.

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Some details have finally been released about a clan event happening in 2014 as part of the Homecoming Scotland 2014 celebrations.
The original dates of 11 – 13 July, 2014 announced have now changed, and the revised plan is to centre a general clan gathering directly around the Bannockburn 700th Anniversary activities in the last weekend of June (28 – 30, 2014).
You can keep fully up-to-date with everything that’s happening so far at our new Clans2014 site at clans2014.com.

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The 11th Duke of Atholl, centre, in his role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Atholl Highlanders

John Murray, the Chief of the Murray clans and 11th Duke of Atholl has died in a South African hospital on Tuesday, 15th May after suffering a stroke. He was 83.
The Johannesburg born Murray became Clan Chief and inherited the Dukedom after his cousin George Murray, 10th Duke of Atholl passed away unmarried in 1996.

Murray, the 4x great-grandson of John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl, was born in South Africa in 1929, the only child of Major George Murray and his wife Joan Eastwood. His father was killed in 1940 in active service during the Second World War.
A land surveyor by profession, John married Margaret ‘Peggy’ Leach in 1956 and had three children together: Lady Jennifer Murray; Bruce Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine; and Lord Craig Murray. The eldest son, Bruce, will now become the 12th Duke of Atholl.

A spokesperson at the Atholl Estates in Perthshire announced the death of the Duke and said that his standard would be flown at half-mast out of respect. He added,

“The Duke was Colonel-in-Chief of the Atholl Highlanders and over the years had become a well known figure on Atholl Estates. He visited Scotland every year for the Atholl Highlander’s parade and gathering held at the end of May.
“As he would have wished, the parade will be held this year as usual, at Blair Castle on Saturday May 26 and the Gathering on Sunday 27.
“A service of remembrance will be held at Blair Castle when the Atholl Highlanders and local friends will have a chance to remember the Duke.”

Andrew Bruce Wooton, the general manager at Blair Castle said,

”He was in his 80s and had a full and fantastic life. His family are feeling the sorrow but are thankful he had such an interesting and varied life. He was such a happy and joyful man.”

Apparently, it has been confirmed that Bruce Murray, the new Duke, will visit Blair Atholl to inspect the Highlanders at the next coming parade and gathering.

The 11th Duke was well liked around the estate, and made many friends. Edna Mackay, a former employee at Blair Castle, and good friend, who spent much time with Duke and Duchess, both in Scotland and South Africa, was very saddened by the news of Murray’s death. She went on to say,

“He was proud to be the Duke of Atholl and he carried out his duties very well. We are a small community and he will be greatly missed by the many friends he made here.”

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Grave of David Octavius Hill in Dean Cemetery. The bust of him was sculpted by his wife.

Buried in the beautiful Victorian Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh is David Octavius Hill, a painter who, along with Robert Adamson, pioneered in Scottish and aesthetic photography. They founded the Hill & Adamson Studio in 1843, Scotland’s first photographic studio, when the medium of photography was still very much in its infancy. And from this partnership, the pair produced perhaps the first ever collection of photographs that were purposefully taken in an artistic style.

David Hill was witness to the Disruption Assembly in the May of 1843 -  a schism in the Church of Scotland, which led to the founding of the Free Church of Scotland when 474 ministers walked out because they were extremely unhappy with the Church’s relationship with the State – and Hill, with the encouragement of friend and other witness Lord Henry Cockburn, wanted to paint the historic event. Hill admired the ministers’ great personal risk they were taking, and so wanted to sketch a likeness of each one to put into his painting. Another witness to the Disruption was the eminent physicist Sir David Brewster, and when he realised Hill’s desire to sketch nearly 500 ministers before they headed back to their respective homes across Scotland he suggested that Hill might like to use the services of Robert Adamson to create photographic images of the men instead. Initially Hill was quite reluctant to use this new art form, but after he first met Adamson and discussed the logistics of it all he was quickly won over to the idea and within weeks the two had formed a close working partnership. Hill and Adamson took photos of the setting of the Disruption as well of those who had been there. Hill had a great eye for composition and lighting from his skill as a painter, and positioned each sitter how he envisioned them to be in the finished painting, whereas Robert Adamson, the photography enthusiast, had considerable dexterity when it came to handling the camera, as well as being very genial in nature, which put the sitters at ease and allowed them to act naturally in front of the camera.

A Hill & Adamson picture titled ‘His Faither’s Breeks’

Their collaboration proved to have been very successful and they went on to produce portraits of well-known Scots of the time, both outdoors and in their studio at “Rock House” on Calton Hill. They would quite often use the grand tombs in the kirkyard at Greyfriars in their portraits. But it wasn’t only the famous or well-to-do that Hill and Adamson photographed; they also took landscape pictures locally and around Fife to the north, as well as photos of normal working people, most notably fishermen and women around Newhaven village and harbour.

However, David Octavius Hill’s partnership with Robert Adamson was to last only four and half years. Adamson fell ill in late 1847 and died, at the age of just 26, in the January of 1848. Together the pair produced thousands of groundbreaking portraits and landscapes as well as worked on improving the technology of photography.

Hill’s Disruption of 1843 painting

After Adamson’s death the studio became less and less active, and Hill eventually returned solely to painting, selling prints of his photographs as a way to earn a living. He finally finished his painting of the Disruption Assembly nearly two decades later in 1866 to much acclaim.

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Map Key

A map pinpointing many of the Highland Games and Scottish events taking place this year across Scotland and North America.

If anyone out there thinks I’ve missed some, please feel free to let us know!

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