Recipients of the Scottish Government’s Clan Event Fund were announced today, with over £26,000 in funding awarded to clan events as part of 2014 Homecoming Scotland celebrations. Enterprise and Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing announced that all ten applicants to the fund have been offered grants to support the staging of clan events across the country. […]
With an overabundance of stunning landscapes and picturesque castles, it’s no wonder Scotland is a favourite calling card for film and television location scouts. Here are my top five Scottish locations featured on the silver screen: Inveraray Castle – Downton Abbey Featured in the nail-biting finale to the third season of Downton Abbey, the stunning […]
Spiders at Dunollie Castle in Argyll & Bute, have been granted special protection from the workers during the castle’s £1.3 million restoration. 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 […]
One famous battle immediately springs to mind when you think about Robert the Bruce; The Battle of Bannockburn. A great victory for the Scots led by Bruce over the English foe. But before this Bruce’s path had been a hard one and he suffered many humiliations on the route to victory. It all started with […]
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 […]
A leading DNA expert has shown that the celtic hero Somerled who was credited with driving the Vikings out of western Scotland was himself descended from a Norseman It had always been believed that Somerled was descended from an ancient royal line going back to when the Scots were living in Ireland. A few years […]
“A well tempered man, in body shapely, of a fair piercing eye, of middle stature and of quick discernment.” Somerled is the first known historic figure of the medeival Hebrides. He was celebrated as a purely Celtic hero, but like all good heroes, his story is a gloss of myth and legend. His name in […]
