On the 19th of May Edinburgh’s two great footballing rivals, Hearts and Hibs will meet on the hallowed turf of Hampden Park in Glasgow to contest one of the oldest sporting competitions in the world – the Scottish Cup. England’s version of this top prize, the FA Cup founded in 1871, is the oldest soccer […]
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, […]
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 […]
This is an artists impression of what the site will look like when the centre is opened for the 700th anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn in 2014. The Heritage Centre is currently a rather dreary building sat directly on the main road. Later this year it will close for the last time, and then […]
A few years ago my sister contacted a genealogist to research my Mother’s family tree. After months of painstaking research she got back a large scroll with generations of our Robertson heritage. This scroll sat in its tube for some time until one day I got hold of it and decided it would be a […]
An interesting angle to the current debate on Scottish independence is what would happen to the British Flag, the Union Jack, should Scotland actually separate from the rest of the United Kingdom. It may seem a trivial point, but the flag and the union are so interwoven that it is worth looking at how it […]
The Scots are superstitious, and one of our most strongly held beliefs is that of the gift of second sight; the ability to predict events before they occur. Prophets, or seers, are well recorded in Scottish history and mythology from the Brahan Seer to Thomas the Rhymer; and this article looks at how their predictions cast a long shadow over the lives of people of Scotland
The Gaelic language, spoken still today in the Highland and Islands, has a very descriptive way of explaining the seasons and months of the year based on observations that take us back thousands of years to our ancient past. The months of the year reflect important annual milestones, natural cycles and religious ritual; and were an intregal part of farming life. The article takes you through the year, the seasons and the meaning behind the months and a chance to glimpse the world through our forefathers eyes.
Field Marshal, the Earl Haig was born in Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square in 1861 and would gain fame and noteriety as the Supreme Commander of the British Forces during the First World War. Haig replaced Sir John French in 1916 as the conflict deteriorated into a war of attrition. At this time, the French were under severe pressure at the Battle of Verdun, so Haig launched the Somme offensive to drive back the German army. The battle lasted a little over 4 months, by which time the casualty figures had exceeded a million. Little gain was made, and Haig and his generals were blamed in many quarters for their ineptitude, and Haig himself became known as the Butcher of the Somme. A year later at the Battle of Passchendaele, huge losses for little success was repeated, but both battles had severely damaged the German army and their resilliance. In November 1918 Haig made the final breakthrough and effectively won the war.
Following the war, Sir Douglas Haig was promoted to the peerage as the Earl Haig; he was then instrumental in setting up the British Legion and the Poppy Appeal – two institutions with the purpose of raising funds and providing help and welfare for soldiers and their families, which is very much the legacy of this most controversial of Scotsmen.
Skene Loch is an eerie and forbidding place, particularly on cold evenings in the dead of winter – when the waters on the loch can freeze over. If you were to brave the icy conditions and venture down to the lochside and look across the frozen loch you might see what seems like a mysterious […]
