Scotland’s Ancient History

Our ancient history like so many other nations is shrouded in mystery – It is not until the Roman Empire reached Scotland that records began to be kept. An inhospitable place covered in a great forest and inhabited by a race known as the Picts – Scotland was abandoned by Rome soon after it was discovered.
As the Picts all but disappeared the new nation of Scotland began to emerge.

 

 

 

 

 

080 Julius Agricola in Scotland

Julius Agricola was sent in the year AD77 to be governor of Britain for the Roman Empire. He pushed the Empire’s reach northwards with advances to the valley crossing Scotland from the Clyde to the Forth in AD80…
» Read about Agricola in Scotland

 

 

 

0084 Battle of Mons Graupius

The Battle of Mons Graupius took place in 83 or 84. Julius Agricola, the Roman governor had sent his fleet ahead to panic the Caledonians, and, with light infantry reinforced with British auxiliaries, reached the site, which he found occupied by the enemy…
» Read about the Battle of Mons Graupius

 

 

 

0397 St Ninian in Galloway

When Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica was written in 731, it named Ninian as the first Scottish Christian. The Romans left Britain with traces of their Christianity remaining…
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0563 St Columba Lands at Iona

Despite his name meaning ‘dove’, Columba was banished from Ireland in 563, aged forty two, for leading battles against greedy Irish monasteries. With twelve supporters he sailed in a curragh to Iona, the island lying a kilometre south-west of the end of Mull.
» Read about Saint Columba landing on Iona

 

 

 

0793 Beginning of the Norse Invasions

The Viking invasions of Scotland heralded a new type of warfare.
By equipping their boats with keels, a significant number of warriors could be accommodated on sea journeys that presented little problem to the highly developed Norse navigational and rigging skills.
» Read about the Beginning of the Norse Invasions

 

 

0843 Kenneth McAlpine Crowned

The Danes, already well-established through the Hebrides and on the mainland and supported with on-going North Sea crossings, battled with Alba’s Picts in 839 and utterly defeated them.
» Read about Kenneth McAlpine being Crowned

 

 

 

1018 Battle of Carham

With Malcolm II as king and Owen of Strathclyde supporting him, an important battle was fought against Earl Uhtred of Bamburgh and his Northumbrian army at Carham, near Roxburgh.
» Read about the 1018 Battle of Carham

 

 

 

1040 Macbeth Crowned King

When Duncan I took the Scottish throne, his grandfather had the blood of several relatives on his hands, having murdered the way clear for Duncan.
» Read about Macbeth being Crowned King