The Dandy Fechters - Part 1

Added on 22 September 2020

Young William Drummond Stewart, second of Sir George and Lady Catherine’s five sons, born Boxing Day 1795, was tutored at home before being sent away to Westminster School. Not to Eton, like older brother, John; apparently his parents saw enough of his adventurous character by age 10 to agree ...

Birnam on Steroids

Added on 22 April 2020

I was opening another map in the castle archive. The ninth or tenth of the morning. It was not scrolling out as an OS map of the estate, however. As large, yes, but hand-drawn. A word blazed out – 'Birnam'. A much bigger Birnam than the one we know today. What I had, measuring 110cm x ...

The One With Jesuistes and Blackmail

Added on 10 March 2020

Sword or rosary? Edged weapons or prayers? Stark options for Catholics in 1560s Scotland. The Reformation Parliament of 1560 had finally, irrevocably broken with the Holy Father in Rome and was hell-bent on stuffing their religion down History's stank. Their queen, Mary Stuart, held her throne l...

Whey? Whoa!

Added on 09 March 2020

You secure a rare 19 year lease on potentially profitable property close by the Great North Road: Yes! Payment terms are precise to the penny: Ok. Details of the acreage, buildings and boundaries are . . . decidedly vague: Oh . . .Kay? But the landlord has a thing about goats: Deal breaker? The year...

News from Mor thulach

Added on 06 March 2020

A remarkable academic paper begins in 1994 with someone looking for a huffy hut. And Lady Serendipity gets a name check . . . Gazetteers give the origin of Murthly as ‘mòrthulach’, Gaelic for a big mound or hillock. Yet the knoll on which the castle stands is not the highest herea...

'Dalpowie' Parsed at Last

Added on 01 November 2019

It was a lovely sunny day in Perth and with an hour or so to kill I naturally gravitated to the Local Studies section in the AK Bell Library. As you do. On the very first shelf I approached, front cover facing out and, as I later learned, freshly displayed, was Scottish Gaelic Place Names: The Colle...