Category: Scotland
-
A’ Chuil
If you’re wondering why I haven’t posted for a week or so, it’s because I was out of communication in Glen Dessary. Specifically, I was staying at a remote mountain bothie named A’ Chuil. ‘A’ Chuil’ translates to ‘the back’ in English. It’s unclear to me whether this refers to its remote location — the…
-
Rait burial ground
Woke up to another cloudless sky and a quick low level run prior to the journey home, where I believe there has been a bit of snow. Had a look around the burial-ground of Rait with its roofless ruined church and several interesting 18th-century gravestones. Although the existing structure likely dates from the post-Reformation period,…
-
Site of Medieval Farmstead and Ring Enclosure
Running around the foothills of the Sidlaw Hills above Fingask, and, as usual, I was easily distracted trying to locate the humps and bumps indicative of archaeological features. All the features turned out to be quite subtle, except for this farmstead, which was particularly noticeable, thanks to the low winter sun. The discovery of the…
-
Dunsinane Hill
Macbeth shall never vanquisb’d be, until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him. Shakespeare, Macbeth Act IV, Scene I. Did the son of a glove-maker from Warwickshire actually make a trip to this hill in Strathmore, or did he simply pick up an already established legend? Shakespeare’s renowned tragic play portrays…
-
Fingask Castle, near Dundee
Fingask Castle boasts an array of distinctive topiary, sculptures, and ornamental follies. The castle has a rich history, tracing back to 1594 when Patrick Bruce constructed it, although the Bruce family had been established on the site since the 14th century. Fingask is first documented in the Foundation Charter of the Abbey of Scone in…
-
The coastline near Cove
The Berwickshire coastline is a rugged and untamed stretch of land that is a favourite destination of ours for a refreshing break during a northbound journey, offering ample opportunities for exercise and fresh air. These breathtaking views along the coast are the result of millions of years of sedimentary rock formation during the Palaeozoic geological…
-
Peat Law
Another photo from the last few days in the Scottish Borders. At 464m asl., the hill on the right is known as ‘Three Brethren‘ after the three 16th-century cairns on its summit. It stands on an old drove road once used by cattle but now popular with walkers and mountain bikers. The cairns were each…
-
It’s amazing what you come across in a Scottish forest
In 2012, a full-size football pitch was created in a plantation of spruce near the Scottish border town of Selkirk. Trees were felled and the timber used to make the goal posts, crowd barriers, benches, and changing rooms. The pitch had been carefully tendered. For just one day, four teams of amateur players — two…
-
Frisian horses on the Southern Uplands
Cademuir Hill is a small ridge, barely 4km long south of Peebles in the Tweed valley. Yet it hosts 3 prehistoric forts. The photo is taken from the south-westernmost at 356m asl, arbitrarily named by the archaeologists as ‘Cademuir Hill 2’, towards the highest at 407m asl., ‘Cademuir Hill 1’. The 3rd fort, The Whaum,…
-
Glen Vale and John Knox’s Pulpit
Another range of hills I’ve passed by many times before on journeys to the Highlands — the Lomond Hills. The main photo is Glen Vale, the Convenanters’ glen — a “ravine of rugged grandeur” — on account of the Presbyterian conventicles held during the ‘Killing Time‘ in the late 17th Century when such Convenanters as…