Portal:Scotland/Selected article/2008
 | If you wish to suggest a possible candidate for selected article, picture or quote, see here. |
Weeks in 2008
[edit]- Week 1
Edinburgh Castle is an ancient fortress which, from its position atop Castle Rock, dominates the sky-line of the city of Edinburgh, and is Scotland's second most visited tourist attraction, after the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC. As it stands today though, few of the castle's structures pre-date the 16th century, with the notable exception of St Margaret's Chapel, the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, which dates from the early 12th century.
As with all castles, Edinburgh's fortress has been a centre of military activity. As an ancient fortress Edinburgh Castle is one of the few that still has a military garrison, albeit for ceremonial purposes, and the official headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and 52 Infantry Brigade, as well as home to the regimental museum of the Royal Scots and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
The Governor of the Castle has always been the head of the Army in Scotland. Direct administration of the castle by the Ministry of Defence only came to an end in 1923 when the army formally moved to the city's new Redford Barracks. Nevertheless, Sentries still stand watch at the castle gatehouse between 6pm and 9am, with responsibility for guarding the Honours of Scotland.
- Week 2
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in the triumph of English influence over that of France.
The Reformation Parliament of 1560, which repudiated the pope's authority, forbade the celebration of the mass and approved a Protestant Confession of Faith, was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony under the regime of the regent Mary of Guise, who had governed Scotland in the name of her absent daughter Mary Queen of Scots (then also Queen of France).
The Scottish Reformation decisively shaped the Church of Scotland and, through it, all other Presbyterian churches worldwide. From the fifteenth century, Renaissance humanism had already encouraged critical theological reflection and calls for ecclesiastical renewal in Scotland. From 1517, Martin Luther's doctrinal ideas were influencing Scots. As early as 1525 Parliament thought it necessary to forbid the importation of Lutheran books, and to suppress 'his heresies or opinions' throughout the realm.
- Week 3
Doune Castle is an imposing Medieval castle in the Stirling district of central Scotland, sited on a wooded bend where a tributary joins the River Teith, across a bridge from the village of Doune. It lies 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Stirling where the River Teith flows into the River Forth. Upstream, 8 miles (13 km) further north-west the town of Callander lies at the edge of the Trossachs mountain region of the Scottish highlands. It can be found at grid reference NN728010. Doune has a considerable claim to be among the best-preserved medieval castles in Scotland. It is undoubtedly the finest castle of its date (late 14th century) in the country. Though apparently never completed, the surviving Castle is a building of unique and sophisticated plan, with architectural detail of notable refinement.
The site is defended on three sides by the ground sloping steeply down to the rivers, and the approach from the north is defended by earthworks. There is a superb view in every direction from the battlements. The Castle is entered through a narrow gateway and a 46 ft (14 m) long vaulted passageway, formerly blocked by two massive timber doors and a 'yett' (iron grille), that leads to a large central courtyard. Off this, steps lead up to the Great hall which is connected by arched servery hatches and a door to the massive kitchen. An enclosed staircase from the courtyard reaches the timber panelled Lord's hall and other apartments, which all together give a vivid impression of life in a medieval castle.
- Week 4
The Falkirk Wheel, named after the nearby town of Falkirk in central Scotland, is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The difference in the levels of the two canals at the wheel is 24 metres, roughly equivalent to the height of an eight storey building. The structure is located near the Rough Castle Fort and the closest village is Tamfourhill. On 24 May 2002, Queen Elizabeth opened the Falkirk Wheel as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations.
The wheel, which has an overall diameter of 35 metres, consists of two opposing arms which extend 15 metres beyond the central axle, and which take the shape of a Celtic-inspired, double-headed axe. Two sets of these axe-shaped arms are attached about 25 metres apart to a 3.5 metre diameter axle. Two diametrically opposed water-filled caissons, each with a capacity of 80,000 gallons (302 tons), are fitted between the ends of the arms. According to Archimedes' principle, floating objects displace their own weight in water. This keeps the wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180° in five and a half minutes whilst using very little power.
- Week 5
Shapinsay is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. There is one village on the island, Balfour, from which roll-on/roll-off car ferries sail to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. Balfour Castle, built in the Scottish Baronial style, is one of the island's most prominent features, a reminder of the Balfour family's domination of Shapinsay during the 18th and 19th centuries; the Balfours transformed island life by introducing new agricultural techniques. Other landmarks include a standing stone, an Iron Age broch, a souterrain and a salt-water shower.
With an area of just under 3,000 hectares (7,300 acres), Shapinsay is the eighth largest island in the Orkney archipelago. It is low-lying and fertile, consequently most of the area is given over to farming. Shapinsay has two nature reserves and is notable for its birdlife.
As of the 2001 census, Shapinsay has a population of 300. The economy of the island is based on agriculture and a few small businesses largely related to tourism. Plans for the construction of a wind turbine are under consideration.
- Week 6
Edinburgh (; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital of Scotland and its second largest city, after Glasgow, which is 45 miles (72 km) away to the west.
It is in the south-east of Scotland, on the east coast of Scotland's Central Belt, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, on the North Sea and, because of its rugged setting and vast collection of Medieval and Georgian architecture including numerous stone tenements, it is often considered one of the most dramatic cities in Europe. The city is one of Europe's major tourist destinations, attracting around 13 million visitors a year, and is the second most visited tourist destination in the United Kingdom, after London.
It has been the capital of Scotland since 1437 (replacing Scone) and is the seat of the Scottish Parliament. The city was one of the major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, gaining the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. There are over 4,501 listed buildings within the city. In the census of 2001, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 448,624.
Edinburgh is well-known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, a collection of official and independent festivals held annually over about four weeks from early August. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festival is roughly equal to the settled population of the city. The most famous of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe (the largest performing arts festival in the world), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
- Week 7
Rosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Chapel of St. Matthew, is a 15th century Episcopal church in the village of Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland. The chapel was designed by William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness (also spelled "St. Clair") of the Sinclair family, a noble family descended from Norman knights.
The chapel, built 150 years after the dissolution of the Knights Templar, supposedly has many Templar symbols, such as the "Two riders on a single horse" that appear on the Seal of the Knights Templar. The layout of the chapel is cited as echoing the layout of the Temple of Solomon. It is also claimed that other carvings in the chapel reflect Masonic imagery, such as the way that hands are placed in various figures. One carving may show a blindfolded man being led forward with a noose around his neck -- similar to the way a candidate is prepared for initiation into Freemasonry.
The Chapel is a major feature in the last part of Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, though many incorrect assertions were made about the structure. For example, Brown's book states that the Chapel was built by the Knights Templar, and contains a six-pointed Star of David worn into the stone floor although no such star has ever been seen in the floor.
- Week 8
The history of Scotland begins around 10,000 years ago, when humans first began to inhabit Scotland after the end of the Devensian glaciation, the last ice age. Of the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age civilization that existed in the country, many artifacts remain, but few written records were left behind.
The written history of Scotland largely begins with the arrival of the Roman Empire in Britain, when the Romans occupied what is now England and Wales, administering it as a Roman province called Britannia. To the north was territory not governed by the Romans — Caledonia, by name. Its people were the Picts. From a classical historical viewpoint Scotland seemed a peripheral country, slow to gain advances filtering out from the Mediterranean fount of civilisation, but as knowledge of the past increases it has become apparent that some developments were earlier and more advanced than previously thought, and that the seaways were very important to Scottish history.
Because of the geographical orientation of Scotland and its strong reliance on trade routes by sea, the nation held close links in the south and east with the Baltic countries, and through Ireland with France and the continent of Europe. Following the Acts of Union and the subsequent Scottish Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, Scotland became one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Its industrial decline following the Second World War was particularly acute, but in recent decades the country has enjoyed something of a cultural and economic renaissance, fuelled in part by a resurgent financial services sector, the proceeds of North Sea oil and gas, and latterly a devolved parliament.
- Week 9
William Adam (1689 – June 24, 1748) was a Scottish architect, mason, and entrepreneur. He was the foremost architect of his time in Scotland, designing and building numerous country houses and public buildings, and often acting as contractor as well as architect. Among his best known works are Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, and Duff House in Banff. His individual, exuberant style built on the Palladian style, but with Baroque details inspired by Vanbrugh and Continental architecture.
As well as being an architect, Adam was involved in several industrial ventures and improvement schemes, including coal mining, salt panning, stone quarries and mills. From 1731 he built up his own estate in Kinross-shire, which he named Blair Adam. In the 18th century, Adam was considered Scotland's "Universal Architect". However, since the early 20th century, architectural critics have taken a more measured view, Colin McWilliam for instance finding the quality of his work "varied to an extreme degree".
He was the father of three architects; John, Robert and James, the last two the developers of the "Adam style".
- Week 10
Aberdeen (pronounced ; Scottish Gaelic: Obar Dheathain) is Scotland's third largest city with an official population of 202,370.
Nicknames include the Granite City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeen's buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, whose mica deposits sparkle like silver. The city has a long, sandy coastline. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, other nicknames have been the Oil Capital of Europe or the Energy Capital of Europe.
In 1319, Aberdeen received Royal Burgh status from Robert the Bruce, transforming the city economically. The city's two universities, the University of Aberdeen, founded in 1495, and the Robert Gordon University, which was awarded university status in 1992, make Aberdeen the educational centre of the north-east. The traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeen's seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world and the seaport is the largest in the north-east of Scotland.
- Week 11
Hadrian's Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of modern-day England. It was the second of three such fortifications built across Great Britain, the first being Gask Ridge and the last the Antonine Wall. All three were built to prevent military raids by the Pictish tribes (ancient inhabitants of Scotland) to the north, to improve economic stability and provide peaceful conditions in the Roman province of Britannia to the south, and to mark physically the frontier of the Empire. Hadrian's Wall is the best known of the three because its physical presence remains most evident today.
The wall marked the northern limes in Britain and also the most heavily fortified border in the Empire. In addition to its use as a military fortification, it is thought that the gates through the wall would also have served as customs posts to allow trade taxation.
A significant portion of the wall still exists, particularly the midsection, and for much of its length the wall can be followed on foot. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern England, where it is often known simply as the Roman Wall. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. English Heritage, a government organization in charge of managing the historic environment of England, describes it as "the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain".
- Week 12
The Scottish Enlightenment was a remarkable period in 18th century Scotland characterized by a great outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments rivalling that of any other nation at any time in history. What made it even more remarkable was that it took place in a country which was among the poorest and was thought to be among the most backward in western Europe prior to that time, in addition to having a substantially smaller population base and infrastructure than many other major western European nations.
Sharing the humanist and rationalist outlook of the European Enlightenment of the same time period, the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment asserted the fundamental importance of human reason combined with a rejection of any authority which could not be justified by reason. They held to an optimistic belief in the ability of man to effect changes for the better in society and nature, guided only by reason.
Among the advances of the period were achievements in philosophy, economics, engineering, architecture, medicine, geology, archaeology, law, agriculture, chemistry, and sociology. Among the outstanding Scottish thinkers and scientists of the period were Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Reid, Robert Burns, Adam Ferguson, and James Hutton.
The Scottish Enlightenment had effects far beyond Scotland itself, not only because of the esteem in which Scottish achievements were held in Europe and elsewhere, but also because its ideas and attitudes were carried across the Atlantic as part of the Scottish diaspora which had its beginnings in that same era.
- Week 13
The Forth Road Bridge is a suspension bridge in east central Scotland. The bridge, built in 1964, spans the Firth of Forth, connecting the capital city Edinburgh at South Queensferry to Fife at North Queensferry. The toll bridge replaced a centuries-old ferry service to carry vehicular traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians across the Forth; rail crossings are made by the adjacent and historic Forth Bridge.
The first crossing at what is now the site of the bridge was established in the 11th century by Margaret, queen consort of King Malcolm III, who founded a ferry service to transport religious pilgrims from Edinburgh to Dunfermline Abbey and St Andrews. Its creation gave rise to the port towns which remain to this day, and the service remained in uninterrupted use as a passenger ferry for over eight hundred years. As early as the 1740s there were proposals for a road crossing at the site, although their viability was only considered following the construction of the first Forth bridge in 1890.
Designed and constructed at a cost of £11.5 million, (£19.5 million including road connections and realignments), seven lives were lost during construction before the bridge was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh on 4 September 1964. The bridge's central main span is 1006 m (3298 ft) long, its two side spans are each 408 m (1338 ft) long, and the approach viaducts are 252 m (827 ft) on the north side and 438 m (1437 ft) on the south side; at a total length of 2512 m (8242 ft), it was the longest suspension bridge outside the United States and the fourth-largest in the world at the time of its construction
- Week 14
.jpg){kind=link}
Clement of Dunblane (died 1258) was a thirteenth century Dominican friar who was the first member of the Dominican Order in Britain and Ireland to become a bishop. In 1233, he was selected to lead the ailing diocese of Dunblane in Scotland, and faced a struggle to bring the bishopric of Dunblane (or "bishopric of Strathearn") to financial viability. This involved many negotiations with the powerful religious institutions and secular authorities which had acquired control of the revenue that would normally have been the entitlement of Clement's bishopric. The negotiations proved difficult, forcing Clement to visit the papal court in Rome. While not achieving all of his aims, Clement succeeded in saving the bishopric from relocation to Inchaffray Abbey. He also regained enough revenue to begin work on the new Dunblane Cathedral.
He faced a similar challenge with the impoverished bishopric of Argyll in the 1240s. He was given the job of restoring the viability of the diocese and installing a new bishop; this involved forming a close relationship with King Alexander II of Scotland. Clement was with the king during his campaign in Argyll in 1249 and was at his side when he died during this campaign. In 1250 Clement had been able to install a new bishop in Argyll and had become one of the Guardians appointed to govern Scotland during the minority of King Alexander III. By 1250 he had established a reputation as one of the most active Dominican reformers in Britain. Clement helped to elevate Edmund of Abingdon and Queen Margaret to sainthood. After his death, he received veneration as a saint himself, although he was never formally canonised.
- Week 15
Papa Stour is one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland, with a population of over twenty people, some of whom immigrated after an appeal for residents in the 1970s. Located to the west of mainland Shetland and with an area of 828 hectares (3.2 square miles), Papa Stour is the eighth largest island in the Shetlands. Erosion of the soft volcanic rocks by the sea has created an extraordinary variety of caves, stacks, arches, blowholes, and cliffs. The island and its surrounding seas harbour diverse populations of wildlife. The west side of the island is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the seas around the island are a Special Area of Conservation.
The island has several Neolithic burial chamber sites, as well as the remains of Duke Hakon's 13th century house dating from the Norse occupation of the island. The population reached 380 or more in the nineteenth century, when a fishing station was opened at Crabbaberry in West Voe. Subsequently there was a steady decline in population, although the numbers have increased from a low of 16 in the 1970s.
Today the main settlement on the island is Biggings, just to the east of which is Housa Voe from where the Snolda ferry arrives from its base at West Burrafirth on the Shetland Mainland. Crofting, especially sheep rearing, is the mainstay of island life.
- Week 16
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832) was a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe during his time.
In some ways Scott was the first author to have a truly international career in his lifetime, with many contemporary readers all over Europe, Australia, and North America. His novels and poetry are still read, and many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley and The Heart of Midlothian.
Born in College Wynd in the Old Town of Edinburgh in 1771, the son of a solicitor, the young Walter Scott survived a childhood bout of polio in 1773 that would leave him lame in his right leg for the rest of his life. To restore his health he was sent in that year to live in the rural Borders region at his grandparents' farm at Sandyknowe, adjacent to the ruin of Smailholm Tower, the earlier family home. Here he was taught to read by his aunt Jenny, and learned from her the speech patterns and many of the tales and legends which characterized much of his work.
At the age of 25 he began dabbling in writing, translating works from German, his first publication being rhymed versions of ballads by Bürger in 1796. He then published a three-volume set of collected Scottish ballads, The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. This was the first sign of his interest in Scottish history from a literary standpoint.
- Week 17
The Geology of Scotland is unusually varied for a country of its size, with a large number of differing geological features. There are three main geographical sub-divisions: the Highlands and Islands is a diverse area which lies to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault; the Central Lowlands is a rift valley mainly comprising Paleozoic formations; and the Southern Uplands, which lie south of a second fault line, are largely composed of Silurian deposits.
The existing bedrock includes very ancient Archean gneiss, metamorphic beds interspersed with granite intrusions created during the Caledonian mountain building period (the Caledonian orogeny), commercially important coal, oil and iron bearing carboniferous deposits and the remains of substantial tertiary volcanoes. During their formation, tectonic movements created climatic conditions ranging from polar to desert to tropical and a resultant diversity of fossil remains.
Scotland has also had a role to play in many significant discoveries such as plate tectonics and the development of theories about the formation of rocks and was the home of important figures in the development of the science including James Hutton, (the "father of modern geology") Hugh Miller and Archibald Geikie. Various locations such as 'Hutton's Unconformity' at Siccar Point in Berwickshire and the Moine Thrust in the north west were also important in the development of geological science.
- Week 18
Macbeth of Scotland or Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (Modern Gaelic: MacBheatha mac Fhionnlaigh), anglicised as Macbeth, and nicknamed Rí Deircc, "the Red King" (died 15 August 1057), was King of Scots (or Alba) from 1040 until his death. He is best known as the subject of William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth and the many works it has inspired, although the play is historically inaccurate.
Macbeth's life, like that of King Duncan I, had progressed far towards legend by the end of the 14th century, when John of Fordun and Andrew of Wyntoun wrote their histories. Hector Boece, Walter Bower, and George Buchanan all contributed to the legend.
The influence of William Shakespeare's Macbeth towers over mere histories, and has made the name of Macbeth infamous. Even his wife has gained some fame along the way, lending her Shakespeare-given title to a short story by Nikolai Leskov and the opera by Dmitri Shostakovich entitled Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. The historical content of Shakespeare's play is drawn from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which in turn borrows from Boece's 1527 Scotorum Historiae which flattered the antecedents of Boece's patron, King James V of Scotland.
- Week 19
Elgin Cathedral, sometimes referred to as ‘The Lantern of the North’, is an historic ruin in Elgin in Moray, north-east Scotland. It was established in 1224 but only reached completion near the end of the 13th century. The cathedral's chapter house — a unique feature in Scottish secular cathedrals but not uncommon in England — is still mostly intact. The vaulted tombs of some of the Bishops of Moray containing their effigies can still be seen. Glimpses of its former splendour can yet be discerned.
In 1390 it was burned by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, known as the Wolf of Badenoch. It was once again attacked in 1402 by the Lord of the Isles’ followers and yet again repaired in the 15th and 16th centuries only to fall into disuse and ruination due to neglect following the Scottish Reformation. Preservation of the building began slowly in the 19th century and gradually took pace during the 20th century and is now fully stabilised.
It is possible that the mormaers of Moray may have appointed bishops as early as the 11th century. Bishop Gregoir of Moray appears in the foundation charter of Scone Priory, issued by King Alexander I of Scotland (Alaxandair mac Maíl Choluim) at some point between 1114 and 1123, and again in a charter defining the legal rights of the monastery. After the suppression in 1130 of Óengus of Moray, who was aiding the claimant for the Scottish throne Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair, the victorious King David I regarded the continued presence of bishops in Moray as essential to the well-being of the province.
- Week 20
The Lockerbie bombing was Pan American World Airways third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London's Heathrow International Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. On December 21, 1988, the aircraft flying this route—a Boeing 747-121 named Clipper Maid of the Seas—was destroyed by a bomb. The remains landed in and around the town of Lockerbie in southern Scotland.
In the subsequent investigation of the crash, forensic experts determined that about 1 lb (450 g) of plastic explosive had been detonated in the airplane's forward cargo hold, triggering a sequence of events that led to the rapid destruction of the aircraft. Winds of 100 knots (190 km/h) scattered victims and debris along a 130 km (80 mile) corridor over an area of 845 square miles (2189 km²). The death toll was 270 people from 21 countries, including 11 people in Lockerbie.
After a three-year joint investigation by the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, during which 15,000 witness statements were taken, indictments for murder were issued on November 13, 1991, against Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa Airport, Malta. United Nations sanctions against Libya and protracted negotiations with the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi secured the handover of the accused on April 5, 1999 to Scottish police at Camp Zeist, Netherlands, chosen as a neutral venue.
- Week 21
James Watt (19 January 1736 – 19 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution.
James Watt was born on 19th of January, 1736 in Greenock, a seaport on the Firth of Clyde. His father was a shipwright, ship owner and contractor, while his mother, Agnus Muirhead, came from a distinguished family and was well educated. Both were Presbyterians and strong Covenanters. Watt attended school irregularly but instead he was mostly schooled at home by his mother. He exhibited great manual dexterity and an aptitude for mathematics, while Latin and Greek left him cold, and he absorbed the legends and lore of the Scottish people.
When he was 17, his mother died and his father's health had begun to fail. Watt travelled to London to study instrument-making for a year, then returned to Scotland – to Glasgow – intent on setting up his own instrument-making business. However, because he had not served at least seven years as an apprentice, the Glasgow Guild of Hammermen (any artisans using hammers) blocked his application, despite there being no other mathematical instrument makers in Scotland. Watt was saved from this impasse by three professors of the University of Glasgow, who offered him the opportunity to set up a small workshop within the university. It was established in 1758 and one of the professors, the physicist and chemist Joseph Black, became Watt's friend.
- Week 22
Roslin Castle (sometimes spelt Rosslyn) is a partially ruined castle near the village of Roslin in Midlothian, Scotland. It is located around 9 miles south of Edinburgh, on the north bank of the North Esk, only a few hundred metres from the famous Rosslyn Chapel. There has been a castle on the site since the early 14th century, when the Sinclair Earls of Orkney fortified the site.
The first castle at Roslin was built in the 1330s for Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney. The Sinclair, or St Clair, family (also anciently spelt Sanctclare), were of Norman origin, and had held land in the Lothians since 1162. It was built on a rocky promontory near the site of the Battle of Roslin, where the Scots defeated the English in 1303. In the late 14th or early 15th century, Henry's son Henry, 2nd Earl of Orkney built a new rectangular, round-cornered keep at the south-west corner. The courtyard was entered via a drawbridge over an artificial ditch, giving access to a pend in the small north range.
Following destruction during the Rough Wooing of 1544, the castle was rebuilt. This structure, built into the cliffs of Roslin Glen, has remained at least partially habitable ever since. The castle is accessed via a high bridge, which replaced the earlier drawbridge. Roslin was renovated in the 1980s and now serves as holiday accommodation.
- Week 23
Scots language refers to the Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland. In Scotland it is sometimes called Lowland Scots or its contraction Lallans to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic spoken by some in the Highlands and Islands (especially the Hebrides) and small communities in the urban lowlands. Scots is also spoken in parts of Northern Ireland and border areas of the Republic of Ireland, where it is known in official circles as Ulster Scots or Ullans.
Since there are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects, scholars and other interested parties often disagree about the linguistic, historical and social status of Scots. Although a number of paradigms for distinguishing between languages and dialects do exist, these often render contradictory results (See Dialect). Consequently, Scots has, on the one hand, been traditionally regarded as one of the ancient dialects of English, but with its own ancient and distinct dialects. Scots has often been treated as part of English as spoken in Scotland but differs significantly from the Standard Scottish English taught in schools. On the other hand, it has been regarded as a distinct Germanic language the way Swedish is distinct from Danish.
Its subordination to Anglo-English has also been compared to the subordination of West Frisian to Dutch in the Netherlands. However, use of the word subordination in this context also implies that a standard or proper version of the language, in this case English, actually exists. Thus Scots can be interpreted as a collective term for the dialects of English spoken or originating in Scotland, or it can be interpreted as the autochthonous language of Lowland Scotland.
- Week 24
Charlotte Stuart, styled Duchess of Albany (29 October 1753 – 17 November 1789), was the illegitimate daughter of the Jacobite pretender Prince Charles Edward Stuart ('Bonnie Prince Charlie' or the 'Young Pretender') and his only child to survive infancy. Her mother was Clementina Walkinshaw, who was mistress to the Prince from 1752 until 1760.
After years of abuse, Clementina left the Prince, taking Charlotte. Charlotte spent most of her life in French convents; estranged from a father who refused to make any provision for her. Unable to marry, she herself became a mistress with illegitimate children taking the Archbishop of Bordeaux as her lover. She was finally reconciled to her father in 1784, when he legitimised her and created her Duchess of Albany. She left her own children with her mother, and became his carer and companion in the last years of his life, before dying less than two years later. Her three children were raised in anonymity; however, as the only grandchildren of the pretender, they have been the subject of Jacobite interest since their lineage was uncovered in the 20th century.
Charlotte Stuart's story did not take long to enter into the Jacobite folklore. The Scots poet, Robert Burns, a near contemporary, wrote a number of works celebrating the tragic romanticism of the Jacobite cause. Amongst them was The Bonnie Lass of Albanie, a lament to Charlotte Stuart probably written at the time of her death. Indeed, evidence from an unpublished collection of letters from Burns to Robert Ainslie reveals the Poet's fascination with Charlotte, in that he considered naming one of his own illegitimate children Charlotte after her.
- Week 25
The Tay Bridge (sometimes unofficially the Tay Rail Bridge) is a railway bridge approximately two and a quarter miles (three and a half kilometres) long that spans the Firth of Tay in Scotland, between the city of Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. As with the Forth Bridge, the Tay Bridge has also been called the Tay Rail Bridge since the construction of a road bridge over the firth, the Tay Road Bridge. The rail bridge replaced an early train ferry.
The original Tay Bridge was constructed in the 19th century. It was designed by noted railway engineer Thomas Bouch, who received a knighthood following the bridge's completion. It was a lattice-grid design, combining cast and wrought iron. The first engine crossed the bridge on September 22, 1877, and upon its completion in early 1878 the Tay Bridge was among the longest in the world. The bridge was opened on June 1, 1878. During a violent storm on the evening of 28 December 1879, the centre section of the bridge, known as the "High Girders", collapsed, taking with it a train that was running on its single track. More than 75 lives were lost, including Sir Thomas' son-in-law. Forty-six of the sixty known victims were found.
A new double-track bridge was designed by William Henry Barlow and built by William Arrol 60 ft (18 m) slightly upstream of, and parallel to, the original bridge. The bridge proposal was formally incorporated in July 1881 and the foundation stone laid on July 6, 1883. Construction involved 25,000 tons of iron and steel, 70,000 tons of concrete, ten million bricks (weighing 37,500 tons) and three million rivets. Fourteen men lost their lives during its construction, mostly due to drowning. The second bridge opened on 13 July 1887 and remains in use today.
- Week 26
John Knox (c. 1510 – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish clergyman and a leader of the Protestant Reformation and he is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination. He was educated at the University of St Andrews and worked as a notary-priest. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the movement to reform the Scottish church. He was caught up in the ecclesiastical and political events that involved the murder of Cardinal Beaton in 1546 and the intervention of the regent of Scotland. He was taken prisoner by French forces the following year and exiled to England on his release in 1549.
While in exile, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England, where he quickly rose in the ranks to serve the King of England, Edward VI, as a royal chaplain. In this position, he exerted a reforming influence on the text of the Book of Common Prayer. In England he met and married his first wife, Marjorie. When Mary Tudor ascended the throne and reestablished Roman Catholicism, Knox was forced to resign his position and leave the country.
In Geneva, he met John Calvin, from whom he gained experience and knowledge of Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. He created a new order of service, which was eventually adopted by the reformed church in Scotland. He left Geneva to head the English refugee church in Frankfurt, but he was forced to leave over differences concerning the liturgy, thus ending his association with the Church of England. On his return to Scotland, he led the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Protestant nobility. The movement may be seen as a revolution, since it led to the ousting of the queen regent, Mary of Guise, who governed the country in the name of her young daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots.
- Week 27
The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE), 1902–04, was organized and led by William Speirs Bruce, a natural scientist and former medical student from the University of Edinburgh. Bruce had spent most of the 1890s engaged on expeditions to the Antarctic and Arctic regions, and by 1899 was Britain's most experienced polar scientist. In March of that year, he applied to join the National Antarctic expedition (later known as Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition). However, his proposal to extend that expedition's field of work into the Weddell Sea quadrant, using a second ship, was dismissed as "mischievous rivalry" by Royal Geographical Society (RGS) president Sir Clements Markham. The SNAE, therefore, went ahead as an independent, privately financed venture.
Although overshadowed in prestige terms by the Discovery Expedition, the SNAE completed a full programme of exploration and scientific work. Its achievements included the establishment of the first permanent meteorological station in Antarctic territory, and the discovery of new land to the east of the Weddell Sea. Its large collection of biological and geological specimens, together with those from Bruce's earlier travels, led to the establishment of the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory in 1906. The expedition has been described as "by far the most cost-effective and carefully planned scientific expedition of the Heroic Age", although its homecoming in July 1904, in contrast to the reception afforded two months later to the returning Discovery, was muted. Bruce received no formal honour or recognition from the British Government, and the expedition's members were denied the prestigious Polar Medal despite vigorous lobbying.
- Week 28
Dunstaffnage Castle is a partially ruined castle in Argyll and Bute, western Scotland. It lies 3 miles (4.8 km) N.N.E. of Oban, situated on a platform of conglomerate rock on a promontory at the south-west of the entrance to Loch Etive, and is surrounded on three sides by the sea.
The castle dates back to the 13th century, making it one of Scotland's oldest stone castles, in a local group which includes Castle Sween and Castle Tioram. Guarding a strategic location, it was built by the MacDougall lords of Lorn, and has been held since the 15th century by the Clan Campbell. To this day there is a hereditary Captain of Dunstaffnage, although they no longer reside at the castle. Dunstaffnage is maintained by Historic Scotland, and is open to the public, although the 16th century gatehouse is retained as the private property of the Captain. The prefix dun in the name means "fort" in Gaelic, while the rest of the name derives from Norse stafr-nis, "headland of the staff".
Before the construction of the castle, Dunstaffnage may have been the location of a Dál Riatan stronghold, known as Dun Monaidh, as early as the 7th century. It was recorded, by John Monipennie in 1612, that the Stone of Destiny was kept here after being brought from Ireland, and before it was moved to Scone Palace in 843. However, Iona and Dunadd are both considered more likely, given their known connections with Dál Riatan kings.
- Week 29
James VI of Scotland (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI, and King of England and King of Ireland as James I. He ruled in Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567, when he was only one year old, succeeding his mother Mary, Queen of Scots. Regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government until 1581. On 24 March 1603, as James I, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I, who died without issue. He then ruled England, Scotland and Ireland for 22 years, until his death at the age of 58.
James achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced great difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and repeated conflicts with the English Parliament. According to a tradition originating with historians of the mid-seventeenth-century, James's taste for political absolutism, his financial irresponsibility, and his cultivation of unpopular favourites established the foundation for the English Civil War. Recent historians, however, have revised James's reputation and treated him as a serious and thoughtful monarch.
Under James, the "Golden Age" of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Sir Francis Bacon contributing to a flourishing literary culture. James himself was a talented scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie (1597) and Basilikon Doron (1599). Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed "the wisest fool in Christendom", an epithet associated with his character ever since.
- Week 30
Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law. Grounded in uncodified civil law dating back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, it also features elements of common law with medieval sources. Thus Scotland has a pluralistic, or 'mixed', legal system, of which South African law is comparable, and, to a lesser degree, the partly codified pluralistic systems of Louisiana and Quebec.
Since the Acts of Union, in 1707, it has shared a legislature with the rest of the United Kingdom. Scotland retained a fundamentally different legal system from that of England and Wales, but the Union brought English influence on Scots law. In recent years, Scots law has also been affected by European law under the Treaty of Rome, the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights (entered into by members of the Council of Europe) and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament which may pass legislation within its areas of legislative competence as detailed by the Scotland Act 1998.
Although there are many substantial differences between Scots law, English law and Northern Ireland law, much of the law is also similar, for example, Commercial law is similar throughout all jurisdictions in the United Kingdom, as is Employment Law. Different terminology is often used for the same concepts, for example, arbiters are called arbitrators in England. Another example would be the third verdict available to judges and juries (which consist of 15 members) in criminal cases: 'not proven'. The age of legal capacity under Scots law is 16, whereas under English law it is 18.
- Week 31
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.
Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to an English father, Charles Altamont Doyle, and an Irish mother, née Mary Foley, who had married in 1855. Although he is now referred to as "Conan Doyle", the origin of this compound surname is uncertain. Conan Doyle's father was an artist, as were his paternal uncles (one of whom was Richard Doyle), and his paternal grandfather John Doyle. Conan Doyle was sent to the Roman Catholic Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst, at the age of eight. He then went on to Stonyhurst College, but by the time he left the school in 1875, he had rejected Christianity to become an agnostic.
From 1876 to 1881 he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, including a period working in the town of Aston (now a district of Birmingham). While studying, he also began writing short stories; his first published story appeared in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal before he was 20. Following his term at university, he served as a ship's doctor on a voyage to the West African coast. He completed his doctorate on the subject of tabes dorsalis in 1885.
- Week 32
.jpg)
Dolly the ewe (July 5, 1996 – February 14, 2003) was the first animal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer. She was cloned by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was born on July 5, 1996 and she lived until the age of six.
The cell used as the donor for the cloning of Dolly was taken from a mammary gland, and the production of a healthy clone therefore proved that a cell taken from a specific body part could recreate a whole individual. More specifically, the production of Dolly showed that mature differentiated somatic cells in an adult animal's body could under some circumstances revert back to an undifferentiated pluripotent form and then develop into any part of an animal. As Dolly was cloned from part of a mammary gland, she was named after the famously busty country western singer Dolly Parton.
Dolly was the end result of a long research program funded by the British government at the Roslin Institute in Scotland. This used the technique of Somatic cell nuclear transfer, where the cell nucleus from an adult cell is transferred into an unfertilized oocyte (developing egg cell) that has had its nucleus removed. The hybrid cell is then stimulated to divide by an electric shock, and when it develops into a blastocyst it is implanted in a surrogate mother.
- Week 33
Skara Brae /ˈskɑːrə ˈbreɪ/ is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of mainland Orkney, Scotland. It consists of ten clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3100-2500BC. It is Europe's most complete Neolithic village and the level of preservation is such that it has gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
Until 1850, Skara Brae lay under years of soil sediment when in the winter of that year a large storm stripped the grass from the large mound known as Skerrabra. The outline of several of stone buildings was revealed and initial excavations were undertaken by William Watt, the laird of Skaill. It was fully excavated between 1928 and 1930 by Vere Gordon Childe following another storm in 1926.
Skara Brae's inhabitants were apparently makers and users of grooved ware. The houses used earth sheltering but, being sunk into the ground, they were built into mounds of pre-existing domestic waste (rubbish) known as "middens". Although the midden provided the houses with a small degree of stability, its most important purpose was to act as a layer of insulation against Orkney's harsh winter climate. On average, the houses measure 40 square metres in size with a large square room containing a large hearth which would have been used for heating and cooking. As few trees grow on the island, the people of Skara Brae used driftwood and whalebone, with turf thatch, to roof their dwellings.
- Week 34
Bell Rock Lighthouse is the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse and was built on Bell Rock (also known as Inchcape) in the North Sea, 12 miles (18 km) off the coast of Angus, Scotland, east of the Firth of Tay. Standing at 35 m high, the light is visible from 35 statute miles (55 km) inland.
According to legend, the rock is called Bell Rock because of a 14th century attempt by the abbot from Arbroath to install a warning bell on it. The rock was the scene of many shipwrecks as it lies just below the surface of the sea for all but a few hours at low tide.
By the turn of the 18th century, it was estimated that the rocks were responsible for the wrecking of up to six ships every winter. The Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson had proposed the construction of a lighthouse on Bell Rock in 1799, but cost concerns and the relatively radical nature of his proposal caused it to be shelved. However, the loss of the warship HMS York in 1804 resulted in legislation being passed in Parliament in 1806 enabling construction to begin.
The lighthouse was built by Stevenson between 1807 and 1810 and the lamp was first lit on 1 February 1811. The design has some similarities to the earlier Eddystone Lighthouse designed by John Smeaton which was also built on an offshore reef using interlocking stones, but also contained many new features. The masonry work on which the light house rests was constructed to such a high standard that it has not been replaced or adapted in almost 200 years.
- Week 35
Alexander Graham Bell (3 March 1847 – 2 August 1922) was an eminent scientist, inventor and innovator who is widely credited with the invention of the telephone. Alexander Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847. Throughout his early life, Bell was a British subject. The family home was at 16 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, and now has a commemorative marker at the doorstep, marking it as Alexander Graham Bell's birthplace.
His father was Professor Alexander Melville Bell, and his mother was Eliza Grace(nee Symonds). His father, grandfather and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices that eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876.
Many other inventions marked Bell's later life including groundbreaking work in hydrofoils and aeronautics. In 1888, Alexander Graham Bell became one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society. In reflection, Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study. Upon Bell's death, all telephones throughout the United States "stilled their ringing for a silent minute in tribute to the man whose yearning to communicate made them possible."
- Week 36
James Hutton (3 June 1726 OS (14 June 1726 NS) Edinburgh — 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, naturalist, chemist and experimental farmer. He is considered the father of modern geology. His theories of geology and geologic time, also called deep time, came to be included in theories which were called plutonism and uniformitarianism.
James Hutton was born in Edinburgh on 3 June 1726 as one of five children of a merchant who was Edinburgh City Treasurer, but died when James was still young. Hutton's mother had him educated at the High School of Edinburgh where he was particularly interested in mathematics and chemistry, then when he was 14 he attended the University of Edinburgh as a "student of humanity". He was apprenticed to a lawyer when he was 17, but took more interest in chemical experiments than legal work and at the age of 18 became a physician's assistant as well as attending lectures in medicine at the University of Edinburgh. After three years he studied the subject in Paris, then in 1749 took the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Leyden with a thesis on blood circulation. Around 1747 he had a son by a Miss Edington, and though he gave his child James Smeaton Hutton financial assistance, he had little to do with the boy who went on to become a post-office clerk in London.
- Week 37
.JPG)
The Davidian Revolution is a term given by many scholars to the changes which took place in the Kingdom of Scotland during the reign of David I of Scotland (1124-1153). These included his foundation of burghs, implementation of the ideals of Gregorian Reform, foundation of monasteries, Normanization of the Scottish government, and the introduction of feudalism through immigrant French and Anglo-French knights.
King David I is still widely regarded as one of, if not the most, significant rulers in Scotland's history. The reason is what Barrow and Lynch both call the "Davidian Revolution". David's "revolution" is held to underpin the development of later medieval Scotland, whereby the changes that he inaugurated grew into most of the central non-native institutions of the later medieval kingdom. Barrow summarizes the many and varied goals of David I, all of which began and ended with his determination "to surround his fortified royal residence and its mercantile and ecclesiastical satellites with a ring of close friends and supporters, bound to him and his heirs by feudal obligation and capable of rendering him military service of the most up-to-date kind and filling administrative offices at the highest level".
- Week 38
Sir James Young Simpson, (June 7, 1811 born in Bathgate, West Lothian, died at his home in Edinburgh, May 6, 1870), was a Scottish doctor and important figure in the history of medicine.
James was the youngest of seven children, 5 brothers; Thomas, John, Alexander, David, George and a sister Mary born to Mary Jarvey (also known as Jarvie) and David Simpson a baker in Bathgate. He received his initial education at the local school however because of his obvious abilities, his father and brothers (his mother died when he was 9) together paid for a College education and he entered the University of Edinburgh when he was 14 years old. He became a Licentiate in 1830 before graduating in 1832. He was appointed Professor of Midwifery (which we would now call Obstetrics) at the University of Edinburgh and physician to Queen Victoria.
Simpson's name at birth was "James Simpson", as recorded at his baptism on 30th June. It is unknown why he formally adopted the middle name "Young". One theory is that, as a very young professor, he was flaunting his youth in front of his older peers or alternatively that he was known by the affectionate nickname of "Young Simpson" and decided to incorporate it into his name.
Simpson discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform and, against medical and religious opposition, successfully introduced it for general medical use.
- Week 39
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937), more commonly known as J. M. Barrie, was a Scottish novelist and dramatist. He is best remembered for creating Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up, whom he based on his friends, the Llewelyn Davies boys. He is also credited with popularising the name "Wendy", which was uncommon (especially for girls) in both Britain and America before he gave it to the heroine of Peter Pan. He was made a baronet in 1913; his baronetcy was not inherited. He was made a member of the Order of Merit in 1922.
Barrie was born in Kirriemuir, Angus, to a conservative Scottish Calvinist family. His father David Barrie was a modestly successful weaver. His mother Margaret Ogilvy Barrie had assumed her deceased mother's household responsibilities at the age of 8. Barrie was the ninth child of ten (two of whom died before he was born), all of whom were schooled in at least the three Rs, in preparation for possible professional careers. He was a small child (he would grow to only about 5 feet as an adult), and drew attention to himself with storytelling.
- Week 40
Harris Tweed (Clò Mór or Clò na Hearadh in Gaelic), is a luxury cloth that has been handwoven by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, using local wool.
Traditional Harris Tweed was characterized by subtle flecks of color achieved through the use of vegetable dyes, including the lichen dyes called "crottle" (Parmelia saxatilis and Parmelia omphalodes which give deep red- or purple-brown and rusty orange respectively). These lichens are the origin of the distinctive scent of older Harris Tweed.
The original name of the cloth was tweel, the Scots for twill, the cloth being woven in a twilled rather than a plain pattern. A traditional story has the current name coming about almost by chance. About 1830, a London merchant received a letter from a Hawick firm about some tweels. The London merchant misinterpreted the handwriting understanding it to be a trade-name taken from the name of the river Tweed which flows through the Scottish Borders textile areas, subsequently the goods were advertised as Tweed, the name has remained so ever since.
With the initiation of the industrial revolution the Scottish mainland turned to mechanisation, but the Outer Hebrides retained their traditional processes of manufacturing cloth. Until the middle of the 19th century the cloth was only produced for personal use within the local market. It was not until between 1903 and 1906 that the tweed-making industry in Lewis significantly expanded. Production increased until the peak figure of 7.6 million yards was reached in 1966.
- Week 41
Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, FRS FRAeS (April 13, 1892–December 5, 1973), is considered by many to be the "inventor of radar". Radar development was first started elsewhere (see History of radar), but Watson-Watt worked on some of the first workable radar systems, turning the theory into one of the most important war-winning weapons. Born in Brechin in Angus, Scotland, he was a descendant of James Watt, the famous engineer and inventor of the practical steam engine.
After attending Brechin High School, he was accepted to University College, Dundee (which was then part of the University of St Andrews but became the University of Dundee in 1967). He graduated with a BSc in engineering in 1912, and was offered an assistantship by Professor William Peddie. It was Peddie who encouraged him to study radio, or "wireless telegraphy" as it was then known.
In 1915 Watson-Watt wanted a job with the War Office, but nothing obvious was available in communications. Instead he joined the Meteorological Office, who were interested in his ideas on the use of radio for the detection of thunderstorms. Lightning gives off a radio signal as it ionizes the air, and he planned on detecting this signal in order to warn pilots of approaching thunderstorms.
His early experiments were successful in detecting the signal, and he quickly proved to be able to do so at long ranges. Two problems remained however. The first was locating the signal, and thus the direction to the storm. This was solved with the use of a directional antenna, which could be manually turned to maximize (or minimize) the signal, thus "pointing" to the storm.
- Week 42
Robert Adam (3 July 1728 – 3 March 1792) was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his older brother John, Robert took on the family business, which included lucrative work for the Board of Ordnance, after William's death.
In 1754 he left for Rome, spending nearly five years on the continent studying architecture under Charles-Louis Clérisseau and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. On his return to Britain, he established a practice in London, where he was joined by his younger brother James. Here he developed the "Adam Style", and his theory of "movement" in architecture, based on his studies of antiquity. He became one of the most successful architects of his day, and held the post of Architect of the Kings Works from 1761–1769.
He is considered by many to be the greatest architect of the late 18th century, and his work influenced the development of Western architecture, both in Europe and in North America. He was leader of the first phase of the classical revival in England and Scotland from around 1760 until his death. His rival Sir William Chambers was the leading official British architect of the era, but Adam received many important commissions from private clients and had a more lasting stylistic influence.
- Week 43
Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish and Manx languages. It is distinct from the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, which includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic are all descended from Old Irish. The language is often described as Scottish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, or Gàidhlig to avoid confusion with the other two Goidelic languages. Outside Scotland, it is occasionally also called Scottish, a usage dating back over 1,500 years; for example Old English Scottas. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, because since the 16th century the word Scots has by-and-large been used to describe the Lowland Anglic language, which developed from the northern form of early Middle English. In Scottish English, Gaelic is /ˈɡælɪk/; outside Scotland, it is usually /ˈɡeɪlɪk/.
Gaelic, a descendant of the Goidelic branch of Celtic and closely related to Irish, is the traditional language of the Scotti or Gaels, and became the historical language of the majority of Scotland after it replaced Cumbric, Pictish and Old Norse. It is not clear how long Gaelic has been spoken in what is now Scotland; it has lately been proposed that it was spoken in Argyll before the Roman period, but no consensus has been reached on this question. However, the consolidation of the kingdom of Dál Riata around the 4th century, linking the ancient province of Ulster in the north of Ireland and western Scotland, accelerated the expansion of Gaelic, as did the success of the Gaelic-speaking church establishment. Placename evidence shows that Gaelic was spoken in the Rhins of Galloway by the 5th or 6th century.
- Week 44
John Logie Baird (August 13, 1888 – June 14, 1946) was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first working television system. Although Baird's electromechanical system was eventually displaced by purely electronic systems (such as those of Vladimir Zworykin and Philo Farnsworth), his early successes demonstrating working television broadcasts and his colour and cinema television work earn him a prominent place in television's invention.
Baird was born in Helensburgh, Argyll, Scotland. He was educated at Larchfield Academy (now part of Lomond School), Helensburgh; the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (which later became the University of Strathclyde); and the University of Glasgow. His degree course was interrupted by World War I and he never returned to graduate.
Although the development of television was the result of work by many inventors, Baird is one of its foremost pioneers and made major advances in the field. He is generally credited with being the first person to produce a live, moving television image in halftones by reflected light. Baird achieved this, where other inventors had failed, by obtaining a better photoelectric cell and improving the signal conditioning from the photocell and the video amplifier.
- Week 45
Professor John Playfair FRSE (March 10, 1748 – July 20, 1819) was a Scottish scientist.
Playfair was professor of mathematics and later professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is perhaps best known for his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1802), which was a summary of the work of James Hutton. It was through this that Hutton's principle of uniformitarianism, later taken up by Charles Lyell, first reached a wide audience.
In 1795 Playfair published an alternative, more stringent formulation of Euclid's parallel postulate called Playfair's axiom; though the axiom bears Playfair's name, he did not create it, but credited others, in particular William Ludlam, with the prior use of it.
Born at Benvie, Angus, Scotland, where his father was parish minister, he was educated at home until the age of fourteen, when he entered the University of St Andrews. In 1766, when only eighteen, he was candidate for the chair of mathematics in Marischal College, University of Aberdeen, and, although he was unsuccessful, his claims were admitted to be high.
Six years later he made application for the chair of natural philosophy in his own university, but again without success, and in 1773 he was offered and accepted the benefice of the united parishes of Liff and Benvie, vacant by the death of his father. He continued, however, to carry on his mathematical and physical studies, and in 1782 he resigned his charge in order to become the tutor of Ferguson of Raith. By this arrangement he was able to be frequently in Edinburgh and to cultivate the literary and scientific society for which it was at that time specially distinguished.
- Week 46
The Darien scheme (colony of New Caledonia), was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama in the 1690s.
The late 17th century was a difficult period economically for Scotland. The country's economy was relatively small, its range of exports limited, and furthermore Scotland was in a weak political position in relation to the great powers of Europe, including neighbouring England, and their overseas empires. In this era of economic uncertainty, rising tariff walls, and trade rivalries in Europe, Scotland was incapable of protecting itself from the effects of these trade wars. The kingdom had a tiny navy, and its merchants did not trade in any luxury goods which were in great demand. The 1690s also saw several years of widescale crop-failure, which brought famine and led to this period being christened as the "ill years." This only helped to further exacerbate the deteriorating economic position of Scotland.
Confronted by this alarming situation, a number of remedies for the desperate situation were enacted by the Parliament of Scotland; In 1695 the Bank of Scotland was established; the Act for the Settling of Schools established a parish-based system of public education throughout Scotland; and the Company of Scotland was chartered with capital to be raised by public subscription to trade with "Africa and the Indies."
- Week 47
Lord Monboddo (October 25, 1714 - May 26, 1799) was a Scottish judge, scholar of language evolution and philosopher. He is most famous today as a founder of modern comparative historical linguistics (Hobbs,1992). In 1767 he became a judge in the Court of Session, effectively the supreme court of Scotland in criminal matters, where it was known as the High Court of Justiciary. (Civil cases found their top court in London, in the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords). Thence Burnett adopted a title based on his father's estate, Monboddo House. Monboddo was one of a number of scholars involved at the time in development of early concepts of evolution, and some credit him with anticipating in principle the idea of natural selection that was developed into a scientific theory by Charles Darwin
James Burnett was born in 1714 at Monboddo House in Kincardineshire, Scotland. After his primary education at the parish school of Laurencekirk, he studied at Marischal College, Aberdeen where he was graduated in 1729. He also studied at Edinburgh University and the University of Groningen. At Edinburgh University he was graduated at law and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1737.
From 1754 until 1767 Monboddo was one of a number of distinguished proprietors of the Canongate Theatre. He clearly enjoyed this endeavour even when some of his fellow judges pointed out that the activity might cast a shadow over his sombre image as jurist. Here he had occasion to further associate with David Hume who was a principal actor in one of the plays.
- Week 48
Saint Andrew (Greek: Ανδρέας, Andreas), called in the Orthodox tradition Protocletos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the younger brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" (from Greek : "ανδρεία", Andreia, manhood, or valour), like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the second or third century B.C. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him.
About the middle of the tenth century, Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland. Several legends state that the relics of Andrew were brought under supernatural guidance from Constantinople to the place where the modern town of St Andrews stands today (Gaelic, Cill Rìmhinn).
The oldest surviving manuscripts are two: one is among the manuscripts collected by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and willed to Louis XIV, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, the other in the Harleian Mss in the British Library, London. They state that the relics of Andrew were brought by one Regulus to the Pictish king Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761). The only historical Regulus (Riagail or Rule) — the name is preserved by the tower of St. Rule — was an Irish monk expelled from Ireland with Saint Columba; his date, however, is c. 573–600. There are good reasons for supposing that the relics were originally in the collection of Acca, bishop of Hexham, who took them into Pictish country when he was driven from Hexham (c. 732), and founded a see, not, according to tradition, in Galloway, but on the site of St. Andrews
- Week 49
_Skating_on_Duddingston_Loch.jpg)
The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, better known by its truncated title The Skating Minister, is an oil painting by Sir Henry Raeburn in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. It was practically unknown until about 1949; today, however, it is one of Scotland's best known paintings. It is considered an icon of Scottish culture, painted during one of the most remarkable periods in the country's history, the Scottish Enlightenment.
The clergyman portrayed in this painting is the Reverend Robert Walker. He was a Church of Scotland minister who was born on April 30, 1755 in Monkton, Ayrshire. As a child, Walker's father had been minister of the Scots Kirk in Rotterdam, thus the young Robert almost certainly learnt to skate on the frozen canals of the Netherlands. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh in 1770 at the age of fifteen. He married Jean Fraser in 1778 and had five children. He became a member of the Royal Company of Archers in 1779 and their chaplain in 1798.
He was minister of the Canongate Kirk as well as being a member of the Edinburgh Skating Society, the oldest skating club in Britain. They would meet on Duddingston Loch as shown in the painting, or on Lochend loch to its northeast between Edinburgh and Leith, when these lochs were suitably frozen.
- Week 50
The Massacre of Glencoe occurred in Glen Coe, Scotland, in the early morning of 13 February 1692, during the era of the Glorious Revolution and Jacobitism. The massacre began simultaneously in three settlements along the glen—Invercoe, Inverrigan, and Achacon—although the killing took place all over the glen as fleeing MacDonalds were pursued. Thirty-eight MacDonalds from the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by the guests who had accepted their hospitality, on the grounds that the MacDonalds had not been prompt in pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange. Another forty women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned.
In 1688, William, glad to enlist British help in his wars with France, accepted the invitation to take the throne of the Kingdom of England. The Scottish Parliament was more cautious and invited letters from him and James VII (ousted as James II of England). When the arrogant response from James persuaded the Scots to accept William, John Graham, 1st Viscount of Dundee, led Scottish Highlanders in Jacobite uprisings in an attempt to return the throne to King James. Dundee was killed at the Battle of Killiecrankie, and the rising in Scotland suffered inconclusive defeat at the Battle of Dunkeld. On their way home from this battle, the MacIains of Glencoe, a sept of Clan MacDonald, together with their Glengarry cousins, looted the lands of Robert Campbell of Glenlyon and stole his livestock, increasing his problems with gambling debts and forcing him to take an army commission to provide for his family. In his subsequent appeal for compensation, Campbell clearly believed the Glengarry men to be the more culpable, making no mention of Glencoe.
- Week 51
John Napier of Merchistoun (1550 – 4 April 1617) - also signed as Neper, Nepair - named Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish mathematician, physicist, astronomer/astrologer and 8th Laird of Merchistoun, son of Sir Archibald Napier of Merchiston. He is most remembered as the inventor of logarithms and Napier's bones, and for popularizing the use of the decimal point. Napier's birthplace, Merchiston Tower, Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of Napier University. After dying of gout, Napier was buried in St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh.
Napier is relatively most-known inside mathematical and engineering circles, where he made what is undoubtedly a key advance in the use of mathematics. Logarithms made calculations by hand much easier and quicker, and thereby opened the way to many later scientific advances. His work, Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio, contained fifty-seven pages of explanatory matter and ninety pages of tables, which facilitated the furtherment of astronomy, dynamics, physics, and astrology. He also invented Napier's bones, a multiplication tool using a set of numbered rods.
Napier used some of his mathematical talents for theology, as he used the Book of Revelation to predict the Apocalypse, in A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John, which he regarded as his most important work.
- Week 52
This timeline of prehistoric Scotland is a chronologically ordered list of important archaeological sites in Scotland and of major events affecting Scotland's human inhabitants and culture during the prehistoric period. The period of prehistory prior to occupation by the genus Homo is part of the geology of Scotland.
Prehistory in Scotland ends with the arrival of the Romans in southern Scotland in the first century AD and the beginning of written records. The archaeological sites and events listed are the earliest examples or among the most notable of their type.
No traces have yet been found of either a Neanderthal presence or of Homo sapiens during the Pleistocene interglacials. The first indications of humans in Scotland occur only after the ice retreated in the 11th millennium BC and the current Flandrian interglacial began. Since that time the landscape of Scotland has been altered dramatically by both human and natural forces. Initially, sea levels were lower than at present due to the large volume of ice that remained. This meant that the Orkney archipelago and many of the Inner Hebridean islands were attached to the mainland, as was the present-day island of Great Britain to Continental Europe. Much of the present-day North Sea was also dry land until after 4000 BC. Dogger Bank, for example was part of a large peninsula connected to the European continent. This would have made travel to western and northern Scotland relatively easy for early human settlers. The subsequent isostatic rise of land makes estimating post-glacial coastlines a complex task and there are numerous raised beaches around Scotland's coastline