From the first Viking raids right up to the middle of the 17th century Gairloch was nothing but a big battlefield. First the Norsemen against then Scots, then the Mackenzies, the McLeod, and the MacDonalds among each other, fighting for power and ownership, retaliating attacks, avenging murders, killing rivals. Many died a brutal death here.... Continue Reading →
There are three holes in the gravestone of Donald Fraser of Erchite, remains of a funeral that ended in a shooting, the holes are the marks the bullets left. It must have been the second half of the year 1745. The tragic battle of Culloden had left its mark on Scotland and indeed the area... Continue Reading →
Scotland has a few round and a few octagonal churches. The thought behind both unusual forms is the same: in a building without corners, the devil has nowhere to hide. It could of course also have practical or aesthetic reasons but the old myth of the devil hiding in corners is very much alive in... Continue Reading →
Alexander Grant (Alasdair Mac Iain Bhain) was a poet and a soldier. He grew up near Invermoriston in the small and remote village of Achnaconeran (Achadh nan Conbhairean) to the west of Loch Ness, to be a gifted man of sensitivity and strength, a man of thought as well as action, a bard and a... Continue Reading →
In the late 18th century the element Strontium was discovered here, in Ardnamurchan in the tiny Scottish village Strontian, hence the name. The place-name is of Gaelic origin, Sròn an t-Sìthein, meaning nose or point of the fairy hill which makes the chemical element strontium the only one with a Scottish Gaelic etymology. It is therefore... Continue Reading →
Alastair mor a' Bhochdain – Big Sandy of the Ghost Sandy was an enormous man, powerful and commanding and he was a gifted man – he could foretell the future, or rather: he knew somebody who could... Big Sandy lived in Munerigie, just a short walk away from Invergarry House where he used to come... Continue Reading →
A shudder, a draft, cold sweat, a hunch of death, a tickling of the spine - the feeling that someone is walking over ones grave. A familiar sensation to many of us. As is the phrase. "Someone walked over my grave!" My grave? A definite point on the map of time? The final grid? My... Continue Reading →
This is an ancient monastery, founded nearly 800 years ago by Duncan Mac Dougall, Lord of Lorn. thriving on the shores of Glen Etive it was the center of ecclesiastical life in this area for centuries until Cromwell’s troops burned it down in 1654. The adjacent house and beautiful garden are in private ownership. Here,... Continue Reading →
Flames licking, devouring, purifying, killing. Fire rituals have played a vital role among many cultures in the past. The Vikings sent burning ships into the sea, the Indians burned widows and the Roman Catholics witches. Few of the Rituals have survived in Scotland, the Up Helly Aa on Shetland and the Burning of the Clavie at... Continue Reading →
Recent Comments