Gretna Green, a small village in Scotland just across the border from England, is renown for the many weddings celebrated there: more than 5000 each year and one in six Scottish weddings. It is especially known as a place where young couples eloped to. It all started in 1754, when Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act took affect, [more...]
In the 1670s a young Scotsman called William Cash sailed to the New World and set up home in Virginia. Nine generations later his direct descendant, country music star Johnny Cash, wanted to explore his ancestry. He crossed the Atlantic in the other direction, to visit the part of Fife once known as the “lands [more...]
Fans of old embroidery will find plenty in Scotland. The suggestions here are a few favourites, all in reach of Edinburgh or Glasgow. Traquair is an ancient house with a unique collection of old needlework. The 16th century petit point fruit and flower “slip” motifs are well-preserved, still waiting to be sewn onto soft furnishings, and [more...]
The Outer Hebrides are a collection of islands on the west coast of Scotland. Barra is the most southerly of the inhabited islands. Although a small island, Barra is famed for its scenery: beautiful beaches, machair (fertile low-lying grassy plain), its hills, and being the home of the clan MacNeill and their 15th century Kisimul Castle. [more...]
Rosslyn Chapel already had 30,000 visitors a year before Dan Brown used it in his mystical adventure novel the Da Vinci Code in 2003. Numbers rose, and then escalated massively after the 2006 movie version showed Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou searching for secrets there. The church near Edinburgh, Scotland was overflowing with tourists in 2006 [more...]
The pound sterling (GBP) is the legal currency throughout the United Kingdom, and the Bank of England prints banknotes for this currency. Due to a quirk of history, three Scottish banks and four Northern Ireland banks also print notes denominated in United Kingdom pounds. Before 1844-45, each bank issued their own notes. The Bank Charter Act [more...]
Even though much of the world is heavily populated, there are privately-owned islands being bought and sold every day. You don’t need to be a millionaire to “join the club”, although if you’ve got serious money it greatly increases your options. Suppose you want a genuine tropical island in the Bahamas, the Caribbean or the Pacific, [more...]
Here are two good sources for you to help you research the Scottish connections in your family tree. The first is The Scotsman archive. The archive provides every issue of the paper from 1817-1950. A whopping 600,000 pages. The newspaper is printed in Edinburgh. In this archive, each paper provides a broad review of Scottish, British [more...]
Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, and the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom. Edinburgh’s history began in the Iron and Bronze Ages. At its formal founding it was a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, an Anglian kingdom on the east side of Great Britain and finally became the capital of Scotland in 1437. Built [more...]
Rag trees, clootie wells, and raggedy bushes are English, Scottish, and Irish names for special places with a mystical reputation. People visit in the hope of healing and good fortune and tie a piece of cloth on a particular tree or bush near a well or source of water. Often the tree is a hawthorn [more...]
An egg hunt is popular in some parts of the UK, but at one time it was as likely to be a hare hunt – either really trying to find a hare or a ritual mock hunt. The idea of the Easter hare, or a rabbit, hiding eggs for children to find may have arrived [more...]
The usual recipe for black pudding starts with the words “Take one quart of pig’s blood”, so this is not a dish for the faint-hearted. Black pudding is basically pig’s blood mixed with fat and fillers, stuffed into the intestine of a pig or ox, and boiled then fried. Take one quart of pig’s blood and [more...]
If you’re in Glasgow with children, you could spend most of the day in the titanium-walled Science Centre pictured above. As well as spacious halls full of try-it-yourself exhibits appealing to different ages, there are cleverly-staged demonstrations, a café, an Imax cinema, and fine views from the impressive rotating tower. Staying near the river, visit the [more...]
Dictionaries say authentic means genuine, but how much does that help when browsing Celtic jewellery stores? A strict interpretation of the word would leave us nothing but ancient gold, silver, and bronze belonging to museums. Many people choosing this kind of jewellery simply want pieces influenced by Celtic traditions in tune with their beliefs and tastes. [more...]
If you’re travelling between England and central Scotland, why not leave time to explore the Borders region as you pass through? There’s plenty of choice for tourists and for anyone planning a day out from Newcastle, Glasgow or Edinburgh. Amongst the wonderful scenery, there are great opportunities for hiking, biking and hill-walking. The River Tweed and [more...]
There is certainly gold in the United Kingdom, but not in all of the UK. Gold is to be found in Cornwall and Devon, North and Mid-Wales, and Scotland. It can be mined or found in streams. For an individual who would like to try panning, the amounts will not pay off your mortgage, but small [more...]
Yes, there are many differences between Scots law and English law. It’s not just a question of small details for lawyers to worry about, but of two separate legal systems. Anyone moving from one side of the border to the other should bear this in mind. Common legal issues that lead many people to consult a [more...]
If you’re on a short visit to Edinburgh, go directly to the Old Town to see the headline historic sights. This area is the traditional heart of the city, clustered round the Royal Mile: the street that leads from the Castle at the top to Holyrood Palace at the bottom. You can’t see much of [more...]
January 25th is Burns Night, an evening for honouring Scottish poet Robert Burns. All over Scotland, and anywhere in the world where people celebrate their Scottish heritage, there will be Burns Suppers with haggis, poetry and whisky on the menu. If you’ve heard haggis is made with a sheep’s lungs, heart and liver chopped and stuffed [more...]
Castle Rock was chosen centuries ago for a secure hilltop fort. Buildings, walls and a moat were added over the years as it developed into Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh’s most popular destination for tourists. Enemies couldn’t get up to it easily and they couldn’t tunnel their way in. Its foundations are solid. It’s an ex-volcano of hard [more...]