A celebration of Scottish culture

SCOTTISH CASTLES

Eilean Donan has been listed as one of the 12 most beautiful castles in Europe by Conde Nast Traveler. Edinburgh Castle was ranked, by the Huffington Post, as one of the ten best castles in the world. We know that here in Scotland, we have castles that not only provide romance and history, but also nestle in the most breath-taking locations. Here are just eight of those listed in the Collins guide.

Stirling Castle

“Perhaps Scotland’s greatest surviving royal castle," the guide declares, "with a recorded history reaching back to Alexander I’s reign (1107-24), and associated with such great figures from Scotland’s past as William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and Mary Queen of Scots [she was crowned there]." None, however, of the original building remains, as Robert the Bruce destroyed it after his victory over Edward II of England in 1314. Chief highlights are the parts built in the Middle Ages.

Linlithgow Palace

This royal palace, begun by James I in 1424, became, describes the guide, a “pleasure palace for the Stewart monarchs”, appreciated for its tranquillity and fresh air. It was a royal nursery for James V and Mary Queen of Scots. But, later, it fell into decline, after, it notes, “James VI moved the royal court to London in 1603” and in 1746, was left a roofless shell, after a fire left unattended by Redcoats billeted there, set the building ablaze.

Eilean Donan

As the Collins guide observes, this is “one of Scotland’s most photographed castles”, perched on an tidal island at the meeting point of three lochs. The castle's past, however, is fairly bloody. Its battlements were, in 1331, adorned with the heads of 15 soldiers, and, in 1719, during the Jacobite Rising, it was blown up using gunpowder from a Royal Navy warship.

Dunnottar

The location alone of Dunnottar is breath-taking. As the Collins guide puts it, it’s situated “on a lonely promontory thrusting into the chilly North sea, and approachable only over a precipitous tongue of land”. It was in this castle that, for eight months, Scotland’s Crown Jewels were hidden from Cromwell’s Roundheads. It was also here that during the “killing time” of the 1680s, many Covenanters were imprisoned.

Cawdor Castle

Described in the Collins guide as “one of the most romantic castles in Scotland, despite having no link with Shakespeare’s Thane of Cawdor in Macbeth”. Legend has it that the 5th Thane selected its site by letting a donkey laden with gold roam around till it stopped at a tree.

Castle Sween

The oldest standing castle in Scotland, built in the 12th century, by Suibhne (Sven) "the Red", founder of the Clan MacSween.

Floors Castle

Scotland’s largest inhabited castle, is, the Collins guide describes, “a vast mansion designed by William Adam and built in the 1720s for John Kerr, the 1st Duke of Roxburghe”. Its turrets and domes were added a century later by William Playfair.

SCOTTISH HISTORY

Yes, Scottish history is kings and queens and battles, but it's also thistles, haggis, Robert Burns and Dolly the sheep. Here are just a few of the highlights from the Collins Little Book of Scottish History.

The Stone of Destiny

Currently residing in Edinburgh, it’s said that this was the very stone that was Jacob’s pillow in The Book of Genesis, as well as the ancient stone upon which the Scots kings were crowned. But, for 700 years it was in exile, after it was removed to Westminster Abbey by Edward I of England. Since it was returned to Scotland in 1996, writes John Abernethy in the Collins guide, "[it] has yet to regain the same national potency that it acquired in exile.”

The thistle

According to Scottish folklore, writes John Abernethy, “it was during the reign of Alexander III and the conflict with Norway over control of the Hebrides that the thistle became a national symbol for Scotland.” The, possibly apocryphal, story goes that Norsemen, attacking at night, waded into a field of thistles, where their cries of pain alerted the Scots to their presence.

The Declaration of Arbroath

Written in Latin in April 1320 by the abbot of Arbroath Abbey, signed by the leading nobles of Scotland, and sent to Pope John XXII, this letter, as Abernethy describes, was a “passionate espousal of Scottish independence and the right of the Scottish people to choose their own monarch”. It was also the document that inspired the American Declaration of Independence, and which is celebrated each year in America, on Tartan Day.

The Act Of Union

“On the 16th January 1707," writes John Abernethy, "by a vote of 110 to 68, the Scottish Parliament agreed to its own dissolution. Scotland’s system of local government, law, education and religion were all retained by the Act of Union, but all other powers were transferred to the English Parliament in London.... On May 1 1707, the unconsulted Scottish public woke up to find themselves British citizens.”

Adam Smith

The man who gifted us such phrases as "the division of labour" and "invisible hand" published his opus The Wealth of Nations at the beginning of the Industrial revolution. As Abernethy describes, this book, "with its message of wealth being derived from greater and freer trade, had a global impact that continues to this day.”

Robert Burns

Come January 25 each year, it’s hard to escape the haggis and bard-quoting, as we celebrate the birthday of Robert Burns. “The greatest example of Burns’ universal appeal,” writes Abernethy, “is ‘Auld Lang Syne’”, currently sung "to usher in the New Year throughout the English-speaking world despite the fact that few, even in Scotland, fully understand the Scots words they are singing.”

Haggis

“Of unknown," writes Abernethy, "and perhaps English, origin, haggis consists of the chopped up liver, heart and lungs of a sheep, mixed with oatmeal and suet, and then cooked in a sheep’s stomach. On Burns’ Night haggis is served with neeps and tatties, but for those who find the traditional ingredients of haggis somewhat off-putting, excellent vegetarian options are often available.”

Whisky

The historic origins of the spirit whose Gaelic name means “water of life” are unknown. Up until the Reformation, monasteries were the main producers, though in the centuries that would follow production was restricted by government. It was only in the 19th century that an industry began and Scotland went whisky galore.

The telephone

“Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you,” were the first words ever uttered over the telephone in 1876, by the machine’s inventor, Alexander Graham Bell. Bell went on to patent his creation and found the Bell Telephone Company. But, as Abernethy notes, “Somewhat ironically, Bell demonstrated a not untypical Scottish male reluctance to speak on the phone, and rarely, if ever, found the necessity to give someone a ‘bell’.”

Dolly the sheep

“In 1997,” the Collins guide says, “Scotland truly shocked the world when the Roslin Institute, an animal research institution in Midlothian, announced the first successful cloning of a mammal. The mammal was a lamb, cloned from a cell taken from the mammary gland of a living sheep, and she was named Dolly in honour of the singer Dolly Parton.”

Television

In January 1926, John Logie Baird, an engineer from Helensburgh, made the world’s first public public demonstration of “wireless with pictures”. Baird, Abernethy observes, sadly did not live "to see his invention become the dominant medium in the post-war world.”

CLANS AND TARTANS

Tartan was almost lost to us in the 18th century when the government in London passed an act of parliament making the wearing of Highland dress a penal offence. However, we can only be grateful for the great tartan revival that began at the start of the 19th century. Here are just a few of the clans and their tartans listed in the Collins guide.

Fraser of Lovat

Outlander’s Jamie Fraser has done more than anyone else, in recent years to bring the Fraser of Lovat tartan to public fame. In fact, Simon Fraser – Jamie Fraser’s grandfather in Outlander – really did exist and was called the Old Fox. According to the Collins guide, he “supported the government in the 1715 Rising but switched to the Jacobite cause in 1745 and was executed for treason”. His son, also Simon, in 1757, “raised 1800 Frasers for service in America”.

Motto: Je suis prest (I am ready)

MacLean

One of the oldest tartans for which there is documentary evidence, and the kilt that Sean Connery wore when he was knighted by the Queen in 2000. “The Clan MacLean," states the guide, "are descended from Gilleathain na Tuaidh, Gillean of the Battleaxe, in the 13th century.”

Motto: Virtue mine honour

Royal Stewart

It’s punk, it’s popular and it’s royally posh. This was the tartan of choice for Vivienne Westwood, and its appeal is enduring. In recent years pop star Rihanna has frequently features it in her outfits. “The Royal Stewart tartan,” says the Collins guide, “was always regarded as the personal tartan of the royal house of Scotland, and is now the royal tartan of Her Majesty the Queen.”

Motto: Virescit vulnere virtus (Courage grows strong at a wound)

MacLeod

Macleod tartan comes in several forms, but the most dazzling is the yellow “loud” Macleod. It’s this dress tartan that Jean-Paul Gaultier has incorporated into some of his designs – most notably a yellow trench dress, worn by Rihanna. “The Clan MacLeod,” the guide states, “is descended from Leod, son of Olave the Black, King of the Isles, who lived in the 14th century.”

Motto: Hold fast

Murray

Tennis champion, Andy Murray, wore a kilt of this clan tartan when he married Kim Sears. “This powerful clan,” notes the Collins guide, “had its origin in one of the ancient Pictish tribes of the Province of Moray.” Among its most famed members, was Sir Andrew, a celebrated patriot, who, the guide summarises, “organised a rising in Moray and fought with William Wallace to defeat the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.”

Motto: Tout pret (always ready)

MacQueen

Alexander McQueen, whose tartan-infused fashion collection Highland Rape, shocked the world, used the tartan of his own clan name, the MacQueen, in many designs. The Collins guide describes the origins of the clan as “of West Highland or Hebridean origin”.

SCOTTISH DANCE

Struggling with your Strip the Willow or your Eightsome Reel? The details are too lengthy to include here, but the Collins Scottish Dance guide does give these words of advice for beginners. “Good manners should, of course, be a natural part of dancing with others and some conventions have developed over the years. It is polite to wait until a dance is announced before making up sets.... Above all, when dancing be aware of others on the dance floor, so that we all engage with and help each other through the dance."