Our winter season of six monthly talks, held on the third Friday of each month with the exception of December, began in September and ran through to March. With the exception of the January and February talks, they were held in the Breadalbane Community Campus in Aberfeldy at 7.30 p.m.
However and as last year, taking into consideration the likelihood of adverse winter weather during the months of January and February making travel difficult for the speakers and audience alike, and from comments that many are unwilling to venture out on cold, wet, snowy winter evenings, we decided to continue to present the January and February talks online by Zoom. This also allowed us to continue to have contact with the wider non-member audience of all those who joined our 2020-21 winter season of Zoom talks when, due to Covid restrictions, we were not able to hold live in-person talks in the Breadalbane Community Centre.
From our constitution, one of the Charitable Purposes of the Society is to advance education, heritage and culture by promoting and encouraging an interest in the study of the archaeology, history, antiquities, folklore and natural history, particularly concerning the Breadalbane and Upper Tay area of Perthshire. With this in mind and when possible, we try each year to build our programme of talks around these five topics associated with our local area. Our 2022-23 season included talks on natural history, history, antiquities and archaeology; it is always more difficult to source talks on local folklore.
2022-23 Programme of Winter Talks
Friday, 16th September 2022: ‘The Wolf of Badenoch (Alexander Stewart)’, Presented by Professor Steve Boardman
Professor Steve Boardman is the Professor of Medieval Scottish History at The University of Edinburgh with research interests in Late Medieval Scottish Kingship. His talk was based on his current research activities on the life and post-medieval mythologizing of the Wolf of Badenoch.
This talk was recorded and you can view it here: ‘A Species of Celtic Atila?’
Friday, 21st October 2022: ‘Hillforts of the Tay’, Presented by David Strachan
David Strachan is a Director of the Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust and his areas of interest include Iron Age forts and settlements c.700 BC to AD 700, and community archaeology. In this talk, he concentrated on the hill forts of Castle Law, Abernethy; Moncreiffe Hill, Bridge of Earn, and Kings Seat, Dunkeld.
This talk was recorded and you can view it here: ‘Hillforts of the Tay’
Friday, 18th November 2022: ‘BHS 60th Anniversary’
Celebration of the Breadalbane Heritage Society’s 60th Anniversary of its inauguration, held in the Town Hall, Aberfeldy
This year we will be celebrating our 60th Anniversary which, with displays, short talks and videos, means we will be looking back at what the Society has done but also looking forward to plans for future visits and activities.
We have extended our remit to cover family history and have undertaken 4-day residential visits to places of interest. The pandemic has encouraged us to embrace new technologies such as Zoom, the website, blogs, oral history recording, Facebook and QR codes. We invited and encourage people to come along to the celebration evening to learn about these initiatives, our past and present activities, and to offer their input.
Friday, 20th January 2023: ‘Culloden’, Presented by Caitlin Greig online on Zoom
On 16 April 1746, the final Jacobite Rising came to a brutal head in one of the most harrowing battles in British history. It was the last pitched battle on British soil and, in less than an hour, around 1,600 men were slain – 1,500 of them Jacobites.
Caitlin works for the National Trust for Scotland at the Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre near Inverness as their Visitor Services Supervisor (Engagement). Her talk covered how the battle came about with the Jacobite supporters, seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones, gathered to fight the Duke of Cumberland’s government troops, and how the current survey work carried out by the National Trust for Scotland on the site of the battle is changing the understanding of how the battle progressed.
This talk was recorded and you can view it here: ‘Culloden’
Friday, 17th February 2023: ‘Mar Lodge Regeneration’, Presented by Andrew Painting online on Zoom
Andrew is the Conservation Officer for the National Trust for Scotland at their Mar Lodge Estate to the west of Braemar. He is an upland ecologist with specialisms in native woodland restoration, bird monitoring and botany. His talk covered the work of NTS during the last 25 years and, in particular, to the advances made in regeneration in the last 10.
In 1995 the National Trust for Scotland acquired Mar Lodge Estate in the heart of the Cairngorms. Home to over 5,000 species, this vast expanse of Caledonian woodlands, subarctic mountains, bogs, moors, roaring burns and frozen lochs could be a place where environmental conservation and Highland field sports would exist in harmony. The only problem was that due to centuries of abuse by human hands, the ancient Caledonian pinewoods were dying, and it would take radical measures to save them.
After 25 years of extremely hard work, the pinewoods, bogs, moors and mountains are returning to their former glory.
Andrew’s book ‘Regeneration: The Rescue of a Wild Land’ is the story of this success, featuring not only the people who are protecting the land and quietly working to undo the wrongs of the past, but also the myriad creatures which inspire them to do so. In addition, it also tackles current controversies such as raptor persecution, deer management and rewilding.
This talk was recorded and you can view it here: ‘Mar Lodge Regeneration’
Friday, 17th March 2023: ‘Old Ways, New Roads’, Presented by Christopher Dingwall
Roads, Bridges, Landscapes and New Towns on the Highland Circuit 1720-1832
Christopher will look at the development of transport in the Highlands between the first military roads in the 1720s and the arrival of the railways in the 1830s, which resulted in a period of rapid change in the Highland landscape with an ever-increasing number of tourists. Christopher will pay particular attention to how these developments impacted on the Taymouth Castle estate.
Christopher Dingwall is a landscape historian, and is a Trustee and Vice Chairman of Scotland’s Garden and Landscape Heritage. He has a particular interest in garden history and designed landscapes with skills in documentary research, field survey and assessment of historic sites. In association with an exhibition at the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow entitled ‘Old Ways and New Roads: Travels in Scotland 1720 – 1832’ planned to coincide with the publication of a new book of the same title, Christopher wrote a chapter for that book entitled ‘Roads, Bridges and Designed Landscapes on the Highland Circuit’ which focused on the interaction between the development of transport links on the circuit followed by many tourists by the end of the 18th century, and the designed landscapes associated with the four great estates of Inveraray Castle, Taymouth Castle, Blair Castle and Dunkeld House.
Friday, 21st April 2023: ‘Discovering Froglife’, Presented by James Stead online on Zoom
At short notice, we added another, and final, Zoom talk to our 2022-23 winter season of talks.
In this talk, James aims to raise awareness of native reptiles and amphibians and will guide you to learn more about amphibians and reptiles in the area as well as the exciting work underway on the ‘Come Forth for Wildlife’ project and ‘Fife Living Water’ project.
Froglife is a national wildlife charity committed to the conservation of the UK’s amphibians and reptiles in addition to the habitats these species depend upon. Froglife has been operating since 1989 with a number of national and regional projects. They want to see people from all walks of life get involved in wildlife conservation and achieve this via three strands: on the ground conservation, environmental education / communication and research.
This talk was recorded and you can view it here: ‘Discovering Froglife’
2023 Programme of Summer Excursions
In association with the programme of winter talks, we also ran a short season of half and full-day excursions from late May to mid-July, ideally to locations referred to in some of the winter talks.
Finlarig Castle
On the 23rd of May, 17 members and 2 non-members visited Finlarig Castle and the NTS Moirlanich Longhouse, both on the perimeter of Killin. The visit to Finlarig Castle was led by Mons Bolin, who owns Finlarig House and Finlarig Castle.
Moirlanich Longhouse, National Trust for Scotland
On the 7th of June, 10 members visited Moncreiffe hill forts led by David Strachan (following on from his October talk),
Following on from his March talk, Christopher Dingwall led a guided tour of the Kenmore Arboretum on Wednesday, 21st June, attended by 17 members and 2 non-members,
Our final summer visit on the 5th of July with 13 members and 5 non-members was a guided tour of the Mar Lodge Estate, led by Andrew Painting following on from his February Zoom talk.
Following our previous 4-day trips to Iona and Angus, in 2023 we spent four days in the Badenoch, Inverness, Nairn and Moray areas, from the 21st to the 24th of August.
Breadalbane Heritage Society 
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