BHS Winter Talks

November Talk

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The next BHS Winter Talk takes place in the Assembly Hall at the Breadalbane Community Campus at 7.30 p.m. on Friday 17th November, when Colin Liddell will be talking about “Deciphering the language of our local landscape”. 

During the Covid lockdown, Colin researched and endeavoured to translate all of the Gaelic place names within 175 square miles surrounding Pitlochry.  He will explain why and how he did this, and will illustrate a number of fascinating features of the life carried on in the foothills of Highland Perthshire and beyond, which have been revealed through translations .

Prior to Colin’s talk at 7.30 p.m., we will hold the Breadalbane heritage Society’s Annual Members’ Meeting (AMM) at 7.15 p.m., during which the Chairman’s Report on the activities of the Society during the 2022-23 season, and the receiving of the Annual Accounts for the period 1st September 2022 to 31st August 2023, will be presented.

From this date, the Annual Members’ Meeting will be held in November prior to the November talk as this date relates more closely to the end of the Society’s financial year on the 31st of August than the previous meetings being held in March.

Rescheduling of the Glen Lyon Talk

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In mid-October, and taking into account the possible damage that might be caused by Storm Babet, Perth & Kinross Council closed a number of their public buildings including the Breadalbane Community Campus in Aberfeldy where we hold our ‘in-person’ talks. This resulted in us having to cancel our talk on ‘The Mysteries, Folklore and History of Glen Lyon’ on Friday, 20th October. We have now rescheduled this talk to take place in the Breadalbane Community Campus on Friday, 19th April, 2024 at 7.30 p.m.

October Talk

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The next BHS Winter Talk takes place at 7.30pm in the Assembly Hall at the Breadalbane Community Campus on Friday 20th October, when Donald Riddell will be talking about “The Mysteries, Folklore and History of Glen Lyon”. 

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the meeting on Friday, 20th October, for what should be a very interesting talk.

2023 – 24 Winter Season of Talks

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Our first talk of the new season, ‘The Work of the Tayside & Fife Raptor Study Group’, is on Friday, 15th September, held in the Breadalbane Community Campus, Aberfeldy, commencing at 7.30 p.m. This talk will be presented by Logan Steele, Secretary of the Tayside & Fife Raptor Study Group and he will discuss the work of the Scottish Raptor Study Group and focus in on the local Tayside & Fife Branch and their recent monitoring activity.

Our winter season of six monthly talks runs through to March on the third Friday of the month, apart from December when there is not a talk. With the exception of the January and February talks which are presented online on Zoom, they are held in the main hall of the Breadalbane Community Campus in Aberfeldy at 7.30 p.m.

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 2023-24 season listed below includes talks on all these topics.

Further details of each of these talks will be provided in due course.

2022-23 Winter season talk recordings

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The following talks from our 2022-23 winter season were recorded and can be viewed following the links below:

Friday, 16th September, 2022: ‘The Wolf of Badenoch’, presented by Professor Steve Boardman.

Click on this video link:

‘A Species of Celtic Attila?’

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.

Friday, 21st October, 2022: ‘The Hillforts of the Tay’, presented by David Strachan

Click on this video link:

‘Hillforts of the Tay’

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.

Friday, 20th January, 2023: ‘Culloden’, Presented by Caitklin Greig

Click on this video link:

‘Culloden’

Caitlin is the Visitor Services Supervisor (Engagement) for the National Trust for Scotland at their Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre. Her talk covered how the battle came about with the Jacobite supporters seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones, 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.

Friday, 17th February, 2023: ‘Mar Lodge Estate Regeneration’, presented by Andrew Painting

Click on this video link:

‘Mar Lodge Estate Regeneration’

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.

Friday, 21st April, 2023: ‘Discovering Froglife’s Scottish Projects’ presented by James Stead

Click on this video link:

‘Discovering Froglife’s Scottish Projects’

James Stead is Froglife’s ‘Come Forth for Wildlife Project Manager’ and, 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’ and ‘Fife Living Water’ projects.

Additional Zoom Talk

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‘Discover Froglife’

Friday, 21st April 2023

At short notice, we have added another, and final, Zoom talk to our 2022-23 winter season of talks and we invite you to attend this free, natural history Zoom talk on Friday, 21st April, at 7.30pm.

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 presentation will enable you to learn more about amphibians and reptiles in the area as well as the exciting work underway by Froglife Scotland on the ‘Come Forth for Wildlife’ project and ‘Fife Living Water’ project.

To register for this talk and to receive the Zoom joining details, please contact Ian at  bhsaberfeldy@gmail.com.  

Zoom is free to download, and all are very welcome to participate in our Zoom meetings free of charge, although we do welcome donations from non-members; our members receive free ‘entry’ to all our winter talks.  Please do encourage any friends or family who may be interested to join us, but they must register separately so that we are aware of prospective numbers attending as there is a permissible limit!

We look forward to “seeing” many of you on the evening of Friday, 21st April.

Next BHS Winter Talk on 17th March

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Old Ways and New Roads : Roads, Bridges, Landscapes and New Towns on the Highland Circuit 1720-1832

Christopher’s talk will look at the development of transport in the Highlands of Scotland between the building of the first military roads in the 1720s and the arrival of railways in the 1830s. 

This was a period of rapid change in the Highland landscape, involving the building of bridges, the diversion of roads and the establishment of new settlements along the route followed by the ever-increasing number of tourists who followed a circuit through the Southern Highlands which took in the great designed landscapes associated with Inveraray Castle, Taymouth Castle, Blair Castle and Dunkeld House.  Consideration will be given to the partnership which developed between landowners and the Government in these ventures.  

With the help of archival material from the National Records of Scotland, particular attention will be paid to the impact of these developments on the Taymouth Castle estate.  

After spending five years as an outdoor studies tutor at Kindrogan Field Centre in Strathardle, and ten years as Education Officer with the Dundee Museums and Art Galleries, Christopher Dingwall has worked for more than thirty years as an independent landscape historian and heritage consultant with a special interest in Scotland’s gardens and designed landscapes.  

He is currently Vice Chairman of Scotland’s Garden and Landscape Heritage, having spent twelve years as Conservation Officer with the Garden History Society in Scotland from 1992 to 2004.  

Among other things he was co-author of the report on the Taymouth Castle designed landscape, commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage in 1996.  He is author of a chapter in the book Old Ways New Roads : Travels in Scotland 1720-1832, published by Birlinn in 2021, on which this talk is based.

Mar Lodge Estate Regeneration

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The past, present and future of the Caledonian pinewoods of Mar Lodge Estate NNR

Few landscapes in Scotland are as evocative or as celebrated as the Caledonian pinewoods.  In these places, pines have survived uninterrupted since the ice retreated just over 10,000 years ago.  These are landscapes of great ecological value, but they are also storied, mythologised, and even misunderstood.  They have also suffered at human hands with just a few precious fragments remaining across the Highlands.  

The pinewoods of Mar Lodge Estate NNR are no exception.  These woods have risen and fallen over the centuries, and now are rising again, thanks to decades of work from dedicated people from all walks of life.  In this talk, Andrew Painting, Conservation Officer with National Trust for Scotland and author of ‘Regeneration: the Rescue of a Wild Land’, will delve into the past, present and future of Mar Lodge Estate’s pinewoods, and discuss what place they might have in a warming world. 

Hillforts of the Tay

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David has worked in archaeology at both national and local level in Wales, England and Scotland since the late 1980s. Over the last two decades with the Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust he has established the Historic Environment Record and planning archaeology service for Perth and Kinross. He has developed and delivered several projects including the Carpow logboat, Tay Landscape Partnership Scheme, Glenshee Archaeology Project and Kings Seat Archaeology Project. His areas of interest include community archaeology and, in particular, Iron Age forts and settlement c.700 BC to AD 700.

Membership:    Thank you to all who have already paid their subscriptions either online or by cheque.  There will be an opportunity to pay your membership subscriptions at the meeting, either cash or cheque, and it is not necessary to complete a new membership form unless your contact details have changed.     We are not issuing membership cards this year, however all members will receive email confirmation of their membership and an electronic copy of the 2022-23 Programme, hard copies of which will also be available at the meeting.  As in previous years, there will not be an entrance charge for BHS members, but visitors will be asked for a donation of £4 on the night.

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the Breadalbane Community Campus in Aberfeldy on Friday 21st October.