Talks

Recordings of a backlog of past BHS Winter Talks have now been edited and added to this website

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My apologies for not being able to edit and upload the following talks until now, but we are now up to date – until our January Zoom talk comes along in eleven days!

Lying at the foot of Glen Lyon, the talk about the small community in Ardtrasgairt covers the changes in this working class community who lived there in the mid to late 19th century, and examines the effect of dramatic changes as industrialisation progressed. Watch here: ‘Ardtrasgairt – A potrait of a small Highland Community in the 19th Century’

Prehistoric rock art in Scotland is mostly known for its cupmarks, cup-and-rings and other circular imagery.  In this talk Dr. Joana Valdez-Tullett discussed the results of Scotland’s Rock Art Project research in Loch Tay, and how carvings in this region relate to other areas in Scotland and the wider Atlantic façade. Watch here: ‘From Loch Tay to the Atlantic Façade‘

Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) are a significant threat to our environments, native wildlife, economy, and in some cases to our health. The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative (SISI) is a project set up to tackle invasive non-native species, and Mark from SISI, will talk about the work he has done within the Esk & Tay catchment area and how invasive plants, particularly Giant Hogweed and Japanese Knotweed have been controlled. Watch here: ‘Strategic Control of Invasive Non-Native Species in a River System’

The transformation of Aberfeldy from a few hovels to the smart town we know today, took place during the industrial revolution and was profoundly influenced by it.  Alan Fisher, whose family has a history in the town spanning over 200 years, discussed Aberfeldy’s development with particular focus on the history of its wool, whisky and laundry industries. Watch here: ‘Aberfeldy’s Industrial Revolution’

You can view these talks by using the links above for each one, but you can also access these by using the website “Recorded Winter Talks” page at https://breadalbane-heritage.org.uk/recorded-winter-talks/, which has links to all of the 28 recorded talks since September 2020. We were not permitted to record a few talks within this period which explains why there are some gaps in the winter season dates.

Forthcoming Winter Talks

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In the evening of Friday 21st of November, we had a very enjoyable, interesting and well-presented talk by Chris Fleet, Map Curator at the National Library for Scotland (NLS), on ‘The Mapping of Perthshire and Breadalbane through the Ages’.

Pont Maps of Scotland 1580-1614

Chris has worked at the National Library of Scotland since 1994. His main focus at NLS has been on curating digital mapping, including the electronic legal deposit of modern map datasets, as well as managing long-term projects to make available historical maps online. He has researched, written and spoken widely on these subjects, and is a co-author of Scotland: Mapping the Nation (2011), Edinburgh: Mapping the City (2014), Scotland: Mapping the Islands (2016), and Scotland: Defending the Nation (2018).

His talk examined selected maps of Perthshire and Breadalbane over the last four centuries, looking at who made these maps, why, and who they made them for. Over the centuries, different purposes including state integration, military conquest, agricultural improvement, and improving communications resulted in very different maps. He particularly focused on how particular map-makers gathered their information, and how this resulted in very different maps. He finished up by looking at new online content of interest on the NLS maps website, particularly new maps, gazetteers, viewers and tools.

You can view his talk here: ‘The Mapping of Perthshire and Breadalbane through the Ages’

Due to the vagaries of the winter weather and the proximity to Christmas, we do not hold a December meeting and talk. We start again in January but, again due to the vagaries of the winter weather in January and February, we present both of the January and February talks only on Zoom; our final winter talk in March will be presented ‘in person’ once again in the Breadalbane Community Campus building in Aberfeldy. The list of the January to March talks is presented on the poster below:

More details of the content of each of these talks will be provided in the website in two to three weeks before each talk.

Abbeys and Castles in Dumfries and Galloway

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Our next winter talk, ‘Abbeys and Castles of Dumfries and Galloway’ will be presented only on Zoom by Stefan Sagrott on Friday, 17th January, at 7.30 p.m., and we invite you to attend this free talk. Stefan is the Historic Environment Scotland’s Senior Cultural Resources Advisor (South) and is responsible for all the HES properties in Dumfries and Galloway.

If you wish more information on or want to register for this talk, please contact Ian at bhsaberfeldy@gmail.com and he will send you the Zoom link for this talk.

Our February talk, ‘Rock Art from Loch Tay to the Atlantic Façade’, will also be presented only on Zoom and we will publish more information on this talk in due course.
 

The Military Bridges of Wade and Caulfeild

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Our next winter talk will be held on Friday, 18th October, in the Aberfeldy Breadalbane Community Campus, commencing at 7.30 p.m. This talk will be presented by Colin Liddell who in the past has presented talks on General Wade’s Scottish roads, but this time Colin will concentrate on the bridges constructed by General Wade and his successor, Major William Caulfeild, who supervised the construction of many more roads and bridges than Wade.

Taymouth Castle Restoration Works and Heraldic Significance

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On Friday, 20th September, at 7.30 p.m., we start the new 2024-25 Winter Season of BHS Talks with presentations by interior decorators John and Mark Nevin who will will explain the meticulous and tough work they carried out to return the Castle to its former glory. This will be followed by Gordon MacGregor, Heraldry and Genealogy Expert, who will explain how the family’s history has shaped the interior symbolism and artwork and will describe in particular the significance of details within the public rooms.
 

Final winter season talk on Friday

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The final talk of our 2023-24 winter season takes place this Friday, 19th April at 7.30pm in the Assembly Hall at the Breadalbane Community Campus, Aberfeldy.  Donald Riddell will be presenting an illustrated talk on “The Mysteries, Folklore, and History of Glen Lyon”. 

Our 2024-25 winter season of talks will start on Friday, 20th September 2024 with a talk on the restoration work being carried out at Taymouth Castle near Kenmore. Other topics throughout the season will include talks on Wade’s Road (from Crieff to Dalnacardoch), 19th century Ardtrasgairt Social History, and Cluny Gardens.

Remaining Winter Talks

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There are four talks remaining from the 2023-24 winter season. The January and February talks are presented only online on Zoom, whilst the March and April talks will be held ‘in-peson’ in the Breadalbane Community Campus building in Aberfeldy.

The first of these talks, ‘The Black Watch’ presented by Major Ronnie Proctor, will be held on Zoom on Friday, 19th January, starting at 7.30 p.m.. To view this talk you must register in advance with Ian at bhsaberfeldy@gmail.com. 

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.

This evening’s talk CANCELLED

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‘THE MYSTERIES, FOLKLORE AND HISTORY OF GLEN LYON’: A talk to be presented by Donald Riddell.

It is with regret that we have had to cancel tonight’s talk (on Friday, 20th Ocober, at 7.30 p.m.).  While we were still considering whether or not to go ahead, at lunchtime the question was taken out of our hands as Perth & Kinross Council has taken the decision to close the Community Campus, the venue for the talk, due to weather conditions.

Our proposal now is that we will reorganise a date for this talk, possibly adding it on to the end of our winter season of talks in April, but with the final date still to be considered.

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.