History

BBC Scotland Out of Doors

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Recently, there have been two short items on BBC Scotland’s early Saturday morning radio programme ‘Out of Doors’ which relate to the activities of the Breadalbane Heritage Society.

First, following Colin Liddell’s excellent and informative talk ‘Deciphering the Language of our Local Landscape’ to the Society in November last year, he was interviewed by Rachel Stewart on how, with his own project during Covid lockdown, he went about translating and interpreting the Gaelic names to be found on Ordnance Survey maps covering an area of 175 square miles around Pitlochry, which was broadcast on Saturday, 23rd March. You can listen to this episode here:

If you wish to view the recording of his November talk when he explained why and how he did this, and illustrated a number of fascinating features of the life carried on in the foothills of Highland Perthshire and beyond which he revealed through his translations, you can watch it here:  ‘Gaelic Map Names’

Soon after that, Rachel interviewed Ian Stewart about the history of, and the involvement of the Breadalbane Heritage Society at, the small, private Killiechassie Burial Ground located beside the minor road between Weem and Strathtay.

This was broadcast on Saturday, 6th April and you can listen to the episode here:

If you wish to learn more about the burial ground, there is extensive information in this website which you can find here: https://breadalbane-heritage.org.uk/killiechassie-burial-ground/

BHS March talk live in-person

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The next BHS meeting takes place next week on Friday 15th March at 7.30pm in the Assembly Hall at the Breadalbane Community Campus, Aberfeldy.  Mike Benson will be presenting an illustrated talk on “The Scottish Crannog Centre, Past, Present and Future”.   

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.

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.

August BHS Visit to Angus

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17 BHS members participated in the final BHS summer excursion for a 4-day trip to the Angus area to visit a number of archaeological and historical sites, predominantly owned by Historic Environment Scotland, from Monday the 22nd to Thursday the 25th of August.

On the Monday, we visited the Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum, the Eassie Sculptured Stone and the four sculptured stones at Aberlemno before travelling to the George Hotel in Montrose, our base for the following days. We were very lucky that John Borland, who presented a talk on Medieval Sculptured Stones for us in January, was able and keen to join us for the day and to guide us through the meaning of many of the Pictish symbols.

Tuesday took us to Arbroath Abbey and the Arbroath Signal Tower Museum in the morning, and to the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Montrose Basin Visitor Centre in the afternoon.

Further Pictish sculptured stones were inspected at the St. Vigeans Sculptured Stones Museum on Wednesday morning with a visit to the neighbouring St. Vigeans Parish Church before driving to Forfar to see more Pictish stones in the Meffan Institute Museum and Art Gallery.

On the final morning, we visited the National Trust for Scotland’s House of Dun and gardens just to the west of Montrose which included an informative and interesting guided tour of the interior of the house. In the afternoon, many of the fifteen members of the group managed to visit other sites on their way back to the Aberfeldy area which included the White and Brown Caterthun iron age hill forts to the north of Brechin and Restenneth Priory just to the east of Forfar.

If you would like further information on all the sites we visited, you will find a more comprehensive narrative with many more photographs on this page in our website:

https://breadalbane-heritage.org.uk/bhs-visit-to-angus-in-august-2022/

Start of the BHS 2022-23 Winter Season of Talks

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Friday, 16th September, 2022 at 7.30 p.m.

‘The Wolf of Badenoch’

On Friday, the 16th September, we open the new winter season of talks and events with a talk on Alexander Stewart, aka ‘The Wolf of Badenoch’. This starts a season which includes talks on ‘The Hillforts’ of the Tay’, ‘Culloden’, ‘The Regeneration of the Mar Lodge Estate’ and ‘Old Ways, New Roads’.

This opening talk on Alexander Stewart is presented by Steve Boardman, Professor of Medieval Scottish History at The University of Edinburgh, who is currently researching the life and post-medieval mythologizing of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, and a descendant of King Robert the Bruce.

Alexander Stewart is notorious as waging a rule of terror in the late 14th century in the Highlands and, in particular, the sacking of Forres, Pluscarden Priory and in Elgin the burning of Elgin Cathedral as well as the monastery of the Greyfriars, St Giles parish church and the Hospital of Maison Dieu. Through marriage and his royal connections, he had extensive lands in the Highlands as well as in the Breadalbane area at Bolfracks and Garth Castle.

In this talk, Steve will mostly concentrate on the Wolf’s posthumous reputation to the present day.

‘James MacLaren and the Arts and Crafts Movement’ talk video

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Fortingall

On Friday, 18th March 2022, Annette Carruthers, an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the School of Art History at the University of St. Andrews, presented her talk to the Breadalbane Heritage Society and described how, despite the tragic shortness of his life, James Marjoribanks MacLaren (1853-1890) achieved much in his architectural career and is recognised as a pioneer of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Annette discussed how his work as an architect and designer impacted on his contemporaries in the context of this movement in Scotland and in Britain more widely.

‘Ancient Magnificence: Arbroath Abbey and Beyond’ talk video

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Restenneth Priory

On Friday, 18th February 2022, Dr. Nicki Scott, Senior Cultural Resources Advisor with Historic Environment Scotland, presented her talk and described how although the survival of so many Pictish carvings highlights the long tradition of Christian worship across Angus, the tradition of monumental display continued in the medieval period, most famously at Arbroath Abbey. But while this royal foundation rightly draws much attention, sites such as Restenneth Priory and Maison Dieu show that it wasn’t just the elites whose lives were connected to the Church. Nicki provided some insight into the lives of these foundations and the people associated with them.