Lang Sandy Armstrong of Rowenburn

Lang Sandy Armstrong of Rowenburn

To get the title of ‘The Worst Reiver Ever’ you must have been really bad, the worst of the worst.  Lang Sandy Armstrong of Rowanburn is known as ‘The Worst Reiver Ever’.  He gained this nickname mostly because of his height he was well over six foot tall which was a giant 400 years ago. […]

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Brown Man of the Muirs

Brown Man of the Muirs

According to Legend, in the moors surrounding the village of Elsdon, lives the Brown Man of the Muirs. A man of dwarven statue dressed in brown, with bright red hair, and a ferocious glare. He is said to be a guardian of the moors and protector of the wild beasties who live there, punishing those […]

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The Mystery that Shows a Mutual Respect Between Native Americans and The Scots

The Mystery that Shows a Mutual Respect Between Native Americans and The Scots

Firstly can I introduce myself I am heriditary Clan Chief of the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe Pokanoket Nation, otherwise known as  Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson Suki Wompsikuk (Black Eagle).   I live in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and have long known about my combined Native American and Scottish Ancestry.   My surname is Scottish and even have red haired […]

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Prophet Peden and his mask

Prophet Peden and his mask

This mask could come straight from a horror film, originally it even had false teeth stitched into it’s mouth. It’s made of leather and the hair is all real human hair. This mask was first discovered in the 1840s in a cottage near Cumnock. Along with the wig and a sword it had just been […]

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A Victorian View Into Scottish North America: Part Two Of Lady Isabella Bird’s Encounters With Scots In Canada And America

A Victorian View Into Scottish North America: Part Two Of Lady Isabella Bird’s Encounters With Scots In Canada And America

A few weeks ago, we took a peek into the late nineteenth-century world of frontier Colorado with a most remarkable little Victorian era explorer named Lady Isabella Bird.  On one of her many adventurous journeys around the globe, Englishwoman Lady Isabella introduced us to the Chalmers family in the foothills of the front range in […]

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Boots and Roots: A Meditation

Boots and Roots: A Meditation

Before Christmas just passed there were various threads on Scottish Clans and Families about rights to the title ‘Scot’ or ‘Scottish’.  Far from a relatively minor Facebook debate, there was an issue at stake – how we Scots (if I may be so bold) regard our diaspora cousins. Amanda (who is English, by the way) […]

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The Secrets of Isle Maree

The Secrets of Isle Maree

Isle Maree is a tiny wooded island on Loch Maree in Wester Ross.   Loch Maree is the largest loch in the North West of Scotland and lies in a glacial trough. There are 66 islands on Loch Maree. Isle Maree may be one of the smallest islands on the loch but this tiny island […]

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