Historic Preservation & Heritage Managment

ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND: SYNOPSIS

The architecture of Scotland includes all human building within the modern borders of Scotland, from the Neolithic era to the present day. The earliest surviving houses go back around 9500 years, and the first villages 6000 years: Skara Brae on the Mainland of Orkne...

ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND: SYNOPSIS

The architecture of Scotland includes all human building within the modern borders of Scotland, from the Neolithic era to the present day. The earliest surviving houses go back around 9500 years, and the first villages 6000 years: Skara Brae on the Mainland of Orkney being the earliest preserved example in Europe. Crannogs, roundhouses, each built on an artificial island, date from the Bronze Age and stone buildings called Atlantic roundhouses and larger earthwork hill forts from the Iron Age. The arrival of the Romans from about 71 AD led to the creation of forts like that at Trimontium, and a continuous fortification between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde known as the Antonine Wall, built in the second century AD. Beyond Roman influence, there is evidence of wheelhouses and underground souterrains. After the departure of the Romans there were a series of nucleated hill forts, often utilizing major geographical features, as at Dunadd and Dunbarton.

Castles arrived in Scotland with the introduction of feudalism in the twelfth century. Initially these were wooden motte-and-bailey constructions, but many were replaced by stone castles with a high curtain wall. In the late Middle Ages new castles were built, some on a grander scale, and others, particularly in the borders, simpler tower houses. Gunpowder weaponry led to the use of gun ports, platforms to mount guns and walls adapted to resist bombardment. Medieval parish church architecture was typically simpler than in England, but there were grander ecclesiastical buildings in the Gothic style. From the early fifteenth century the introduction of Renaissance styles included the selective use of Romanesque forms in church architecture, as in the nave of Dunkeld Cathedral, followed more directly influenced Renaissance palace building from the late fifteenth century, beginning at Linlithgow. The private houses of aristocrats adopted some of these features and incorporated features of Medieval castles and tower houses into plans based on the French Château to produce the Scots Baronial style. From about 1560, the Reformation led to the widespread destruction of church furnishings, ornaments and decoration and in post-Reformation period a unique form of church emerged based on the "T"-shaped plan.

After the Restoration in 1660, there was a fashion for grand private houses influenced by the Palladian style and associated with the architects Sir William Bruce and James Smith. Scotland produced some of the most significant British architects of the eighteenth century, including: Colen Campbell, James Gibbs, William Chambers and particularly Robert Adam. They looked to classical models and Edinburgh's New Town was the focus of a classical building boom. The Industrial Revolution transformed Scottish towns, leading to urban sprawl, exemplified by tenements like those of the Gorbals in Glasgow. New towns, of designed communities like New Lanark, developed from 1800 by Robert Owen, were one solution. Sociologist Patrick Geddes (1854–1932) preferred "conservative surgery": retaining the best buildings in an area and removing the worst. There was a revival of the baronial style, particularly after the rebuilding of Abbotsford House for Walter Scott from 1816, and a parallel revival of the Gothic in church architecture. Neoclassicism was pursued by William Henry Playfair, Alexander 'Greek' Thomson and David Rhind. The late nineteenth century saw some major engineering projects including the Forth Bridge, a cantilever bridge and one of the first major all steel constructions in the world.

The most significant Scottish architect of the early twentieth century, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, developed a unique and internationally influential "Glasgow style". Architects who continued to employ styles informed by the past included James Robert Rhind and James Miller. From the mid-twentieth century, architecture in Scotland became increasingly utilitarian and influenced by modernism. Key Scottish architects in this movement included Thomas S. Tait, James Stirling and James Gowan. The introduction of brutalism led to urban clearances and extensive use of the tower block. The style was also used in new towns like Glenrothes and Cumbernauld, but has received considerable criticism. More recent major architectural projects include the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow, the many striking modern buildings along the side of the River Clyde and the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh.

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March 24, 2014
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Sgt.Ronald W.Fox II U.S.A.R.(R...

Hello Thom---Can You Put In More Posts About Scottish History
And Preservation.This Is Something Good To Put On (TARTAN FOOTPRINT)Gives More Interest To This Website-I Like Your Comments Too.

March 24, 2014
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Sgt.Ronald W.Fox II U.S.A.R.(R...

Hello Owen---Are You Going To Post More (Scottish Preservation)
Stuff on (TARTAN FOOTPRINT)?

March 25, 2014
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Owen Wright

Sure Ron, I am glad you like the topic. I am planning on adding some of my original articles in the near future for your hopeful enjoyment.

Slàinte

March 25, 2014
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Sgt.Ronald W.Fox II U.S.A.R.(R...

Thats Good Owen---I Like Scottish History Stuff And We Need More Posts On (TARTAN FOOTPRINT)To Keep This Website Active.I Like The Stuff Amanda Posts And The Photos Too.I Am Going To Try To Post Stuff Too.

March 25, 2014
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Sgt.Ronald W.Fox II U.S.A.R.(R...

Hello Owen---Do You Know Anything About History Of The Various
Scottish Regiments Like The(SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS)Or The(BLACK WATCH).I Am Into Looking For (GENEALOGY)And (HISTORY)Of My
(MILITARY FAMILY)That Are In Various Canadian Scottish Regiments And Ancesters Who Were In Scottish Regiments.I Have
Re...

March 25, 2014
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Owen Wright

If I come across anything in my research I will let you know.

March 25, 2014
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Sgt.Ronald W.Fox II U.S.A.R.(R...

Ok Thanks Owen

March 25, 2014
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Owen Wright

HIGHLAND SCOTS OF NORTH CAROLINA

When the Highland Scots migrated to America, North Carolina was a more popular place to settle than any of the other colonies.

In 1739, Gabriel Johnston, royal governor of North Carolina and native Scotsman, encouraged 360 Highland Scots to settle in North Carolina and...

HIGHLAND SCOTS OF NORTH CAROLINA

When the Highland Scots migrated to America, North Carolina was a more popular place to settle than any of the other colonies.

In 1739, Gabriel Johnston, royal governor of North Carolina and native Scotsman, encouraged 360 Highland Scots to settle in North Carolina and later provided them a ten-year tax exemption for doing so. Subsequent offers by Johnston attracted Highland Scots to North Carolina primarily for economic and political reasons, for in Scotland, they had difficulties paying the increasing land rents and had experienced defeat against the English at the Battle of Culloden in 1745. Also, the Highland evictions, beginning in the 1700s and continuing to the 1800s, forced many Scots to give up their land so that sheep could be raised. Many chose therefore to settle mainly in North Carolina, yet many sailed to New York, New Jersey, Georgia, and Canada. In the late nineteenth century, officials promoted working with North Carolina timber among the Highland Scots; but few enjoyed the work, so only a small number came to do so.

Although their exact numbers are unknown, records reveal that countless Highland Scots migrated to North Carolina during the colonial period. Arriving in Wilmington, most who came had obtained a land grant from the government to settle in the Upper Cape Fear region, because they knew many parts of the Lower Cape Fear had been settled. In 1754, enterprising merchants from Wilmington had settled Cross Creek, an interior town on the Cape Fear River, so many Highlanders dwelled near the small creeks flowing into the river. Highland settlements were numerous in this region during the eighteenth century, and evidence of them can be seen today in Anson, Bladen, Moore, Cumberland, Richland, Scotland, and Robeson counties.

The early Scots raised livestock, including sheep and swine, and grew wheat and corn while some worked in the naval stores industry. Although many preferred to live outside of Cross Creek, they actively traded in the river town. The Lowland Scots who migrated from Scotland to North Carolina in the eighteenth century primarily settled in the Lower Cape Fear region, around Wilmington. The 1790 US census lists 150 inhabitants of the Upper Cape Fear Valley who named Scotland as their birthplace. Unlike Highlanders in other colonies, those in North Carolina intermarried with Lowland Scots. Also, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Highland families in North Carolina did exchange letters with family’s members in Scotland. Estate records probated in the eighteenth century also reveal that there were a few Highland Scots who owned land in North Carolina as well as Scotland.
Some important eighteenth-century Highland Scots in North Carolina were Flora McDonald, John McRae, and James Campbell. While in Scotland in 1745, Flora McDonald helped save the life of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and from 1774 to 1778, she later resided with her husband, Alan, in the Barbecue community of Harnett County. In 1754, James Campbell arrived in Cumberland County and established three Presbyterian churches: Longstreet, located on the present-day Fort Bragg Army base; Old Bluff, near modern-day Wade; and Barbecue in western Harnett County. Hugh McRae, a Gaelic poet resided near Carthage until the American Revolution. At the outbreak of the war, more than a few Highland Scots in the Upper Cape Fear were Loyalists, including Hugh McRae and Flora McDonald. Yet after their defeat at the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in February 1776, Loyalist support waned—as evidenced by the nearly four hundred who took an oath of allegiance issued by Cumberland County in 1778. As mentioned, not all Highland Scots remained in North Carolina. After the Revolution, some left for Barbados, Nova Scotia, or Great Britain, because they had lost their property by either being confiscated or emerced by the local government.

In the eighteenth century, Highland Scots spoke Gaelic in church and at home. Presbyterian ministers conducted services in Gaelic and English, and young children recited hymns and religious songs in Gaelic. In the early nineteenth-century Fayetteville, a Gaelic press published books that a nearby bookstore sold. Gaelic speaking in North Carolina declined after the Civil War and virtually disappeared as a spoken language by the mid-twentieth century. Scottish surnames, however, remained prevalent; some are Bain, Black, Campbell, Clark, Darrach, Gilchrist, McDonald, McDougald, McKay, McLean, McLeod, McNeill, McPhearson, McAllister, Morrison, Patterson, Ross, and Stewart.

In North Carolina, Scottish heritage is still practiced and celebrated. In the 1950s, a resurgence of the state’s Scottish culture began when Donald MacDonald and Hugh Morton started the Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain. Today, over thirty-five thousand people attend the Highland Games every July. Other Scottish celebrations include the Loch Norman games near Charlotte and the Highland Games at Red Springs.

SOURCES:
Douglas F. Kelly and Caroline Switzer Kelly, Carolina Scots: An Historical and Genealogical Study of Over 100 Years of Emigration (Dillon, S.C., 1998); Duane Meyer, The Highland Scots of North Carolina, 1732-1776 (Chapel Hill, 1961); William S. Powell, North Carolina Through Four Centuries (Chapel Hill, 1989); Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the America South (Chapel Hill, 2001).
By Lloyd Johnson, Campbell University

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March 25, 2014
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Sgt.Ronald W.Fox II U.S.A.R.(R...

Hello Owen.Have You Seen The History Of The (84th)-( Royal Highland Emigrants)Regiment That Fought On The Side Of The BRITISH During The AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

March 25, 2014
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