Poet of Lochgelly
Against the wall of the old chancel in the kirkyard facing Auchterderran Kirk stands a most unusual headstone. It marks the grave of the Poet of Lochgelly, John Pindar, whose real nam...Poet of Lochgelly
Against the wall of the old chancel in the kirkyard facing Auchterderran Kirk stands a most unusual headstone. It marks the grave of the Poet of Lochgelly, John Pindar, whose real name was Peter Leslie.
He was born in 1836 of poor parents and after a scanty education went to work in the pits at the age of nine.There he remained "in dark dreary drudgery" until, in his 23rd year, he enlisted in a regiment of Fusiliers.He wrote his "Autobiography of a Private Soldier" describing his interesting life in the army. Many of his poems were composed during his military service in India.
After many years, Pindar returned to his native Lochgelly to eke out a miserable existence on his pension of one shilling a day. Disabled in an accident, he was unable to do manual work. He was appointed hall—keeper at the Volunteer Hall, Lochgelly, but his income from that was very modest. By arranging to have Pindar's poems published the Rev. A.M.Houston of Auchterderran hoped to make life a little easier for an old soldier.
The Kirk of Auchterderran
The dear auld kirk I lo'e it weel,
Where sainted dust repose;
It stands amang the leafy trees,
Near where the burnie flows.
Wavering memory brings to view
The days when,but a bairn
I toddled wi'my father to
The Kirk o' Auchterderran.
Beneath the shadow o' your dome
My aged parents lie;
May I wi'them find my last home
Whene'er I come to die.
Pindar got his wish to be buried in Auchterderran Kirkyard and because he had no money to leave for a tombstone, the Rev. A.M. Houston had a memorial stone assembled for his burial place from the remains of broken stones lying in the kirkyard.
Prince's Flowers
On the island of Eriskay in Scotland's Western Isles. There grows a small pink flower. Unique to the island this frail little Convolvulus flower has a link with Bonnie Prince Charlie.
B...Prince's Flowers
On the island of Eriskay in Scotland's Western Isles. There grows a small pink flower. Unique to the island this frail little Convolvulus flower has a link with Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Before he reached Glenfinnan to raise the Jacobite standard in 1745 the 'young pretender' first arrived at the island of Eriskay. He had travelled on the French Frigate La Doutelle. The weather was typical for the area and time of year and the small frigate was buffeted by harsh weather. Charles made the decision to land on the island and a small party rowed ashore.
The Princes Strand The tiny boat made landfall at a small inlet which has come to be known as 'Coilleag d'Phrionnso' (The Prince's Strand). As the Prince stepped ashore he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of flower seeds. These he scattered close to the shore. The seeds grew by the beach and these rare pink flowers grew at the spot. They have come to be known as the princes flower for this reason. It has been observed that when anyone tries to move the plants from the island to another location they never flourish.
Famous, infamous or just a poor lost soul...
Tibbie Tamson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tibbie Tamson was a Scottish woman, who lived in Selkirk, in the Scottish Borders, in the 18...Famous, infamous or just a poor lost soul...
Tibbie Tamson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tibbie Tamson was a Scottish woman, who lived in Selkirk, in the Scottish Borders, in the 18th century. Her grave is located on a hillside, around 1.5 miles north of the nearby town of Selkirk, at grid reference NT436296. While Tamson certainly did exist, and is recorded as dying in 1790, few facts are known about her. Historic Scotland recognise her existence. Each year, members of the Selkirk Common Riding Organisation place a wreath in remembrance of her.
Several different stories surround Tibbie Tamson, which attempt to explain why she was buried in such an isolated spot. The four most prevalent theories are:
she was executed for witchcraft;
she committed suicide and was denied Christian burial;
she was a victim of plague;
she was a victim of murder.
The execution theory
It is debated that Tibbie Tamson was an executed criminal, found guilty of witchcraft and sentenced to death by being burnt at the stake. This theory states that, owing to her unholy activities, her body was buried outside the town as was the legal custom. If this is true, this would explain her being buried close to, but not in, the neighbouring town of Philiphaugh, as well as outside Selkirk. Most people in Selkirk tend to hold this position although, it could be a confusion with a certain Megan Lawson who was recorded by the Scottish courts as being executed by strangulation and burned for being an alleged witch in Selkirk's town square around the same time. Some reject Tibbie Tamson as being executed for witchcraft because of its implications for the town's history.
The suicide theory
This theory is the one preferred by Historic Scotland. The theory states that she was mentally and/or intellectually challenged. Due to this she would have been tormented and treated with contempt in her community. When Tibbie stole a piece of yarn, she was summoned to the sheriff court to face trial. When found guilty of this petty offence, which she did not fully understand, she would have been taunted and tormented even more. This seems to have been the tipping point where due to embarrassment, she is said to have gone home and hung herself.
Suicide not being tolerated or looked upon compassionately at that time, she would have been posthumously punished by the Scottish courts by being buried in non-consecrated ground outside the town.
When a servant of the local landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch, a Mr. Michael Stewart, dug up her grave in an effort to give her a dignified interment, he found the body was clothed, and had a penny and a farthing inside her pocket. He later reburied her, with a small Christian ceremony, and laid a crude headstone on her place of burial which can still be seen today. All this suggests that she could not have been burned.
It is also worthy of note that Mr. Stewart mentions her body was refused interment in the 'Auld Kirk yard', and turned over to the Selkirk Burgh constable to be placed outside the town for the crime of "self murder". This was said to have been reported by Mr. Stewart approximately 90 years after her ordeal. If this is true it may be very reliable evidence from a potential eye witness, however Mr. Stewart would be one hundred years old if he did witness it when he reported it, this is highly unlikely but cannot be fully dismissed on grounds that it is not impossible.
The plague theory
This theory is considered the least likely. It has been theorised that Tibbie Tamson might have been a plague victim, who was buried outside the town to stop the spread of infection. if this were true one would expect to find more towns people buried outside the town.
The murder theory
A new theory that has emerged states that she could have been murdered, and her death made to look like a suicide. Certainly if this was true, it is highly likely that such a case would have been seen as suicide due to almost scant policing and forensic knowledge. The prime suspects would be the plaintiff, who had their yarn stolen, somebody else who did not agree with the verdict, or another who just killed her for an unknown intention. This theory while having no evidence can not be dismissed as it is both sensible and plausible.
The Magic Herring
There is an interesting legend told of the device by
which shoals of herring were first induced to come into
Loch Broom. It seems that long ago the lochs round the island of Lewis were ...The Magic Herring
There is an interesting legend told of the device by
which shoals of herring were first induced to come into
Loch Broom. It seems that long ago the lochs round the island of Lewis were invariably, at the herring season, visited by magnificent shoals of fish, while not a tail was ever seen to twinkle in the spacious waters of Loch Broom. Abundance on one side of the Minch, destitution (for no earthly or apparent reason) on the other! After mature consideration, the dwellers by Loch Broom came to the conclusion that the anomaly could only be explained by the malignant operation of the Lews witches.
Query : How best to neutralise the spells of these witches? A remedy, both unique and effective, was at length devised. A silver herring was made and given into the hands of a sturdy crew, who set sail with it over the water to Lewis. On arriving there, the men partook of an adequate amount of refreshment, let down the silver fish (attached to a cord) among the jostling shoals in one of the lochs, and then, with the metallic animal trailing in the sea behind them, they turned the prow of the boat in the direction of home.
The ruse was successful beyond all belief: glimmering clouds of phosphorence followed through the seas below in the wake of the boat and its silver lure. Under the stars of night, in all the rapture of excitement and success, the Loch Broom fishers led the droves of herring right up to the farthest reach of their loch. The metallic herring was then allowed to sink to the bottom : there it remains, and so long as it is there, an abundant harvest of the deep will be the portion of the resourceful toilers of these shores. Perhaps I ought to mention that the famous boat which did the feat was painted black on one side and red on the other.
The prosperity of Ullapool is not as high as it was. Can it be that the Lews witches are at their old tricks again? Or has the silver herring been borne, by the wash of retreating surges, out into the Hebridean deep?
For Halloween (Samhain)witchcraft is the way to go...
"The Waverly Anecdotes" provides some historical background for Sir Walter Scott's novels.
From "The Waverly Anecdotes" by Sir Walter Scott
"In the y...For Halloween (Samhain)witchcraft is the way to go...
"The Waverly Anecdotes" provides some historical background for Sir Walter Scott's novels.
From "The Waverly Anecdotes" by Sir Walter Scott
"In the years 1661 the number of commissioners upon record for trying persons suspected of witchcraft are very considerable in various parts of Scotland they all confessed themselves guilty of the abominable cryme of witchcraft in entering into paction with the devill renuncing their baptisme and otherways &c In 1662 the number is still more considerable but the commissions seem to have been granted under certain qualifications for instance June 12 1662 commission is granted to Sir Archibald Douglas sheriff principal of Roxburgh and others to try and judge Bessie Thompson, Malie Thompson, Agnes Quarie and Malie Turnbull who have confest themselves to be guilty of witchcraft with these qualities that if they shall be found guilty upon voluntary confessions by renouncing of baptisme paction with the divell or committing of maleflces without any sort of torture or other indirect means used and that the tyme of their confession and pactioning with the divell they wor of compleat age sound judgment no ways distracted or under any earnest desire to dy and reitf rat the former confessions made by them judicially and then and in those cases the said commissioners cause the sentence of death to be executed upon them and no otherways."
Scottish Halloween traditions...
Like many ancient (celtic) festivals, Samhain (summer's end) continued with the coming of Christianity. November 1st was henceforth to be All Saints Day. The night befo...Scottish Halloween traditions...
Like many ancient (celtic) festivals, Samhain (summer's end) continued with the coming of Christianity. November 1st was henceforth to be All Saints Day. The night before was Eve of All Saints Day, or the Eve of All Hallows. But while the name might have changed, old habits persisted. Halloween was a time when witches and warlocks might walk abroad, engaged in wicked practices. In many parts of Scotland it was customary to leave an empty chair and a plate of food for invisible guests. People believed that it was the night when the souls of the dead were set free to roam. They might come into their houses and eat at their tables. The hour before midnight was the witching hour when the departed returned. Silence was marked as the chimes of midnight rang out.
Its not hard to understand why, in Scotland of all places, Halloween continued to be important. Much of the nations history involves the supernatural. From the witches of Macbeth as imagined by William Shakespeare to the real burning of women, accused of working with the devil, in a rash of satanic trials during the seventeenth century. There is a special atmosphere in many parts of Scotland even to this day where, as daylight fades, the flames of Halloween bonfires show up ancient ramparts of castles and buildings where devilish deeds once may have been done.
Robert Burns, Scotlands greatest bard, wrote extensively of how ancient beliefs had survived well into the Christian era, as he twisted stories of witchcraft and the devil with the traditions kept alive during Halloween. What is remarkable is how so much of the pagan past persists to this day. Bonfires, which once were lit to scare away the undead, still illuminate the October sky. Lanterns, which in Scotland were always carved out of turnips, are fashioned for the same purpose. Until recently trick or treat was unknown in Scotland. Instead children here dressed up in old clothes, or pretended to be evil spirits and went guising. The custom traces back to a time when it was thought that by disguising children in this way they would blend in with the spirits that went abroad that night. Any such child who approached a house would be given an offering to ward off evil. These days children who knock on their neighbours doors have to sing for their supper. Or tell stories for a gift of sweets or money.
Childrens parties are still an important element of Halloween. One of the most popular games in Scotland is dookin' for apples, where bairns (children) have their hands tied behind their backs and try and grab apples from a basin full of water.
Apple dookin usually follows on from the game of treacle scones. Here again the hands of the children are tied, and sometimes they are also blindfolded. Participants are invited to bite a scone, covered in treacle, hanging from a rope. Messy faces are usually then washed in the apple basin!
As part of the Tweed Valley Forest Festival in November 2008, the town of Peebles set the world record for the most amount of people to dook for apples at one time. Amongst the 70-strong participants was a local MP and a councillor.
The modern world has had an effect on some of these customs. Pumpkins are now as common as turnips for lanterns. Children turn up shouting trick or treat and expect gifts without having to perform, and traditional songs and games are dying out in some areas. But there is still sufficient spookiness in old Scotland to ensure that the Halloween rituals will be as everlasting as the spirits that are said to return to earth when dusk arrives on October 31st.
Dunnie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Dunnie is a small Brownie-like being in the folklore of the Anglo-Scottish borders, specifically Northumberland, the most famous being that of the Hazlerig...Dunnie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Dunnie is a small Brownie-like being in the folklore of the Anglo-Scottish borders, specifically Northumberland, the most famous being that of the Hazlerigg Dunnie of Hazlerigg in the parish of Chatton, Northumberland. The Dunnie has been known to take the form of a horse in order to trick a rider into mounting him before disappearing and leaving them in the muddiest part of the road. He also is said to disguise as plough-horses only to vanish when the ploughman takes him into the stalls.
The Dunnie was also said to wander the crags and dales of the Cheviots singing:
"Cockenheugh there's gear enough,
Collierheugh there's mair,
For I've lost the key o' the Bounders, (or "It is also "I've lost the key o' the Bowden-door.")
An' I'm ruined for evermair."
The Dunnie is thus thought to be a ghost of a reiver who hoarded his loot in the fells and guards his ill-gotten gains to this day.
In full the song of the dunnie goes:
"Cockenheugh there's gear enough,
Collierheugh there's mair,
For I've lost the key o' the Bounders,
An' I'm ruined for evermair."
"Ross for rabbits, and Elwick for kail,
Of a' the' towns e'er I saw Howick for ale:
Howick for ale, and Kyloe for scrubbers,
Of a' the towns e'er I saw Lowick for robbers;-
Lowick for robbers, Buckton for breed,
Of a' the towns e'er I saw Holy Island for need;-
Holy Island for need, and Grindon for kye,
Of a' the towns e'er I saw Doddington for rye:-
Doddington for rye, Bowisdon for rigs,
Of a' the towns e'er I saw Barmoor for whigs:-
Barmour for whigs, Tweedmouth for doors,
Of a' the towns e'er I saw Ancroft for whores:-
Ancroft for whores, and Spittal for fishers,
Of a' the towns e'er I saw Berrington for dishes."
Rob Roy MacGregor
The most famous MacGregor of all is, of course, Rob Roy, of the Glengyle branch (1671-1734). Rob Roy was a multi-talented man - a great swordsman and soldier (fighting alongside his f...Rob Roy MacGregor
The most famous MacGregor of all is, of course, Rob Roy, of the Glengyle branch (1671-1734). Rob Roy was a multi-talented man - a great swordsman and soldier (fighting alongside his father by the age of 18 against William of Orange), an astute businessman, and master of the highland "protection racket". That is, rather than just rustling cattle - the age-old highland way - Rob Roy discovered there was more money in "protecting" cattle for pay. Between 1689 and 1711, Rob Roy stayed at home (he was a loving family man) and prospered his business, increasing his lands and resources.
The legend of Rob Roy MacGregor grew out of his famous feud with the Duke of Montrose. As with all farmers and ranchers, Rob Roy found it difficult to lay hands on ready cash to expand his regular cattle business and turned to Montrose for a loan (or investment money). One of Rob Roy's employees made off with £1000 and Montrose, in his greed, brought charges of embezzlement against Rob hoping to gain his lands. Failing to answer the charge, Rob Roy was declared an outlaw and began his campaign of harassment against the Duke (rustling his cattle).
In 1715, despite his outlaw status, Rob Roy rallied the MacGregor clan and led them in battle against the English, making many successful raids. Afterwards, he was tried for treason and lived life on the run, being captured twice but making spectacular escapes both times. Finally, in 1725, he turned himself in and received a pardon from the king. He died quietly at home in 1734.
Ironically, Rob Roy's mother was a Campbell, and since the name MacGregor was proscribed by William of Orange, Rob Roy used the name Campbell at various times throughout his life and hid (with permission) on the Duke of Argyll's lands while an outlaw.
Two harvest customs from the Western Isles...
The Harvest Old Wife (a Cailleach)
On the remote Hebridean island of Tiree, in harvest, there was a struggle to escape from being the last done with the she...Two harvest customs from the Western Isles...
The Harvest Old Wife (a Cailleach)
On the remote Hebridean island of Tiree, in harvest, there was a struggle to escape from being the last done with the shearing, and when tillage in common existed, instances were known of a ridge being left unshorn (no person would claim it) because of it being behind the rest. The fear entertained was that of having the 'famine of the farm' (gort a bhaile), in the shape of an imaginary old woman (cailleach), to feed till next harvest.
Much emulation and amusement arose from the fear of this old woman. The first done made a doll of some blades of corn, which was called the 'old wife,' and sent it to his nearest neighbour. He in turn, when ready, passed it to another still less expeditious, and the person it last remained with had 'the old woman' to keep for that year."
Cripple Goat
Here is a harvest-custom which was formerly observed in Skye. The farmer who first finished reaping sent a man or woman with a sheaf to a neighbouring farmer who had not finished; the latter in his turn, when he had finished, sent on the sheaf to his neighbour who was still reaping; and so the sheaf made the round of the farms till all the corn was cut.
The sheaf was called the goabbir bhacagh, that is, the Cripple Goat. The custom appears not to be extinct at the present day, for it was reported from Skye not very many years ago. The corn-spirit was probably thus represented as lame because he had been crippled by the cutting of the corn. Sometimes the old woman who brings home the last sheaf must limp on one foot.
HOW THE CORRIEVRECHAN GOT ITS NAME...
This whirlpool is VERY, VERY dangerous at the wrong times... Corrievrechan is the third-biggest whirlpool in the world; it lies between the Inner Hebridean isles o...HOW THE CORRIEVRECHAN GOT ITS NAME...
This whirlpool is VERY, VERY dangerous at the wrong times... Corrievrechan is the third-biggest whirlpool in the world; it lies between the Inner Hebridean isles of Jura and Scarba and, in certain conditions of wind and tide, is extremely dangerous.
How was it named? there are a few theories and variations, but here are two:-
**Long ago, the people of the area believed that the Gulf of Corrievrechan was where the Hag of Winter (The Cailleach Bheur) washed her plaid. The Cailleach was believed to be an old-woman goddess, responsible for spreading the harshness and whiteness of winter.
As winter approached, she would would use the gulf as her washtub, to wash her plaid; and the tempest resulting could be heard twenty miles away. This could last for up to three days and, when she was finished, the cloth was pure white, becoming the blanket of snow covering the land.
and...
** Once upon a time, there was a Scandinavian Prince called Breachan, or Breakan. He fell in love with a Hebridean Princess but, unwilling to part with his beautiful daughter, her father made a condition: Breachan had to anchor his boat - with him in it, of course - over the whirlpool for three consecutive nights.
Breachan took advice as to how he might defeat the awesome might of this giant whirlpool; wise men gave him the solution. So he had three anchor-ropes made- one of hemp; one of wool; and one of Scandinavian Maidens' hair. (it was believed that if the others failed, the purity and innocence of the Maidens would ensure the hair rope was strong enough).
On the first night, the hempen rope failed - but the other two held.
On the second night, the woolen rope failed - but the maiden-hair rope held.
On the third night ............. the third rope broke - and Breachan's boat was swallowed up by the whirlpool, drowning himself and most of his crew. The sole-surviving crewman and Breachan's dog dragged the body of Breachan ashore - he was buried in the King's Cave.
When the crewman finally made it home again and told of Breachan's fate, one of the young Scandinavian ladies was overcome by guilt, as she was not as pure as she had made out; it had been her hair which weakened the rope.
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