George Mackay Brown and the Scottish Catholic Imagination

What do you imagine when you think about great Catholic art? Perhaps you call to mind the gilded pages of illuminated medieval manuscripts and the glories of Renaissance painting and sculpture. Maybe you recall more recent cinematic masterpieces, such as…

Scottish Migration Since 1600

Migration today is an increasingly contentious, even toxic, issue. It is being held responsible for Brexit, the coming to power of United States President Donald Trump and a rise in hate crimes. In such a climate we tend to forget…

Gaelic Satire and 18th Century Highland History

The benefit of studying Gaelic poetry in conjunction with conventional documentary sources to obtain a fuller understanding of the past is illustrated in Ellen L. Beard’s article in Northern Scotland, Volume 8.1. She presents newly-compiled information and perspectives on two…

St Andrew’s Day celebrations in Asia

By Tanja Bueltmann As St Andrew’s Day nears Scots all around the world are preparing to celebrate it in style. From New York in the United States to Dunedin in New Zealand, St Andrew’s Day celebrations are now a truly…

Emigration from Aberdeenshire and Banffshire

By Marjory Harper In February 1983, just as I was finishing my PhD, I gave my first conference paper in the slightly intimidating surroundings of Marischal College at the University of Aberdeen. The event, organised jointly by two university departments…

View of Cathcart Castle tower after collapse, December 1979

1980-81 Excavations of Cathcart Castle, Glasgow

An extract from Open Access article, Cathcart Castle, Glasgow – Excavations 1980–81, by Brian Kerr et. al. Published in the Scottish Archaeological Journal, Volume 38 Issue supplement, Page 1-100, ISSN 1471-5767 Available Online Oct 2016 ‘The castle of Cathcart is…

A century of temperance in alcohol policy and licensing law

By Stuart MacLennan “Crackdowns” on alcohol my well be de rigueur, but they are most certainly not novel. The early 20th century provides the genesis for many contemporary alcohol restrictions, with the temperance movement having achieved considerable influence over public…