Portal:Scotland

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THE SCOTLAND PORTAL

Scotland (Scots: Scotland, Scottish Gaelic: Alba [ˈal̪ˠapə] (listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain, with a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the east, the Irish Sea to the south-west, and more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, thus forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. In 1801, Great Britain itself entered into a political union with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (in 1922, the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland).

Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles and other royal symbols of statehood specific to the pre-union Kingdom of Scotland. The legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. The continued existence of legal, educational, religious and other institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the 1707 union with England.

In 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. The head of the Scottish Government is the First Minister of Scotland, who is supported by the Deputy First Minister of Scotland. Scotland is represented in the United Kingdom Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs. Scotland is also a member of the British–Irish Council, and sends five members of the Scottish Parliament to the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly.

Scotland is divided into 32 subdivisions, known as local authorities, or councils. Glasgow City is the largest subdivision in Scotland in terms of population, with Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limited self-governing power, covering matters such as education, social services and roads and transportation, is devolved from the Scottish Government to each subdivision.

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The economy of Scotland had an estimated nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of up to £152 billion in 2015. Since the Acts of Union 1707, Scotland's economy has been closely aligned with the economy of the rest of the United Kingdom (UK) and England has historically been its main trading partner. Scotland still conducts the majority of its trade within the UK: in 2014, Scotland's exports totalled £76 billion, of which £48.5 billion (64%) was with constituent nations of the UK, £11.6 billion with the rest of the European Union (EU), and £15.2 billion with other parts of the world.

Scotland was one of the industrial powerhouses of Europe from the time of the Industrial Revolution onwards, being a world leader in manufacturing. This left a legacy in the diversity of goods and services which Scotland produces, from textiles, whisky and shortbread to jet engines, buses, computer software, ships, avionics and microelectronics, as well as banking, insurance, investment management and other related financial services. In common with most other advanced industrialised economies, Scotland has seen a decline in the importance of both manufacturing industries and primary-based extractive industries. This has, however, been combined with a rise in the service sector of the economy, which has grown to be the largest sector in Scotland. Read more...

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The Isle of Skye, commonly known as Skye, is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides. In Scottish Gaelic it is commonly referred to as An t-Eilean Sgiathanach ("The Winged Isle").
Photo Credit: masher2
The geography of Scotland is highly varied, from rural lowlands to barren uplands, and from large cities to uninhabited islands.. Aside from the mainland, Scotland is surrounded by 790 islands encompassing the major archipelagoes of the Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands and the Outer Hebrides.
Photo Credit: NASA
The Cuillin (Scottish Gaelic: An Cuilthionn (or An Cuiltheann)) are properly and locally known as The Cuillins in the plural, and are a range of rocky mountains located on the Isle of Skye. The true Cuillin is also known as the Black Cuillin to distinguish it from the Red Hills (na Beanntan Dearga) across Glen Sligachan.
Photo Credit: Andrewmckie
One of the oldest and most important religious centres in western Europe, Iona Abbey is considered the point of origin for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland. Iona Abbey is located on the Isle of Iona, just off the Isle of Mull on the West Coast.
Photo Credit: Dennis Turner
Loch Tummel (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Teimhil) is a long, narrow loch, 7 kilometres north west of Pitlochry in Perth and Kinross. A well known view over the loch and the surrounding countryside (with Schiehallion in the background) is the 'Queen's View' from the north shore, which Queen Victoria made famous in 1866.
Photo Credit: Paul Hermans
Aberdour Castle is located in the village of Easter Aberdour, Fife. Parts of the castle date from around 1200, making Aberdour one of the two oldest datable standing castles in Scotland, along with Castle Sween in Argyll, which was built at around the same time.
Photo Credit: Andy Hawkins
Soutra Aisle, just within the Scottish Borders, not far from Fala, is the remains of the House of the Holy Trinity, a church that was part of a complex comprising a hospital and a friary. The hospital was founded in 1164 by Malcolm "the Maiden" and is believed to have been the largest hospital in mediæval Scotland.
Photo Credit: Wangi
A crannóg (pronounced /krəˈno:g/ or /ˈkrɑno:g/ or /ˈkranag/) is an ancient artificial island or natural island found in Scotland and Ireland, used for a settlement. The name may also refer to a wooden platform erected on shallow loch floors.
Photo Credit: Dave Morris
Bruichladdich distillery is a distillery on the Rhinns of the isle of Islay. The distillery produces mainly single malt Scotch whisky, but has also offered artisanal gin.
Photo Credit: Laddie09
The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow. It sits on a hill above, and to the east of, St. Mungo's Cathedral. It was conceived as a Père Lachaise for Glasgow, and subsequently established by the Merchants' House of Glasgow in 1831. Fifty thousand individuals have been buried in approximately 3500 tombs.
Photo Credit: Finlay McWalter
Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, meaning "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about two miles (3 km) south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th–16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been an early fortress of the Dark Ages.
Photo Credit: Andrewmckie
Scott's View refers to a viewpoint in the Scottish Borders, overlooking the valley of the River Tweed, which is reputed to be one of the favourite views of Sir Walter Scott. The viewpoint is around 3 miles east of Melrose.
Photo Credit: Semi-detached
The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, better known by its truncated title The Skating Minister, is an oil painting by Sir Henry Raeburn in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Photo Credit: Sir Henry Raeburn (1790s painting)
The Royal Burgh of Haddington is a town in East Lothian. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian, which was known officially as Haddingtonshire before 1921. It lies approximately 20 miles (32 km) east of Edinburgh.
Photo Credit: Richard Webb
The Torridon Hills surround Torridon village in the Northwest Highlands. The name is usually applied to the mountains to the north of Glen Torridon. They are among the most dramatic and spectacular peaks in the British Isles and made of some of the oldest rocks in the world.
Photo Credit: Richard Baker
Our Dynamic Earth is a Scottish science centre and prominent conference venue and visitor attraction located in Holyrood, Edinburgh, beside the Scottish Parliament Building.
Photo Credit: Globaltraveller
Loch Lomond (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Laomainn) is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying on the Highland Boundary Fault. It is the largest loch/lake in Great Britain, by surface area, and contains many islands, including Inchmurrin, the largest fresh water island in the British Isles.
Photo Credit: Abubakr.h
Loch Fyne (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Fìne, meaning "Loch of the Vine or Wine", is a sea loch on the west coast of Argyll and Bute. Although there is no evidence for grapes growing there, it was more metaphorical, such as meaning that the River, Abhainn Fìne, was a well-respected river.
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Loch Leven (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Lìobhann) is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. Loch Leven extends 8¾ miles (14 km), varying in width between 220 yards (200 m) and just over a mile (1.8 km). It opens onto Camus a'Chois at North Ballachulish, part of Loch Linnhe at its western end.
Photo Credit: Cactus.man
Wemyss Bay railway station is a railway station on the Inverclyde Line. Located in the village of Wemyss Bay, Inverclyde. The station incorporates the terminal for the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry connecting the mainland to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.
Photo credit: wilm
The Crinan canal is a canal in the west of Scotland, taking its name from the village of Crinan at its westerly end. It provides a navigable route between the Clyde and the Inner Hebrides, without the need for a long diversion around the Kintyre peninsula, and in particular the exposed Mull of Kintyre.
Photo Credit: Velella
The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, (Scottish Gaelic: Abhainn Thuaidh) is 97 miles (156 km) long and flows primarily through the Borders. It rises on Tweedsmuir at Tweed's Well near where the Clyde, draining northwest, and the Annan draining south also rise.
Photo Credit: Jean Walley
Calton Hill is a hill in central Edinburgh, just to the east of the New Town. The hill is home to several iconic monuments and buildings: the National Monument, Nelson's Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, the Royal High School, the Robert Burns Monument, the Political Martyrs' Monument and the City Observatory.
Photo Credit: Andrewyuill
Jarlshof is the best known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland. It lies near the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland and has been described as "one of the most remarkable archaeological sites ever excavated in the British Isles".
Photo Credit: Nigel Duncan
The Scottish Parliament Building (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, Scots: Scots Pairlament Biggin) is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. It was designed by Enric Miralles, the Catalan architect,.and has won a number of awards, including an award at the VIII Biennial of Spanish Architecture, the RIAS Andrew Doolan Award for Architecture, and the 2005 Stirling Prize, the UK's most prestigious architecture award.
Photo Credit: Wangi
Fair Isle (from Old Norse Frjóey) (Scottish Gaelic: Eileann nan Geansaidh) is an island off Scotland, lying around halfway between Shetland and the Orkney Islands. The most remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom, it is famous for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting.
Photo Credit: Dave Wheeler
Dunfermline Abbey is a large Benedictine abbey in Dunfermline, Fife. It was administered by the Abbot of Dunfermline. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King DavidI, but the monastic establishment was based on an earlier foundation dating back to the reign of King Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (i.e. "Malcolm III" or "Malcolm Canmore", r. 1058-93).
Photo Credit: Andy Stephenson
Eilean Donan (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Donnain) is a small tidal island where three sea lochs meet, Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh, in the western Highlands.
Photo Credit: Diliff
Crail is a former royal burgh in the East Neuk of Fife. Built around a harbour, it has a particular wealth of vernacular buildings from the 17th to early 19th centuries, many restored by the National Trust for Scotland, and is a favourite subject for artists.
Photo Credit: S.moeller
Hopetoun House is the traditional residence of the Earl of Hopetoun (later the Marquess of Linlithgow). It was built 1699-1701, designed by William Bruce. It was then hugely extended from 1721 by William Adam until his death in 1748 being one of his most notable projects. The parklands in which it lies were laid out in 1725, also by William Adam.
Photo Credit: George Gastin
Loch Torridon (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Thoirbheartan) is a sea loch on the west coast of the Northwest Highlands. The loch was created by glacial processes and is in total around 15 miles (25 km) long. It has two sections: Upper Loch Torridon to landward, east of Rubha na h-Airde Ghlaise, at which point it joins Loch Sheildaig; and the main western section of Loch Torridon proper.
Photo Credit: Stefan Krause
Glen Coe ((Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Comhann) is a glen in the Highlands. It lies in the southern part of the Lochaber committee area of Highland Council, and was formerly part of the county of Argyll.
Photo Credit: Gil.cavalcanti
Glenfinnan Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the West Highland Line in Glenfinnan, Lochaber, Highland. It was built between 1897 and 1901. Located at the top of Loch Shiel in the West Highlands, the viaduct overlooks the Glenfinnan Monument and the waters of Loch Shiel.
Photo Credit: Nicolas17
Eilean Ruairidh Mòr is a forested island in Loch Maree, Wester Ross. Its name was formerly anglicised as "Ellan-Rorymore". The islands in Loch Maree are among the least disturbed in Britain and are managed as a National Nature Reserve.
Photo Credit: Jerry Sharp
Castle Stalker (Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal an Stalcaire) is a four-storey tower house or keep picturesquely set on a tidal islet on Loch Laich, an inlet off Loch Linnhe. It is located about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north east of Port Appin, Argyll.
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The Scottish National Gallery, in Edinburgh, is the national art gallery of Scotland. An elaborate neoclassical edifice, it stands on The Mound, between the two sections of Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens. The building, which was designed by William Henry Playfair, first opened to the public in 1859.
Photo Credit: Klaus with K
St Margaret's Chapel, at Edinburgh Castle, is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh. An example of Romanesque architecture, it is a Category A listed building. Legend had it that St. Margaret worshipped in this small chapel, but recent research indicates that it was built at the beginning of the 12th century by her fourth son who became King David I in 1124.
Photo Credit: Kjetilbjornsrud
Bealach na Bà is a historic pass through the mountains of the Applecross peninsula, in Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands—and the name of a famous twisting, single-track mountain road through the pass and mountains. The road is one of few in the Scottish Highlands that is engineered similarly to roads through the great mountain passes in the Alps, with very tight hairpin bends that switch back and forth up the hillside.
Photo Credit: Stefan Krause
Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago. It consists of eight clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE. Europe's most complete Neolithic village, Skara Brae gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status as one of four sites making up "The Heart of Neolithic Orkney".
Photo Credit: craig w macgregor
Tobermoray (Scottish Gaelic: Tobar Mhoire) is the capital of, and the only burgh on, the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. It is located in the northeastern part of the island, near the northern entrance of the Sound of Mull. The town was founded as a fishing port in 1788, its layout based on the designs of Dumfriesshire engineer Thomas Telford.
Photo Credit: Lukas von Daeniken
Puffins and guillemots on Lunga in the Treshnish Isles, with Bac Mòr (known as Dutchman's Cap for its distinctive shape) in the background.
Photo Credit: Simaron
Eilean Glas Lighthouse, built by engineer Thomas Smith, was one of the original four lights to be commissioned by the Commissioners of the Northern Lights and the first in the Hebrides (the others were Kinnaird Head, Mull of Kintyre and North Ronaldsay).
Photo Credit: Richard Baker
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy.
Photo Credit: Otter
Reaper is a restored historic Fifie herring drifter which is registered by the National Historic Ships Committee as part of the Core Collection of historic vessels in the UK, and currently operates as a museum ship.
Photo credit: Scottish Fisheries Museum Boats Club
Arbroath or Aberbrothock (Scottish Gaelic: Obair Bhrothaig) is a former royal burgh on the North Sea coast, around 16 miles (25.7 km) ENE of Dundee and 45 miles (72.4 km) SSW of Aberdeen. It is the largest town in the council area of Angus. and has a population of 22,785.
Photo Credit: Karen Vernon
Loch Shiel (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Seile) is a 19.3 km² freshwater loch, 120 m deep, situated 20 km west of Fort William in Lochaber, Highland. It is enclosed by mountains in the north east and surrounded by bog and rough pasture in the south west, from which end the 4 km River Shiel drains to the sea in Loch Moidart near Castle Tioram.
Photo Credit: Gil Cavanti
The Willow Tearooms are tearooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow,, designed by internationally renowned architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which opened for business in October 1903.
Photo Credit: Dave souza
Cramond (Scottish Gaelic: Cathair Amain) is a seaside village now part of suburban Edinburgh, located in the north-west corner of the city at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth. The Cramond area has a long history, with evidence of Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Roman activity.
Photo Credit: Steven Harrison
Calton Hill (archaically spelt Caltoun Hill,) is a hill in central Edinburgh, just to the east of the New Town. It is the headquarters of the Scottish Government, which is based at St Andrew's House, on the steep southern slope of the hill; with the Scottish Parliament Building lying near the foot of the hill.
Photo Credit: Saffron Blaze
The Falkirk Wheel, named after the nearby town of Falkirk, is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The wheel raises boats by 24 metres.
Photo credit: Sean Mack
Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh, after reportedly spending fourteen years guarding his owner's grave, until his own death on 14 January 1872. A year after the dog died, the philanthropist Baroness Burdett Coutts, had a statue and fountain erected to commemorate him.
Photo Credit: MykReeve
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of King David in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
Photo Credit: Saffron_Blaze
Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, around 58 miles (93 km) west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. Sitting at an altitude of 339 metres (1,112 ft), Braemar is the third coldest low lying place in the UK, after the villages of Dalwhinnie and Leadhills. It has twice entered the UK Weather Records with the lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2^oC, on 11 February 1895, and 10 January 1982.
Photo Credit: Paul Chapman
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth. It was opened on 4 March 1890, and spans a total length of 2,528.7 metres (8,296 ft). It is often called the Forth Rail Bridge or Forth Railway Bridge to distinguish it from the Forth Road Bridge.
Photo Credit: George Gastin
The National Museum of Scotland is one of Scotland's national museums, on Chambers Street, in Edinburgh. The original Royal Museum began in the 19th century and was added to in the 1990s when a new building known as The Museum of Scotland was added, both merging in 2007 into The National Museum of Scotland.
Photo Credit: Shimgray
Durness (Scottish Gaelic: Diùirnis) is a huge but remote parish in the northwestern Highlands, encompassing all the land between the Moine to the East (separating it from Tongue parish) and the Gualin to the West (separating it from Eddrachilis).
Photo Credit: Neil Booth
The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. It stands in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh.
Photo Credit: Schatir
Limestone carving of Scotland's heraldic lion above the entrance to the Queen's Gallery, Edinburgh.
Photo Credit: Stefan2901
Blair Castle stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire. The Castle is said to have been started in 1269 by John I Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, a northern neighbour of the Earl of Atholl, who started building on the Earl's land while he was away on crusade.
Photo Credit: Hasso Weber
The Wallace Monument is a sandstone tower, built in the Victorian Gothic style. It stands on the summit of Abbey Craig, a volcanic crag above Cambuskenneth Abbey, from which Wallace was said to have watched the gathering of the army of English king Edward I, just before the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
Photo Credit: Ray Mann
Iona (Scottish Gaelic: Ì Chaluim Chille) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Celtic Christianity for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination.
Photo Credit: [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/45678 Graham Proud
Suilven (Scottish Gaelic: Sula Bheinn) is one of the most distinctive mountains in Scotland. Lying in a remote area in the west of Sutherland, it rises almost vertically from a wilderness landscape of moorland, bogs and lochans known as Inverpolly National Nature Reserve. The mountain forms a steep-sided ridge some 2 km in length. The highest point, known as Caisteal Liath (meaning "the Grey Castle"), lies at the northwest end of this ridge.
Photo Credit: Grinner
New Lanark is a village on the River Clyde, approximately 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometres) from Lanark, in South Lanarkshire. It was founded in 1786 by David Dale, who built cotton mills and housing for the mill workers. Under the ownership of a partnership that included Dale's son-in-law, Robert Owen, a Welsh philanthropist and social reformer, New Lanark became a successful business and an epitome of utopian socialism.
Photo Credit: Gordon Brown
Plockton (Scottish Gaelic: Am Ploc/Ploc Loch Aillse) is a picturesque settlement in the Highlands on the shores of Loch Carron. It faces east, away from the prevailing winds, which together with the North Atlantic Drift, gives it a mild climate, allowing palm trees (actually cabbage trees) to grow.
Photo Credit: Arthur Bruce
The RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Designed for Antarctic research, she was launched as a Royal Research Ship (RRS) in 1901. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful journey to the Antarctic, known as the Discovery Expedition. She is now the centrepiece of a visitor attraction in her home, Dundee.
Photo Credit: Mactographer
Loch Linnhe is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. The part upstream of Corran is known in Gaelic as An Linne Dhubh (the black pool, originally known as Loch Abar), and downstream as An Linne Sheileach (the salty pool). The name Linnhe is derived from the Gaelic word linne, meaning "pool".
Photo Credit: Moralist
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons regular in Edinburgh. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded further. The abbey church was used as a parish church until the 17th century, and has been ruined since the 18th century.
Photo Credit: laszlo-photo
Oban (Scottish Gaelic: An t-Òban) (meaning "The Little Bay") is a resort town within the council area of Argyll and Bute. Oban Bay is a near perfect horseshoe bay, protected by the island of Kerrera, and beyond Kerrera is Mull. To the north is the long low island of Lismore, and the mountains of Morvern and Ardgour.
Photo Credit: Josi
The Old Man of Storr is a rock pinnacle, the remains of an ancient volcanic plug. It is part of The Storr, a rocky hill overlooking the Sound of Raasay on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye.
Photo Credit: Wojsy
The tied island of St Ninian's Isle is joined to the Shetland Mainland by the largest tombolo in the UK.
Photo Credit: ThoWi
The Lewis chessmen (named after their find-site) belong to some of the few complete medieval chess sets that have survived until today. The chessmen are believed to have been made in Norway, perhaps by craftsmen in Trondheim (where similar pieces have been found), sometime during the 12th century.
Photo Credit: Finlay McWalter
Loch Etive (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Eite) is a 30 km sea loch in Argyll and Bute. The name Etive is believed to mean "little ugly one" from the Gaelic Goddess associated with the loch. A road along Glen Etive makes the head of the loch accessible from Glen Coe.
Photo Credit: Jamie Campbell
The Bruichladdich distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery on the Rhinns of the isle of Islay. It is one of eight distilleries on the island, and until the recent opening of Kilchoman farm distillery, the only independent one.
Photo Credit: Bdcl1881
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. In the language of flowers, the thistle (like the burr) is an ancient Celtic symbol of nobility of character as well as of birth, for the wounding or provocation of a thistle yields punishment.
Photo Credit: Fir0002

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Selected quotes

“

... Doctors, like minicab drivers, are the other idiots to whom we trust our lives. ...

”

— James Kennaway

“

... When shall I see Scotland again? Never shall I forget the happy days I passed there amidst odious smells, barbarous sounds, bad suppers, excellent hearts and the most enlightened and cultivated understandings. ...

”

— Sydney Smith

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Selected biography

Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, FRS (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who popularised the revolutionary work of James Hutton. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which presented uniformitarianism–the idea that the Earth was shaped by the same scientific processes still in operation today–to the broad general public. Principles of Geology also challenged theories popularised by Georges Cuvier, which were the most accepted and circulated ideas about geology in Europe at the time.

His scientific contributions included an explanation of earthquakes, the theory of gradual "backed up-building" of volcanoes, and in stratigraphy the division of the Tertiary period into the Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene. He also coined the currently-used names for geological eras, Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. He incorrectly conjectured that icebergs may be the emphasis behind the transport of glacial erratics, and that silty loess deposits might have settled out of flood waters. Read more...

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Did You Know?

Recent:

... that the Scottish Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean asked Douglas Young to destroy some of the poems in Dàin do Eimhir, now regarded as MacLean's masterpiece?
... that Niel Gow, a Scottish fiddler, is said to have composed many of his best-known tunes under a tree on the banks of the River Tay?
... that during the Battle of Neville's Cross, King David II of Scotland was shot twice in the face by arrows and taken prisoner after knocking out the teeth of his captor?

Older:

... that Jim McColl, the son of a butcher, reportedly became Scotland's richest man in 2008?

... that Glen Ord is the only remaining single malt scotch whisky distillery on the Black Isle in the Highlands of Scotland?

... that from its creation in 1963 to its closure in about 2000, the Scottish Tartans Society recorded and documented about 2,700 different designs of tartan?
... that Angus Purden, regular presenter of the BBC's Cash in the Attic, was crowned Mr. Scotland as a teenager, and modelled for Giorgio Armani for three years in Milan?

' DYK (Scotland) Archives

In the news

16 November 2018 –: Johnston Press, which owns i, The Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post and other UK newspapers, enters administration after failing to secure a buyer. It is set to be de-listed on the London Stock Exchange on 19 November 2018. (The Guardian)
6 August 2018 – Swimming at the 2018 European Aquatics Championships – Mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay: The British 4x100 mixed medley relay team (Anderson, Davies, Guy, Peaty) break their own European record at the 2018 European Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
16 July 2018 – British space programme: The UK Space Agency announces that the country's first spaceport will be located in Sutherland, northern Scotland, with the first launches potentially taking place in the early 2020s. (BBC) (The Guardian)
27 June 2018 – Politics of Scotland: Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reshuffles her cabinet. Nine new junior ministers are appointed, with the devolved Parliament set to vote on the changes tomorrow. (BBC)
15 June 2018 –: The Glasgow School of Art in Scotland suffers "extensive damage" after it catches on fire. No casualties are reported. (BBC)
4 June 2018 – Banking in the United Kingdom, 2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package: The government of the United Kingdom announces its intent to sell a 7.7% stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland, expected to raise £2.6 billion. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell says there is "no economic justification" for selling the shares. (BBC)

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