Innholdsfortegnelse for July-August 2021 i History Scotland

FIND OUT MORE AT: HTTP://SCOT.SH/HIS-BOARD PATRONS David Breeze Christopher Smout Historiographer Royal Elizabeth Ewan University of Guelph Mr Derek Alexander Archaeologist, National Trust for Scotland Dr John Atkinson Managing Director GUARD Archaeology Ltd Medieval and post-medieval settlement and industry Dr Sonja Cameron Historian, writer and editor Prof Hugh Cheape Sabhal Mor Ostaig College, University of the Highlands and Islands George Dalgleish Keeper, Scottish History and Archaeology, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh. Scottish decorative arts, specifically silver, ceramics & pewter; Jacobite collections Dr Piers Dixon Operations Manager at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), (rural settlement and medieval archaeology) Mr Andrew Dunwell Director, CFA Archaeology, Edinburgh (Later prehistory and Roman) Mark A Hall History Officer (archaeology collections) at Perth Museum & Art Gallery. Dr Kevin James…

More than a century after the heyday of Scotland’s great witch hunts, and 50 years after the repeal of the Scottish Witchcraft Act in 1736, Robert Burns published Address to the Deil. This is not his only or even most famous poem centred on supernatural themes – that honour likely goes to Tam O’Shanter – but its playful take on demonic ‘superstition’ reflects a useful entry point into the nature and persistence of Satan’s part in Scottish history. After invoking the devil – ‘Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie’ – the poem describes the many ways that Satan, according to Burn’s ‘rev’rend graunie’, has long troubled the Scottish people: hiding in crumbling castles and clandestine glens, turning old women into witches who ruin butter and confound husbands, luring naive travellers…

Dunragit is a small village on the route of the A75 in Dumfries & Galloway. But it was not always so. The surrounding fields contain a wealth of prehistoric archaeology unrivalled in south-west Scotland. Previous investigations have revealed an enormous ceremonial complex of timber circles and avenues and an artificial mound dating to the Neolithic and Bronze Age eras. When a bypass around Dunragit village was proposed, it was important to properly investigate and record any archaeology that lay along the route. Transport Scotland therefore brought in GUARD Archaeology to investigate in advance of construction. The excavations took around nineteen months and revealed archaeology spanning eight millennia, from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. Subsequently GUARD Archaeology has undertaken a programme of specialist analyses of the evidence recovered during the…

‘Standing up for Scotland’: Nationalist Unionism and Scottish Party Politics, 1884-2014 David Torrance Edinburgh University Press, 2020 256 pages Hardback, £80.00 ISBN: 9781474447812 The notion of standing up for Scotland has become a hot commodity over the last few years in Scottish politics, with the debate about which political party truly speaks for the country growing ever more polarised. In a year of crucial Scottish parliamentary elections, this timely and important work by David Torrance aims to trace the development of the idea. The book is based on his recently-completed PhD thesis and draws on an impressively-wide variety of primary and secondary literature, but Torrance’s experience in journalism ensures that it is readable as well as erudite. The book focuses heavily on the Scottish Unionist party, but includes chapters on…

What are the biggest challenges facing the SBT at the moment? To grow our membership base so that we can keep a close eye on the historic battlefields scattered across Scotland, and be alerted to planning applications threatening intrusive developments on them. We are eager to strengthen our relationships with organisations such as the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland, and the print and broadcast media. This would assist us to be listened to when we lobby politicians and speak out on behalf of the battlefield heritage. How have Covid-19 restrictions affected the work that you do? Our popular re-enactments were not possible, but we live-streamed a number of battle commemorative services. Working with others, we intensified our oversight of potential intrusive developments at the battlefields of Culloden,…

Julian Goodare is Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh. His books include The European Witch-Hunt (2016), and he is director of the online Survey of Scottish Witchcraft. On page 15, Professor Goodare investigates the financial consequences of witch-hunting in Scotland. Michelle D. Brock is Associate Professor of History at W&L University, Virginia. She has written widely on religion and belief in early modern Scotland, and is the author of Satan and the Scots: The Devil in Post-Reformation Scotland, c.1560-1700. The devil in early modern Scotland is the subject of Professor Brock's article on page 32, exploring how far belief in Satan permeated everyday life. Dr Sierra Dye is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Centre for Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Her research focuses…

Since the submission, Neil has been able to confirm that James Gordon died from drowning in Tobago. The caption accompanying the photograph of Cluny castle indicated that Cluny partly funded its redevelopment from his Tobago estates. However, the author’s research found that he claimed not to have taken any income from them. History Scotland webinars for our latest online expert talk programme, covering June to September, visit: www.historyscotland.com/virtual-events/online-lectures/…

Tibbie Smart had become fearful of her neighbours, whose accusations of witchcraft were building against her, and so she fled into the surrounding forest and ‘transformit [herself] in ane brok’ (transformed herself into a badger). Her disguise might have been a good idea had she not happened upon a hunt. Tibbie became a victim to the hounds, who chased and bit at her. Out of fear for her life, Tibbie resumed her human body and cried out to the hunters ‘alas alas⃜ it is I Tibbie Smart’, explaining to them her reasons for transforming. The hunters, seemingly unphased by the events which had unfolded, continued on their way, leaving Tibbie to return home. The wounds that had been inflicted on to the badger had consequently been inflicted onto Tibbie’s human…

Scheming: A Social History of Glasgow Council Housing, 1919-1956 Seán Damer Edinburgh University Press, 2018 (paperback 2020) 208 pages Paperback, £19.99 ISBN: 9781474440578 This review may seem belated, given that the book was published in hardback two years ago. However, the hardback price would have deterred all but the most determined reader. It is with the recent release in paperback that the book has become accessible to a general audience. Scheming tells the story of Glasgow’s council housing between 1919, when new legislation provided local authorities with powers to build homes, through to 1956, when Glasgow’s housing focus shifted decisively away from low-rise estates to high-rise tower blocks. It thus complements more recent work by Lynn Abrams et al, which tells the story of the high-rise flats (reviewed on the…

Picture a witch. The image that may come to mind is an old woman, hair straggly, nose bent, perhaps hunched over a bubbling cauldron and muttering magical incantations under her breath. Or maybe you picture a group of pagan priestesses, white-robed and chanting in the moonlight as they worship a mother goddess. Or perhaps you imagine a young Hermione or Sabrina, rolling up their sleeves and casting spells. Whatever image comes to mind, chances are that the person you are picturing is female and has magical powers, usually involving and requiring some sort of verbal spell-casting or performance. From ‘Abracadabra’ to ‘Alohamora’, witchcraft and words are closely associated in popular culture and our imaginations today, as is the stereotype of the female witch. However, this is not a new concept:…

reviews@historyscotland.com Industry, Reform and Empire: Scotland, 1790-1880 I.G.C. Hutchison Edinburgh University Press, 2020 352 pages Paperback, £24.99 ISBN: 9780748615131 I.G.C. Hutchison’s Industry, Reform and Empire is the ninth volume of the ongoing New Edinburgh History of Scotland series and covers the period 1790 to 1880. The purpose of the wider series is to offer informative and accessible accounts of defined periods in Scotland’s history and in this Hutchison’s book succeeds admirably. It is an excellent introduction to a pivotal century. The book is roughly split into two sections. The first deals thematically with economy, society, religion and culture. The second proceeds more chronologically, examining the development of Scottish politics. Chapter 1 begins by exploring agricultural change in Scotland, highlighting the radically different paths taken by the highlands and lowlands. Chapter…

In the 1690s, Mary Erskine was a well-reputed and successful Edinburgh businesswoman whose generosity and philanthropy has left a lasting mark on the city that was her home. Mary’s story is one of fortitude. Her first husband died, leaving her penniless and financially struggling, but within several years she remarried. Her second husband – James Hair – was a druggist and burgess of the city. Together, they handled the business of their shop ‘at the signe of the red lyon over against the Luckenboothes’ [GD124/15], a row of tenements that ran alongside St. Giles’ Cathedral on the Royal Mile. After her husband’s passing, Mary took over the running of the shop and perhaps because of her past experience of financial hardship, she branched out into a new kind of business.…

This edition has explored the many facets of belief in witchcraft in Scotland, as well as the responses to it from within communities and by the authorities of kirk, monarch and government. The Society’s publications are rich in sources relating to witchcraft and we are looking forward to publishing two brand new volumes on the topic in the next couple of years. The subject has long fascinated – and continues to fascinate – us all, and no wonder when we read through sources like the ‘Papers relating to witchcraft’, first published in 1920. These consist of three separate documents, all created in the 1660s and 1670s, and all with a connection to Argyll (the original sources are in the archives at Inveraray Castle). We will look at one here: a…