Grab a cuppa, sit yersel doon - The 1707 Union with England. Few & Far between.

The Picts - Part 2 of 2.
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By the year 550 the chaos surrounding the fall of Rome had slowed down. The eastern half of the island from the Forth southwards had become the territory of the Angles and Saxons, who were rapidly merging in the west, the Britons still held out but gradually lost way to the Anglo-Saxons.

North of the Forth, the Picts seemed to have become more aware of their identity, perhaps seeing themselves more on a par with their new neighbours than they had done in Roman times.

It was probably in this period that they first

The Picts - Part 1 of 2.
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The Picts, a fascinating ancient people of Scotland, are both widely recognized and yet shrouded in mystery. Unlike the Britons, Gaels, Angles, and Vikings who have ties to other nations, the Picts are uniquely Scottish. In the annals of history, the Picts stand out as valiant defenders, repelling both the Romans and the Angles with a spirit akin to that of the legendary 'Braveheart,' which ultimately triumphed at Bannockburn. Their resilience in safeguarding the northern nation from external

Many years ago, my uncle Jimmy died, and before the funeral, we all gathered at my aunt Betty's house. It was 11 in the morning when I arrived (funeral was setting off from the house at 11.30am), and already everyone was half-smugged. Anyway, the funeral boys arrived and began preparations for moving the body. They screwed the lid down and sorted-out who would be carrying the coffin to the hearse, etc. Meanwhile, some of the women were in the kitchen, and there appeared to be a little bit of panic. My sister came through, and I said,

Similarities abound - Winston Churchill regarded Dundee as a “seat for life” but his time as MP for the city came to an end 101 years ago with a crushing defeat.

Dundee was among five constituencies Churchill represented during a parliamentary career that spanned an extraordinary 64 years.

He was elected as a Liberal in 1908, polling 7,079 votes, while the Conservative and Labour candidates split 8,384 votes between them.

Churchill remained MP for Dundee for more than 14 years, during which time he almost continuously served as a

The Scottish Reform Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the election laws of Scotland.

The act was passed at approximately the same time as the Reform Act 1832, which applied to England and Wales.

The chief architects of the Act were Francis Jeffrey and Henry Cockburn.

It was subsequently given the official short title of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832.

Prior to the Act, Scotland's electorate was only 0.2% of the population compared to 4% in England.

In 1778 there were only 30 known Roman Catholics in Glasgow, their only place of worship being an obscure house in High Street.

In 1785 Bishop Hay came from Edinburgh, and celebrated Mass in the back room of a house in Blackstock's Close, at the foot of Saltmarket. The then, Tennis Court in Mitchell Street was transformed into a temporary chapel in 1792.

Five years afterwards a small chapel was built in Marshall Street, off the Gallowgate, where it stood till 1902.

On 22nd December, 1817, the handsome Gothic structure in

GALLOWGATE and the Walkinshaw's (From Calton Mouth TO Calton Entry.) 24/3/23

Later today. The ground on which the suburb of Calton has been built formed a portion of the lands of Barrowfield.
(map 1778)

Glasgow - Spoutmouth.
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Formerly the Spoutmouth was the name borne by the narrow lane which led from the Gallowgate to the Old Vennel, crossing the Molendinar Burn by a bridge at the point where the two roads met.
A little way north from the Gallowgate the Spoutmouth broadened out towards the east, forming a triangular plot and here in ancient times there were four famous
springs, known as the " Four Sisters."
The waters from these wells were received by four
cisterns, with a " spout " or stone channel that served to supply the citizens

Alex Salmond Feb 2021 - Alex Salmond has accused Nicola Sturgeon’s husband and others close to her of being part of a plot to destroy his reputation and even send him to jail.

In an extraordinary dossier published last night by the Scottish Parliament, the former First Minister named a series of individuals he said had tried to ruin him.

He said the evidence supported “a deliberate, prolonged, malicious and concerted effort amongst a range of individuals within the Scottish Government and the SNP to damage my reputation, even

Alex Salmond isn't finished. 2023 - Evidence about alleged misconduct by Nicola Sturgeon around the Alex Salmond inquiry is set to be subject to a court battle with ministers disputing a transparency ruling. Ministers were found to have incorrectly claimed they did not hold the written evidence provided to the independent investigator on the ministerial code, James Hamilton, for his investigation into the conduct of the First Minister.

Alex Salmond - A lot of the controversy surrounds what Ms Sturgeon knew and when - and accounts she gave publicly.

Ms Sturgeon originally said she first found out about a complaint against Mr Salmond, being investigated by her Scottish government, on 2 April 2018. That meeting took place in her home and was not recorded.

But it has since been claimed Ms Sturgeon was told a few days earlier at the Scottish Parliament by Mr Salmond's former chief of staff.

That's raised questions over what Ms Sturgeon knew, why she met Mr Salmond

Glasgow 1840-1900.
The housing problem stemmed from the mass influx of migrants to urban areas searching for work. Arriving in the first half of the 19th century in
unprecedented numbers, the migrants swelled the population of the industrial towns of Scotland. Glasgow's population increased from 77,000 to 275,000 in the period 1801-41, while that of Dundee grew from 26,000 to 60,000 in the same period. The scale of the influx from the Highlands and Ireland and the poverty of the incomers inevitably led to overcrowding, as affordable

Glasgow health chiefs are considering rehab cuts at a time when Scotland has the worst drug death rate in Europe.
Services for children living with addicts could also be axed and care home places for older people cut as part of a massive “savings” plan.
Glasgow City Health and Social Partnership has drawn up £650,000 worth of cuts in this area as part of a broader £22m savings package.
Leaked budget documents show £600,000 would come from “decommissioning” a specialist service for children affected by parental addiction.

Latest electric ferries in Norway.
The all-electric catamaran Future of the Fjords has been plying the popular tourist route between Flåm and Gudvangen. The 400-passenger carbon fibre vessel sails at up to 16 knots (almost 30km/h) and completes 700 annual journeys. The move was the first step in making the Norwegian fjords zero-emission zones. Norway's government has declared its ambition to do this by 2025.
Despite Norway continuing to issue licenses for oil and gas exploration, the country is working to reduce its domestic carbon

Radical Uprising - 1820.
Before we delve into this, often told, part of our history. It's important to remind ourselves that an English court was set-up in Glasgow, to try these men. No Scots Law, No Scottish court. We were being put firmly in our place and we were being, not told, but shown who was boss.
The commission give to these judges was/is called 'Oyer and Terminer'
[French, To hear and decide.] The designation "court of oyer and terminer" is frequently used as the actual title, or a portion of the title, of a state court that

Glasgow - George Street - opens 1792. From Marland House(was near Geo Square), which was built adjacent to a site originally known as the Holy Land-a name acquired because of the number of clergy who had taken up residence in this area during its palmy days-we travel eastwards along George Street.

1877-Mary Cairns is born. Mary is born in Calton Glasgow to John & Helen Cairns. Mary grows up in the Calton/Bridgeton area and at the age of 21(1899), she marries William Reilly who is 19 yrs of age. They both live close-by to Mary's parents. Mary gives birth to their first child in 1900, they call their first born - William. Life is tough but Mary and William have support from family who are living all around them in the Calton. By 1908, Mary is mother to 5 children - William b1900, John b1902, Joseph b1903, Robert b1906, Mary b1908..

The Highland Clearances was one of the most brutal and heartbreaking episodes in Scottish history. Over the course of 150 years the demographic spread of Scotland was changed forever as thousands of families were forcibly driven from their ancestral homes to make way for sheep. Echoes of those lost communities can still be experienced. - For example.
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Boreraig, Isle of Skye

Broken settlements can be discovered all over the Isle of Skye. The islands suffered greatly during the era of the Highland Clearances.

In July 1513 the inhabitants of Glasgow must have witnessed with no little curiosity the entrance into the town of a noisy cavalcade two big guns, one drawn by 36 horses, the other by 8, which had taken six days in transit from Edinburgh, a curious commentary on the state of the roads. Along with the guns came gunners, engineers, carpenters, carters, as well as large quantities of gunpowder, gunstanes and other implements requisite for siege operations. This siege train, it is supposed, was to have been transhipped to Ireland to assist O'Donnel,

In the last few days, I've been researching the Calmac ferry debacle and all associated problems and costs etc The reason I was doing this is that I wanted to see just what alternatives there were out there in marine building...well, I didn't have to look far Back in 2015 a Finnish comp designed and built an electric ferry for Denmark, it was designed to highland hop. Tests were so successful that there are now 10s of these ferries sailing between islands, in the Nordic countries and as far away as Taiwan. Norway has also led the