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Scottish Myths & Legends

Donald
The Font Stone
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If you're walking through the Abriachan Gardens you will come across a heart-shape stone which is deeply embedded in the ground called the Font Stone. The flat rock has a hole in the middle which is f...
Donald
The Westford Knight
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What is claimed as a carving on a glacial boulder in the town of Westford, in Massachusetts, USA, is argued to be proof that an expedition, led by Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, landed on the North...
Donald
Sutherland Beach One of the Best in the World
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Sandwood Bay in Sutherland has been named as one of the best 50 beaches in the world by Travel magazine; and only one of five listed from the UK. The bay is around 5 miles south of Cape Wrath, the m...
Donald
ScotClans Visit the South West.
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On the 4th of March, two of the ScotClans team (Amanda and Donald) went on a resource finding trip down and around the south west of Scotland. We took in a number of castles and places of interest alo...
Donald
The Dog Suicide Bridge
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Near the village of Milton in West Dunbartonshire lies the Overtoun Bridge; an arch bridge which has become famous for the bizzarely large number of dogs who have leapt over the side to their death....
Donald
Mohamed Al-Fayed - President of Scotland?
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Egyptian businessman and Harrods owner, Mohamed Al-Fayed has said that he wants to be president of an independent Scotland. Al-Fayed, who owns a 65,000 acre Highland estate, is hoping that Scotland...
Donald
Merlin in Drumelzier
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It is said, according Scottish myth, that Merlin, the wizard from Arthurian legend, is buried in the Borders town of Drumelzier. However, there are many different versions of what actually happened...
Donald
The Beaton Doctors of Mull
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The Beatons of Mull, the famous 'Ollamnh Muileach', were a family of doctors, whose origins can be traced back to Béthune in France, and are said to have been very talented with a rather unique medi...
Donald
The Pharaoh's daughter and Scotland
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The story of how Scotland got it's name is an interesting one. Tradition has it that the legend starts back in ancient Egypt, where a pharaoh's daughter, called Scota, and two Greek princes formed...
Topics: Myth, Picts, Scota
Donald
Thomas the Rhymer
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Thomas Learmonth from Ercildoune (now Earlston), better known as Thomas the Rhymer was a 13th century Laird, poet and a supposed prophet. Legend tells us how Thomas the Rhymer went out walking one ...
Amanda Moffet
The man who escaped a hanging, a tale from Arran
While camping on the Isle of Arran we visited Brodick Castle which is on the east coast of the island. A castle owned mainly by the Hamiltons, it was used recently as a hunting lodge. In front of th...
Topics: Arran, Hamilton
Amanda Moffet
Ploughman's Charms
While I was in Biggar the other weekend I visited the museum and came across this interesting story, thought i'd share it. Whenever a ploughmn turned up a stone with hole in it he kept it and hung i...
Amanda Moffet
ScotClans to attend Lafayette seance 100 years after hi...
Tonight we are attending possibly the weirdest event I'm possibly ever going to go to - a seance on the place where the famous illusionist, The Great Lafayette died 100 years ago - today!. A centur...
Amanda Moffet
The Scottish Bodach
A Bodach is a mythical spirit or creature, rather like the bogeyman. The word is a Scottish Gaelic term for "old man". Historically its meaning is "mature person", from bod "penis" and the suffix -ach...
Amanda Moffet
Clan MacPhee/MacFie Descended from a Selkie
The origins of Clan MacFie/MacPhee and all it's name variations are said to be descended from a Selkie or seal woman. Selkies are a mythical people who can change from human form to seal form with ...
Topics: MacFie, MacPhee