Robert McAngus
Aug 31, 2018 · 5 min read

The Daily Thistle — News From Scotland

Friday 31st August 2018

“Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. Friday, a day that people look forward to for many reasons, the end of the working week being one of them, but now the stampede to read about the archeology discoveries, the history of this week and all the other titillating news that comes out on Friday has taken pride of place, and now it’s no longer the fight for the Sports page, or Births Deaths and Marriages that create the problems in the house it Archeological Friday and all the news that The daily Thistle has been able to dig up, and we make no bones about what we find……

PICTISH STONE DISCOVERED IN SCOTLAND…. ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND — The Scotsman reports that a stone carved with Pictish symbols has been recovered from the banks of the River Don in northeast Scotland by members of Historic Environment Scotland, Aberdeenshire Council, and the University of Aberdeen. The stone was exposed because the recent drought has lowered the river’s water level. The figures on the stone, made sometime between the sixth and eighth centuries A.D., include a triple disc with a cross bar, a mirror, and a notched rectangle with two internal spirals. Aberdeen archaeologist Bruce Mann said such stones are rare, and the discovery of this stone in the river could help researchers understand how they were used. It has been suggested that the symbols could represent the names of individuals or groups.

THIS WEEK 88 YEARS AGO THE RESIDENTS OF ST KILDA WERE EVACUATED…. The islanders of St Kilda were evacuated at their own request on 29 August 1930. The evacuation came after years of hardship for the islanders, which had seen the population of the island halve to just 37 people in the space of eight years. The St Kilda archipelago had been occupied by humans for up to 2,000 years but a number of factors, including outbreaks of illness, crop failure and the outbreak of World War I had led to it becoming more difficult for the islanders to maintain their self sufficiency. An increase in curiosity about the islanders and their way of life had also caused problems for the islanders, as tourists sometimes brought with them disease — a visiting ship had brought in cholera and smallpox in the eighteenth century. On the day of the evacuation, the 36 remaining islanders locked the doors of their houses, leaving an open Bible and a handful of oats in each dwelling, and walked to the Harebell, which would take them to the mainland. St Kilda is now maintained by the National Trust for Scotland, after it was donated by the 5th Marquess of Bute.

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE WAS EXECUTED ON 23 AUGUST 1305, IN LONDON….. Wallace, a leader in the Wars of Scottish Independence, was captured at Robroyston near Glasgow, eighteen days before his execution, and charged with high treasons and crimes against the citizens of King Edward I of England. Following his trial at Westminster Hall, Wallace was dragged through the streets of London at the back of a horse, then suffered the agonies of being hanged, drawn and quartered. Wallace’s head was displayed atop a pike on London Bridge and his limbs were taken to Perth, Berwick on Tweed, Stirling and Newcastle on Tyne. A plaque at St Bartholomew’s Hospital at Smithfield, London, marks the site of Wallace’s execution.

KING ALEXANDER II OF SCOTLAND WAS BORN ON 24 AUGUST 1198 AT HADDINGTON IN EAST LOTHIAN….. Alexander was the only son of William the Lion and succeeded his father to the throne at the age of sixteen. He was crowned at Scone on 6 December 1214, two days after the death of William. Alexander II is the only reigning Scottish monarch known to have taken a military force down to England’s south coast, when he marched south to aid English rebels against King John of England. After the death of King John, ties between England and Scotland were further strengthened when Alexander married Joan, the sister of England’s King Henry III, in 1221.
Alexander died on 6 July 1249 at the age of fifty and was buried at Melrose Abbey.

SCOTTISH ACTOR SIR SEAN CONNERY WAS BORN ON 25 AUGUST 1930 IN FOUNTAINBRIDGE, EDINBURGH….. Connery was brought up in Edinburgh and worked as a milkman before joining the Royal Navy, from which he was discharged on medical grounds. He moved onto other work, including lifeguarding at Portobello Swimming Pool and working as a life drawing model at the Edinburgh College of Art. After working backstage at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh, Connery took on a number of minor acting roles, before achieving worldwide fame through his starring roles in seven James Bond films.

SCOTTISH CLAN SEAL DISCOVERED ON ISLAY…. ISLAY, SCOTLAND — According to a report in The Herald, a field school student has unearthed the seal of Sir John Campbell of Cawdor, a leader of the Campbell clan who took control of the Scottish island of Islay — famed for its Scotch whiskies — in 1615. The find was made during excavations at Dunyvaig Castle, the site of combat between the Campbell and MacDonald clans, who were engaged in a violent struggle over Scotland’s islands in the early seventeenth century. “This is a remarkable find,” says project director Darko Maricevic of the University of Reading. “Not only is it a beautiful and well-preserved object, but it comes from the floor of a building that we can now confidently date to the Campbell occupation.” The object would have been used to sign and seal legal documents and bears the inscription “IOANNIS CAMPBELL DE CALDER” (an original spelling of Cawdor), as well as the Cawdor coat of arms. Researchers speculate that the seal may have been lost in 1646, when a MacDonald descendent reclaimed the castle.

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is by David Perrie, from Barrhead, who went for a walk along the River Tay in Dunkeld.

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it’s always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of “Colombian” Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 31st August 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff….But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus
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