...THE ALBANY STEWARTS

FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome to our May/June issue and as you’ll

MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS

Professor Murray Pittock is pro-vice principal and Bradley

World’s largest Jurassic pterosaur found on the Isle of Skye

A spectacular fossil of a huge flying reptile known as a pterosaur, found on the Isle of Skye, is the largest of its kind ever discovered from the Jurassic period

Aberdeen children of the 1950s

The story of one of the world’s most unique group of study participants and what life was like for them growing up in 1950s Aberdeen is told in a new online exhibition

See a handwritten Stuart treasure

A poem handwritten by a young Mary Queen of Scots has gone on display at National Museum of Scotland

PLOCKTON’S SPORTING DILEMMA

Sandy Thomson shares his recent sport history research, in which he explores why the young men of 19th-century Plockton established a quoiting club instead of the more popular sport of shinty

Urban standing stones

Picture a standing stone and you will possibly think of a monument standing in wild, rural surroundings. Dr Kenneth Brophy takes us on a tour of urban standing stones, challenging us to reassess our connections with such monuments and the role they play in today’s world

THE DISCOVERY OF A UNIQUE WORLD WAR II DOMESTIC AIR RAID SHELTER

Dr Patricia ‘Iolana shares a unique insight into the excavation of a unique, and possibly prototype, World War II domestic air raid shelter that she discovered in Bainsford last summer

PLAGUE RETURNS TO GLASGOW

Plague is usually discussed as a medieval disease, indelibly linked in public consciousness with the Black Death of the 14th century. But plague has recurred frequently since the Middle Ages, including in an outbreak in early-20th-century Glasgow. William B. Black tells the story of this widely forgotten epidemic

THE POLICE AND THE ROYAL AIR FORCE IN WARTIME BERWICK SHIRE

For Scotland’s small, under-staffed police forces, hugely increased contact with the Royal Air Force was one of the lesser-recognised challenges of wartime. Dr David M. Smale explores the nature of this relationship in the country of Berwickshire

THE FIRST SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT PART 2

In the second instalment of his two-part series, Dr Kelsey Jackson Williams explores the traditionally overlooked relationship between Enlightenment and Jacobitism, revealing how the north-eastern Jacobites played a vital role in entrenching innovative ideas and practices in Scotland half a century before the classic age of the Edinburgh Enlightenment

The Annals of the Goodsir-Taylor brooch

Michael T. Tracy charts the history of a brooch that tells the stories of three families in Scotland and Canada, in a tale that spans the centuries

THREE CENTURIES OF PERFORMANCE: ALLAN RAMSAY’S THE GENTLE SHEPHERD

As a new scholarly edition of Allan Ramsay’s The Gentle Shepherd is published, Dr Brianna Robertson-Kirkland and Professor Murray Pittock reflect on the making and significance of the work, and ask what the new edition can do to highlight Ramsay’s legacy

HOW TO TAKE A TOWN

In the latest instalment of Spotlight: Jacobites, Dr Darren S. Layne takes a closer look at some of the logistical and administrative directives of Jacobite army officials in the early weeks of the 1745 rising

AUDUBON’S BIRDS OF AMERICA AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland examines the artistry and legacy of one of the world’s most coveted and largest books, Birds of America by John James Audubon. Exhibition curator Mark Glancy shares the history of this majestic volume and its eccentric author

A LIFELONG PASSION

We talk to celebrated Edinburgh hotelier and restauranter James Thomson OBE about his passion for the city’s past, and his life-long love of rescuing historical artefacts and giving them a new lease of life

THE LAWYER, THE WITCH, AND THE WAY FORWARD: SIR GEORGE MACKENZIE AND THE END OF SCOTTISH WITCH-HUNTING

Emerson Hurley takes a look at the efforts of a Europe-wide group of sceptics whose endeavours helped bring the age of witch-hunting to an end

Climate change heritage action

We launch a new series on how individuals and organisations are facing up to the effects of climate change on historic sites, exploring what work is being done currently, and the challenges that lie ahead

THE PROCESS OF MANAGED DECAY

Dr David Mitchell, Director of Conservation at Historic Environment Scotland (HES), talks about their recent announcement of the new tactile inspection measures they are introducing to manage the impact of climate change on the historic properties they care for

MANAGING DECAY: DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS

Professor Richard Oram, History Scotland patron, wrote recently of the need for us think about the threatened heritage in our own area, reflecting on a ‘managed decay’ strategy

DIARY DATES

EVENTS AROUND THE COUNTRY, PLUS SELECTED ONLINE EVENTS TO ENJOY FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD

CALL THE MIDWIFE: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MIDWIFERY PROFESSION IN SCOTLAND

In 2015, National Records of Scotland held the exhibition Safe Delivery: A History of Scottish Midwives. Veronica Schreuder revisits some of the archives to tell the story of the establishment of professional registration in the field, to recognise National Midwives Day on 5 May

No mere materialism

Queen Anna of Denmark’s carefully calculated use of visual and material culture is the subject of this recent book, reviewed by Siobhan Ralfe

300 years of Scottish women

Michelle Ward examines a new survey of women in Scotland over the past three centuries

The case for Scottish independence

David McVey finds food for thought in Ben Jackson’s analysis of the history of Scottish nationalism

LEGACIES OF THE SLAVE TRADE IN JAMAICA : SCOTTISH CONNECTIONS

This month, Ken Nisbet explains how to find out whether your ancestor had a connection to the Caribbean slave trade, perhaps indirectly as the beneficiary of a will or gift

SCOTTISH SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS OF THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES*

Dr Kelsey Jackson Williams takes a look at a masterly archival study that profiles those who created the foundations for Scotland’s post-Reformation grammar school system

FINAL WORD

Dr Martin Kirkbride, reader in Geography and Environmental Science within Dundee’s School of Social Sciences, talks to us following his work with colleagues to look at the impact that thunderstorms in August 2020 had on the landscape in the Lomond hills. The damage included a landslide near Falkland village