The Journal of The Scots Heritage Society 

Published August 2005.

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REGULARS

4       Susan Cromarty's Editorial

6       Letters to the Editor

8       SCOTS Q & A - find the answers to those elusive questions.

80     SCOTS Gardens - The Black Wood of Rannoch

96     SCOTS Genealogy - The life of Master Mariner James Lough

106   SCOTS Fare – Jamie Thewes.

108   SCOTS Music – Georgiana McCrae 

110   SCOTS Music Reviews - Pete Clark 

112   SCOTS Book Reviews - Seumas MacLeod  

114   Caledonian Calendar

115   Clans and Societies

120   SCOTS SHOWCASE

FEATURES

10  TILTING AT WINDMILLS

Scotland’s magnificent landscape is under threat as Britain’s major energy companies propose to construct thousands of enormous wind turbines to help meet European Union targets for the generation of power from renewable sources. The wind farm proposals are arousing bitter opposition, particularly among those concerned at the potentially disastrous impact on tourism and among conservationists who predict the destruction of many of Scotland’s most cherished and endangered species. Angus Urquhart reports from the Isle of Lewis.

20 JAMES WATT: HOMAGE TO THE CLYDE

James Watt is one of Scotland’s most distinguished figurative painters. His work in portraying the great shipyards on the River Clyde is a priceless record of the era in which Scottish craftsmen built the biggest and most beautiful ships in the world. Bruce Stannard spoke with the artist at his home at Largs on the Forth of Clyde.

32 CALL TO ARMS

When the Scottish shipbuilder, Robert Lyon Scott died in 1939, he bequeathed one of the world’s best collections of medieval and Renaissance arms and armour to the City of Glasgow. The Scott Collection now forms the nucleus of the priceless exhibition which will go on display when the refurbished Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery re-opens in June 2006. In Glasgow Bruce MacWilliam spoke with Dr Tobias Capwell, Kelvingrove’s Curator of Arms and Armour.

40 SCOTLAND’S CASTLES

Despite their grand associations, Scottish castles were central to the lives of many people from all social stations. Castles were their workplaces, their places of worship, their army barracks, their law courts, their prisons, their hotels, their places of entertainment and even their places of execution. In the first of a series of features on Scotland’s castles, Christopher Tabraham explains the rich history of the buildings and gives us an insight into the lives of the men and women who built them.

48 TREASURE ISLAND

Magnificent Lord Howe Island, the sub-tropical paradise in the South Pacific Ocean, is about as far from Scotland as it’s possible to go and yet, in the middle of the nineteenth century, adventurous Scots were among the earliest settlers. Fiona MacGillivray found the descendants of those pioneering families still enjoying island life and still intensely proud of their Scottish heritage.

56 CULROSS

After more than 70 years of meticulous conservation, the picturesque village of Culross in Fife is rightly regarded as one of the jewels in the crown of the National Trust for Scotland. Iain Gunn reports on Scotland’s most complete and perfectly preserved royal burgh of the seventeenth century.

62 HIGHLAND WILDERNESS

Panoramic photographer Colin Prior and writer Magnus Linklater continue their exploration of Scotland’s Highland Wilderness with a journey through the Eastern Highlands.

70 ROTHIEMURCHUS

Rothiemurchus is a name deeply etched in the consciousness of Scotland. The great estate, which now lies at the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, is not only one of the most sublimely beautiful parts of the Highlands, it’s also one of the most popular tourist destinations in Scotland, thanks to a remarkable piece of literature and the extraordinary energy and initiative of the Grant family who have owned the 25,000 acre estate for over 400 years. Heather Ross reports from Speyside.

76 HEDGEHOG

Niall Benvie continues his series on Scotland’s wildlife with a look at the endearing little hedgehog.

86 TRUST AND GO FORWARD

Professor Roger Wheater is about to step down as Chairman of the National Trust for Scotland after five years in which he played a pivotal role in reviving the Trust’s flagging financial fortunes. Bruce Stannard spoke with him in Edinburgh.

96 GOURMET’S CHOICE

Smoked salmon has long been one of Scotland’s greatest delicacies but, with wild fish stocks dwindling and the continuing controversy over fish farming practices, the quest for top quality product is becoming ever more difficult. It’s a business which has occupied five generations of the Sutherland family. In Portsoy, Banffshire, Donald Cameron spoke with the family patriarch, Alexander Sutherland.