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INTERESTING INFORMATION FOR THE IONA PILGRIMAGE CRIEFF Web Link The town name thought to be from the gaelic “crubha cnoic” (slope on a hill) which of course perfectly describes the location. In 1199 it was referred to as Cref and the town itself sits on the precise physical and cultural boundary between the highlands and the lowlands. In 1513 at the battle of Flodden field there were very few Crieff families who did not loose men folk amongst those who did not return. During the next 100 years the town developed as a market town with the highlanders coming south using the now forgotten drover roads through the hills to a natural crossroads at Crieff to buy and sell their cattle. The economy flourished. The great Michaelmas cattle fair held each year acted as a gathering point for drovers bringing upwards of 30,000 beasts. At times the number arriving turned the surrounding hills black . In 1716 after the battle of Sheriffmuir 350 returning highlanders burned most of the town in revenge for its pro government sympathies. In the years that followed and up to the 1745 uprising the town was in the middle of an uneasy peace. At one time Rob Roys outlaw son was chased through the streets by soldiers and killed. During the October markets the town turned into a prototype American Wild West town with milling cattle, horse thieves, bandits and drunken drovers. In February 1746 the Jacobite army supporting the young pretender “Bonnie Prince Charlie” was quartered in and around the town. It is said the Prince held his final war council in the old Drummond Arms Inn in James Square (site of the present hotel) he also had his horse shod in the blacksmiths shop in King Street now the site of the police station. The times following the Princes defeat at Culloden where hard and by 1792 the Anglicisation of the area was complete with the main language in the town being English. By 1830 the population had doubled and when the railways came in 1856 the town was the second largest in Perthshire Today a town of some 6,000 people with tourism being a large contributor to the local economy. The famous Glenturret distillery is situated just a few miles out of town and the Crieff visitor centre still giving a welcome to many thousands of visitors every year. EDINBURGH Web Link The capital city of Scotland. The origins of Edinburgh are obscure. There is evidence of iron age settlements on and around Arthur's seat. Evidence is also available that the castle rock was a pictish stronghold as early as the 5th century AD, although Edinburgh did not become the capital of Scotland until well into the 12th Century. The history of this fine city is really moulded around one street the royal mile. At its foot lies Holyrood House, still a Royal Palace today, where Mary Queen of Scots lived and where Bonnie Prince Charlie had the brief triumph of his celebration ball after capturing Edinburgh in the 1745 rebellion in his attempt to put the Stuarts back on the throne. At its head the castle towers on its great rock, majestic in its splendour, dominant in its architecture. The castle hill is 443ft above sea level and like Arthur's seat of volcanic origin. Between the two the royal mile winds its way along the spine of rock that is pre 18th Century Edinburgh, tall many storeyed houses cling to the steep hillsides. Yet Edinburgh is not just about history, the new town is just as picturesque with wide streets and crescents. With Princes Street flanked by gardens on the south being described by many as one of Europe's finest thoroughfares. The ladies will find Edinburgh's shops just fine. EDINBURGH CASTLE Web Link The oldest part of the castle is St Margaret's Chapel built early in the 12th Century. Apart from this we know very little about the early buildings on the site. We do know that the castle walls began to take their present form from about 1356. Since then many additions and changes have taken place. GLASGOW Web Link Scotlands Capital in the West. Founded by Kentigen (popularly called Mungo) in 543 when he built a small church in a place called Glasgu (meaning beloved green place). The establishment of a Cathedral in the 12th Century and the Second University after St Andrews in Scotland during the 15th Century gave the city credibility. It was made a Royal Burgh in 1454. Commercial prosperity dates back to the 17th Century when the port of Glasgow (on the Clyde) became a major importer of cotton, tobacco and sugar from the Americas. Being a major port, heavy engineering in the form of ship building followed. The city became one of the great industrial centres in the world. In the later part of the 20th Century,the decline in heavy engineering and ship building has hit the commercial life of the city extremely hard. Modernistion is taking place and much of the old city is being cleared away. GLASGOW CATHEDRAL Web Link Built close to the site where (Kentigen-St Mungo) built his church in 543. The present structure was started during the 12th Century. With the Quire and Crypt being completed in the following century. The cathedral was finally completed at the end of the 15th Century. It is the only complete Medieval Cathedral on the Scottish mainland. The length of the building is 285ft, breadth of the nave 63ft and the height of the nave roof 105ft. The lower church which fulfils two purposes, the tomb of St Kentigern and the provision of additional chapels and altars is without doubt the most distinctive feature of the Cathedral. One of the outstanding features is the fan vaulting around the tomb. In 1451 a decree from Rome declared that a pilgrimage to this Cathedral would equal in merit one made to Rome. It is understandable therefore that the number of pilgrims coming to make offerings increased considerably. INVERARAY Web Link Standing on the Western slopes of Loch Fyne a perfect example of a well planned 18th Century Scottish Town. The new town was built on the remains of an old fishing village which the Duke of Argyll head of the famous Campbell Clan decided to pull down in 1745. It is said it blocked the view from his Castle of the Loch. What we now have is an elegant Royal Burgh with wide streets and well proportioned whitewashed houses a set piece of Scottish Georgian architecture reflected in the still waters of the Loch. Two churches in the town, the parish church built in 1794 is divided into two so that services could be held in both Gaelic and English. The other church is the Episcopalian Church of all Saints built in 1886 which has a bell tower with the second heaviest ring of ten bells in the world. Each one is named after a saint and inscribed on the bell. IONA Web Link Situated less than a mile off the Southwest tip of Mull it is an Island approx 3 miles in length and approx 1 mile in width at its widest point. It has been a place of Christian worship for maybe 1400 years and a place of pilgrimage for centuries due to the association of the isle with St Columba. Iona`s oldest remaining building is St Orans Chapel which lies at the very centre of Iona`s sacred burial ground. A cemetery said to contain the remains of over 60 kings of Norway, Ireland, and Scotland including Duncan and Macbeth. St Columba arrived in Iona during the year 563 with 12 loyal monks after being exiled from Ireland. He died in 597 and history books tell us very little about his life except he became a cult figure. In the Sixth and Seventh Centuries Iona became a place of importance establishing a specifically Celtic Christian tradition. From here missionaries where sent out to many parts of Scotland and Northern England with Iona becoming a very respected seat of learning and artistry. The famous book of Kells (illuminated manuscript now kept in Trinity College Dublin) was produced here. So what caused the demise of this established community of Celtic Christianity and tradition. Three major theories conclude to offer the following reasons:
A series of Viking raids culminating in the massacre of 68 monks on the sands of
Martyrs Bay in 806 In 1203 Iona became a part of the mainstream church and both an Augustinian Nunnery and a Benedictine Monastery where founded on the site. During the reformation the entire complex was ransacked. Then in 1899 the owner of the island the 8th Duke of Argyll donated the Abbey and buildings to the Church of Scotland. The modern resurgence began in 1938 under George Mcleod a Minister from Glasgow who established a new community on the island. This has grown to be a mixed community retreat with the entire Abbey complex now looked after and administered by historic Scotland. The island itself except for the church buildings is looked after by the National Trust of Scotland. A special place of tranquillity and peace. ISLAND of MULL The wettest of the Hebrides Islands this gives the natural moreland of heather an almost bleak and unwelcoming feel on a grey day. But seen on a fine day the island is one of the most beautiful of the Inner Hebrides Islands. It is certainly the largest. It is also easy to reach from Oban just a ferry crossing of 45minutes. Mull taken from the Gaelic word “Meall” it was certainly known to the Romans and even Ptolemy called it the Island of Maleus. Ben More is the tallest mountain on the island at 3,140ft and the famous Duart Castle is the ancestral home of the Clan Chief of the Mccleans. The other castle is Torosay in the village of Criagnure and is owned by the local family the Guthries. There is a connection here between Peter and the Guthrie family. When Peter bought his house in Cheltenham nearly 30 years ago he bought it from Mrs Joyce Guthrie and the house name was and still is Craigie. Joyce married one of the youngest sons of the Guthrie family and of course named her house after the family estate in Scotland. The population of the island which once approached nearly 10,000 people declined rapidly in the late 19th century due to the clearances and the potato famine of 1846. Thankfully this decline has halted and due to a rise of inbound settlers from other parts of the country now approaches over 2,500.this startling reversal has been bought about mainly by the increase in tourism with over half a million visitors coming to the island each year Tobermory is the main town situated on the Northern tip of the island with a population of approx 800 and easily one of the most attractive fishing ports on the Scottish West Coast. Two other interesting points of interest in the area; Calgary, recognise the name, it is said a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman visited the area in 1883, he was so impressed with the beauty around him he went home and named a Canadian City after the village. Close to the island is a much smaller one called Staffa. It is here a small cave is located called Fingals Cave. This place so inspired the composer Felix Mendelssohn he wrote a famous piece of music of the same name. OBAN Web Link Oban enjoys a superb setting sitting at the end of a bay sheltered by the Island of Kerrera. A natural harbour. Today is a town of some 8,000 people but just 130 years ago little more than a village. Then came the railways. Tourists, rich businessmen from Glasgow flocked in building great Victorian and Edwardian villas and local people began to cater for this influx. Today it is the gateway to the Western Isles with local ferries plying their trade to such wonderful sounding places Lismore, Colonsay, Barra, South Uist and of course Mull. The town has two Cathedrals, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Columba, a 20th century granite building and the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine built in the 19th century. However the town is dominated by Mccaigs tower a vast colosseum of a building started in 1897 by Oban banker John Stuart Mccaig. He wanted to establish a museum and art gallery but he died before completion. Today it stands empty except for a garden but does provide a wonderful seaward panorama especially at sunset. Anyone fancying a walk could climb up in about ten minutes but it is a very stiff walk. If you fancy a wee dram then do take a tour of the Oban distillery in the centre of the town in George Street. ST GILES CATHEDRAL EDINBURGH Web Link St Giles was the Patron Saint of Cripples, he was a Greek born in Athens in 640AD. The building was dedicated to St Giles in 1243. There as probably been a church on this site since 854. The oldest parts of the present building are 4 massive central pillars thought to date back to 1120. The church was burnt down by the English in 1385. However over the following 150 years it was enlarged and enhanced. It was from here that John Knox (Scottish reformer) appointed Minister of Edinburgh in 1559 led the reformation of the Scottish Church. The tie with Rome was broken and the administration of the Church of Scotland evolved into Presbyterianism. Although it must be said that for two periods in the 17th century the church was Episcopalian. Mary Queen of Scots held Parliament in 1563 in the outer tollbooth section. During that time it was the market place at the centre of the cities activities. Many tales of torture, execution, bravery and treachery started life within the walls of this building. Which today echoes a violent past and yet by careful renewal points a way forward to the future. ST MARY`S CATHEDRAL EDINBURGH. Web Link Three of the soaring spires on the famous skyline of Edinburgh belong to the Scottish Episcopal Catherdal of St Mary the Virgin. Consecrated in 1879 the Cathedral is still the home to a thriving congregation. After the abdication of James VII in 1689 the reformed Church in Scotland divided over the issue of the Stuart succession. Two churches came into being. The Presbyterian Church established by King William and the Episcopal Church loyal to the Stuart cause. St Giles the Edinburgh Cathedral came under the established church which left the Episcopal ministry with no Cathedral of its own. For many years they worshipped in an old woollen mill then the church of St Paul in York Place. Always dreaming of the day when they would eventually have a Cathedral of their own. However it was not until the middle of the Nineteenth Century that the dream started to become a reality. The Walker Sisters local landowners bequethed the residue from the sale of their estate “Drumsheugh” to the building of a new Cathedral. A trust deed was drawn up which came into effect on the demise of the last surviving sister Mary in 1870. In 1872 a competition was held to find a design of the new building which was won by Sir George Scott. However he was asked to add two more spires to his original design. The foundation stone was laid on the 21st May 1874. The Nave was opened on the 25th January 1879 and daily services have been held every day since. TARBET Web Link Small village sitting on the banks of Loch Lomond which is the largest stretch of fresh water in Britain (approx 23miles long and in places 5 miles wide with a maximum depth of approx 600 ft)famous for the ballad “Bonnie Bonnie banks of Loch Lomond”. The western shore is busy from tourist traffic but the Eastern shore is more tranquil, ideal; for walking and appreciating the natural beauty of the Loch |
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