United Celts

2021-05-29 11:47:01 Dunrobin Castle, Scotland, United Kingdom Open / Comment

2021-05-28 10:42:12 The arms of office of Lord Lyon King of Arms. The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the oldest heraldic court in the world that is still in daily operation. The Lord Lyon is responsible for overseeing state ceremonial in Scotland, for the granting of new arms to persons or organisations, and for confirming proven pedigrees and claims to existing arms as well as recognising clan chiefs after due diligence. He also registers and records new clan tartans, upon request from the clan chief. Open / Comment

2021-05-27 11:08:22 The Ardbeg Scotch Whisky Distillery of Islay Open / Comment

2021-05-27 11:08:21 For remote communities In Scotland's Outer Hebrides, mobile libraries are a lifeline to culture. Library vans ply lonely roads and deliver books, including works in Gaelic, to hundreds of isolated residents. Seeing the mobile librarian is sometimes the only human contact they will have for days. Open / Comment

2021-05-26 19:31:02 A crannog is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes and estuarine waters of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Crannogs were used as dwellings over five millennia, from the European Neolithic Period to as late as the 17th/early 18th century. The crannog known as "The Kitchen", located off the island of Clairinsh, may have later been used a place for important meetings by Clan Buchanan whose clan seat had been on Clairinsh since 1225: this usage would be in line with other crannogs such as that at Finlaggan on Islay, used by Clan Donald. The Irish word crannóg derives from Old Irish crannóc, which referred to a wooden structure or vessel, stemming from crann, which means "tree", suffixed with "-óg" which is a diminutive ending ultimately borrowed from Welsh. In early Irish history, crannogs were at their peak when they were the homes and retreats of kings, lords, prosperous farmers and, sometimes for people like monastic hermits or metalsmiths who could work in isolation. Open / Comment

2021-05-26 19:31:02 Loch Lomond is the largest loch of Scotland which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of Central Scotland and the Highlands. People first arrived in the Loch Lomond area around 5000 years ago, during the neolithic era. They left traces of their presence at several places around the loch, including Balmaha, Luss, and Inchlonaig. A number of crannogs, artificial islands used as dwellings for over five millennia, were built at points in the loch. The Romans had a fort within sight of the loch at Drumquhassle. During the Early Medieval period viking raiders sailed up Loch Long, hauled their longboats over at the narrow neck of land at Tarbet, and sacked several islands in the loch. Open / Comment

2021-05-26 12:52:00 Wales, United Kingdom Open / Comment

2021-05-26 12:51:48 Blackenings are especially common in the Doric parts of Scotland. Love to see them, always good to see a couple getting hitched. Open / Comment

2021-05-25 14:10:58 Open / Comment

2021-05-24 21:18:37 The rosary beads of Mary Queen of Scots, the Catholic queen martyred under the reign of the Protestant usurper Elizabeth I, have been stolen from Arundel castle in Sussex. The gold beads were carried by the queen to her execution at Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire. After she was murdered, nearly all her possessions were destroyed by the heretical usurpers who were worried she would be seen as a Catholic martyr and that her relics would inspire a Catholic restoration in England. Open / Comment