Family History

Well, I intended to do blog posts on churches and history before doing this one on my family history but since I've taken so long to write the next post I thought I would finish our Scotland trip with this post on a bit of my family history.

My father's parents were both born in Scotland. My grandfather Stewart was born in Kirkintilloch which is outside of Glasgow. My dad's mother, who was born a Templeton, was born on the Isle of Arran. When I was posted to England, I knew that she had been born in the town of Kilmory on the Isle of Arran but not exactly where. In this digital age, I found her birth record on the website Scotland's People, which showed where she was born. From her birth record, I found that she was born on a farm named Clachaig. Her older sister Jane and brother Gilbert were also born on this farm. 

The farm is still a working farm although the working name of the farm has changed. On our drive around Arran, one of our stops was at this farm.  At first it seemed as if there was no one there as the only ones to greet us at the honesty box was a pack of border collies.

But a few minutes after we arrived, the owner drove down from the upper fields.  He was very hospitable and invited us to walk around and take pictures. He told us there was a farm cottage nearer the village and some cottage ruins in the upper fields but as our great-grandfather was listed as a ploughman and not a farmer, it was likely that our grandmother had been born in the bothy. In the picture above, the bothy is the one story extension to the house and it is where the farm labourers lived. It is just three rooms, the main room had a large fireplace; there was a large communal kitchen right next door in the house. The bothy has been renovated and is now a vacation rental.

The current owner told us, when my great-grandfather worked there, the farm was run by a tenant farmer named Spears. He tried to find the deed from that time to show us but couldn't locate the paperwork. He did tell us that same family bought the farm in the mid 1950's and said it was one of the first farms in the area that the government sold to private owners. 

Current owner - Peter Brown

Clachaig Farm House

It was kind of strange walking around that farm, thinking my great-grandparents and their children had lived and worked there. I doubt my grandmother would have remembered this place as she would have been very young when they moved away. Her youngest sister Janet (called Jenny) was born on a farm near Ayr, Scotland.

Fields - Clachaig Farm

Clachaig Farm - driveway

LtoR Helen, Janet, Gilbert and Jane, the four youngest Templeton children

I wish I had  talked to my grandmother more about her childhood, perhaps she did recall some things about those days on the farms. I'm sure she could have told stories about their lives in Scotland as she was a teenager before the family moved to Canada.

Castles and Palaces

 Well, you can't visit Scotland without going to see a few castles and palaces. Before we left I found out about the Historic Scotland Explorer Pass which you can buy for a two week period. It lets you visit a number of sites for free; three of the sites we were planning to visit were on the pass. Since it was less expensive than buying the separate admissions to each place, we each bought a two-week pass.

The first castle we saw was Stirling Castle. It was our first day out of Edinburgh. Our first stop was to see the Kelpies, Duke and Baron in Falkirk. Then it was on to Stirling Castle,  the castle was the childhood home of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Duke and Baron

King's Knot, at one time it was a formal garden

The Great Hall

Robert the Bruce

Stirling Castle

The next day we would see a palace, Scone Palace near Perth. Scone Palace is the home to the Earl of Mansfield and his family, since as it is still a home, photographs inside the palace are not permitted.  I did mange to get one or two.  It is at Scone Palace where Scottish kings were crowned and where at one time you would find the Stone of Destiny. That stone is now in a new museum in Perth, Scotland but it is still used for coronations, the last time being for King Charles III.

One painting that you will see in Scone Palace is that of Dido Belle and Elizabeth Murray. Dido Belle was the illegitimate child of a British Naval Officer, she was raised by her uncle, the first Earl of Mansfield. If you're interested, you can watch a fictionalized account of her life on Disney Plus, the movie is called Belle. The grounds of Scone Palace are quite extensive, we walked some of it but didn't do the maze or the formal gardens as we still had a three hour drive to get to Inverness.

In Inverness, we did see Inverness Castle but only from the outside, like the last time I was in Scotland, the castle wasn't open to the public. Last time, I was there it was still being used a prison, a courthouse and municipal offices; now it's under renovation and, at some point in 2025, it will be opened to the public as a must see visitor attraction, perhaps reason for another trip to Scotland.

After Inverness, we drove the Great Glen, along Loch Ness, famous for a certain monster, to Urquhart Castle. This was another site included with our Historic Scotland Pass so all we had to do was go online to reserve our timed tickets and parking space. Urquhart Castle is a ruined castle, it played a role in the wars of Scottish Independence and was at one time a royal castle.

We drove past the town of Spean Bridge where our B&B was located to spend some time at Glenfinnan where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the clans.

Loch Shiel

We didn't see our next castle wasn't until we got to the Isle of Arran. We had taken a fairly early ferry over to the island so we went to Brodick Castle before going to our B&B. Brodick Castle was once the seat of the Dukes of Hamilton; it is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland. At Brodick Castle we were allowed to take pictures inside as it is no longer a home but a museum. The grounds again have beautiful gardens.

From the ferry

The sitting room

Country Garden

The Stag

Brodick Castle from the gardens

Library

Staircase with Stag heads

The last castle we visited was actually the first one we saw, Edinburgh Castle. On arrival in Scotland, we only had two nights in Edinburgh, on our return, we had three nights so we had decided to go to Edinburgh Castle when we got back. It was another site on our Historic Scotland Pass so again all we needed to do was book our timed ticket. There were only tickets available from 1pm onwards but that worked out just fine as we'd had the long drive back from the Isle of Arran the evening before. 

Inside the castle

Dog Cemetery

National War Memorial

Great Hall

The crown jewels of Scotland are held in the castle but you can't take pictures of those, nor can you take pictures inside the National War Memorial. There are also few museums inside the castle, two regimental ones and two on the prisons that were once in the castle. 

There are so many other castles, palaces and stately homes that you could visit. I think it would take a lifetime to see them all. When I was posted to England, I took a membership to English Heritage. It got me in free or with reduced admission to many such places and there was a reciprocal agreement with the National Trust. It was well worth the membership.

Advanced Standard Qualifying Score

Liam got an Advanced Standard Qualifying Score, a Q, this weekend.  I was a little bummed when I saw the course maps and saw that he had to get two weave entries on each course. In Advanced, they have to do 12 weaves. I thought, oh well, it's good practice. In his first run, he did get one of the weave entries but also came around the first jump to take the backside of it, something he doesn't usually do, but other than that the run was pretty good. The second run was nearly the reverse but the weaves were moved a bit.

I knew I couldn't lead out too much or he would just run around the tire. This was a pretty good course for Liam not too many jumps in a row and those that were there weren't in a straight line. I knew our problems would be the weave entries and keeping jumps up, especially 9 and 10 and 15 and 16. Liam broke his start line but did the tire and since I hadn't planned to lead out much I wasn't caught out of place. We were clean going to 9, I handled the jumps with a front cross between 9 and 10 which gave him an angled approach to 10. Then a front cross after 10, that meant he was doing off side weaves and so had a better chance of getting the entry. It also meant that I could push him into the tunnel at 12; the handlers that opted to do onside weaves ended up with their dog going into the wrong end of the tunnel. Liam got the second weave entry and was still clean going to the dog walk and the final jump but I know that it was still possible to fault. He didn't, he got the dog walk contact and left up the final bar.  

I gave Liam a jackpot without knowing if we were over time or not as he works hard at his agility.  He was under time and not just by a second or two but by over 9 seconds. Considering, he stops to take nearly every jump that was really a nice run.  

Unfortunately, the club's Q ribbons are on backorder so we had to take our official photo with a first place ribbon. Liam didn't care as he got more hot dogs and Charlie Bears for the picture taking.

A satisfied grin

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

After we had booked our trip to Scotland, I saw a post on Facebook from the RCMP Pipes and Drums, that they said were sending band members to be part of the Massed Pipes and Drums at the Edinburgh Tattoo. The post had a link to the Tattoo web site and ticketing.   It was quite expensive but as we would be in Edinburgh while the Tattoo was on, I decided to ask my sisters if they wanted to go. I don't really have a Bucket List but as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, we decided to buy tickets.

The show is outdoors on the esplanade to Edinburgh Castle. The show has never been cancelled due to weather, only COVID cancelled the show.  There are a few weekends where there are matinee performances in the afternoon but we went to an evening show at 9:30pm. We all had raincoats but also bought rain ponchos to go over top. Luckily, it only sprinkled a bit on the night we went but the ponchos acted like wind breakers too and kept us warmer during the performance.

Edinburgh Castle from Princes Gardens

Edinburgh Castle Esplanade

The staff of the Tattoo are very proficient at getting the thousands of people seated. There are food and drink vendors on the esplanade before the performance.  At ten minutes before the show, they start counting down to the start of the show.

Countdown

Arrival of the Guest of Honour

The first performance was a fanfare played by the Royal Marines followed by the March On of the Massed Pipes and Drums. The Canadian RCMP members are quite visible in their red serge jackets.  

Massed Pipes and Drums

Video of the Massed Pipes and Drums

The Tattoo had many other performers and dancers.  The United States was represented by the Naval Services band, the Naval Ceremonial Drill Team, the band and pipes and drums from the Citadel, a military college in South Carolina. There was also a drum corps from Belgium as well as Highland Dancers and Teamwork India.  They kept the show moving quickly and sadly, it wasn't long before the hour and half show was over.

The finale is marked with the March Off of the Massed Pipes and Drums with the complete cast of the Tattoo. They go down the street outside the castle and many people line up to watch the bands and cast march down the street. Fireworks over the castle cap off the end of the show.

The show is spectacular. I hope you enjoyed these highlights. If you ever have the chance, you should go. Next year is the 75th anniversary of the Tattoo, so if you were thinking about a trip to Scotland maybe it would be the time to go.