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Version: 4.25
URL: http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/
Archive-name: cultures/scottish/scottish-faq
Posting-Frequency: 4 months
Last-modified: 01-May-2004
The Internet's first guide to Scotland and Scottish culture.
Foreword
--------
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for the soc.culture.scottish usenet
newsgroup and Scottish information likely to be of general interest.
news:soc.culture.scottish was created on 24th May 1995. The proposer was
Brian Atkins and the group charter is located at the start of this FAQ.
The information here is copyright (c) Craig Cockburn 1994-2004,
please ask me if you want to use any material here for any purpose.
The idea for an on-line reference source for Scottish material came
to me in 1989 when I started the Scotland notesfile when working at
Digital (now Compaq/HP).
This FAQ first appeared in May 1994.
FAQ Information
---------------
The latest version of this FAQ, together with FTP sites for the FAQ and
details of how to get it by mail is at http://www.siliconglen.com/
There are details there of the FAQ in Text, HTML and Zip formats as well
as a full search engine. There is also an associated e-mail list for the
newsgroup.
This FAQ is a living document, if there's any corrections, additions or
comments you'd like to make, please send them to me for the next edition.
The usual major updates for the rtfm.mit.edu archive are :-
25-Jan (Burns night)
1-May (Beltain)
1-Aug (Lammas)
30-Nov (St Andrew's day).
Thanks to all those who have contributed articles, comments and corrections
to this FAQ.
Craig Cockburn, Editor and main author.
mailto:craig@SiliconGlen.com
WWW: http://www.siliconglen.com/
Scotland (Alba).
Please don't e-mail me with questions which can be answered by posting them
in soc.culture.scottish or other related newsgroups or mailing lists
mentioned here. I already get too much mail to be able to answer it all.
For tourism questions, contact visitscotland.com
http://www.visitscotland.com/
mailto:info@visitscotland.com
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
================================
Gaelic: Ceistean Minig a Thig
Scots: Aften speirit quaistions
Some sayings:
"Is truagh nach ta\inig Minig Nach Tig
Leath cho minig 's a tha\inig Minig a Thig"
(adapted from an Irish story)
"We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation" (Voltaire).
FAQ Contents
============
(full index follows after this summary)
1. General Information, Scottish society
2. Celtic culture and language information
3. Scots language information
4. Scottish music
5. Literature and Poetry
6. Festivals
7. Gaelic information
8. Gaelic song and music
9. Song lyrics
10. Scottish dance
11. Historical information
12. Traditions and Culture
13. Food, drink and pubs
14. Travel, Tourism and What's on
15. Areas and Places of Scotland
16. Sport and Recreation
17. Education
18. Media and Broadcasting
19. Government, Politics and Sovereignty
20. Internet and Computing information
21. Sources of Further information
22. Links in this FAQ
General Information, Scottish society
-------------------------------------
[1.1] Charter of soc.culture.scottish
[1.2] Scotland's name
[1.3] The Saltire (Scotland's flag)
[1.4] Geological Information
[1.5] Scottish saints and towns
[1.6] Scotland's population
[1.7] Currency and legal tender
[1.8] Legal questions
[1.9] Scottish books
[1.10] Business start-up information
[1.11] Scottish import shops
[1.12] Scottish exporters
[1.13] Scottish inventors
[1.14] Scottish business links
[1.15] Getting a job in Scotland
[1.16] Scottish Yellow Pages
[1.17] Scottish White Pages
[1.18] Getting Scottish addresses and phone numbers
[1.19] Buying a house, letting accommodation
[1.20] Women's issues
[1.21] Community information
[1.22] National holidays
[1.23] Sheep
[1.24] City status
Celtic culture and language information
---------------------------------------
[2.1] Celtic background
[2.2] Celtic art and font links
[2.3] The Celtic cross
[2.4] Postgraduate courses in Celtic studies
[2.5] The history of language in Scotland
[2.6] Celtic knotwork
[2.7] Pan-Celtic organisations in Scotland
[2.8] Imbas mailing list
Scots language information
--------------------------
[3.1] What is the Scots language. Who do I contact for more info?
[3.2] On-line Scots language info
[3.3] Scots Language Society / Scots Leid Associe
[3.4] Lowlands-L mailing list
Scottish music
--------------
[4.1] Introduction to Scottish Music
[4.2] Suggestions for a Scottish National Anthem
[4.3] Scottish Music record labels
[4.4] Folk Events Listings
[4.5] Folk and Traditional Music Record shops
[4.6] Primary folk music pubs and sessions
[4.7] Folk Clubs
[4.8] Scottish music information
[4.9] Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland (TMSA)
[4.10] Scottish Groups, Folk Groups, Artists and Bands
[4.11] Fiddle styles
[4.12] Books for learning the fiddle
[4.13] Where can I get a piper?
[4.14] Where can I get bagpipes?
[4.15] Early bagpipe references
[4.16] Learning to play the harp (clarsach)
[4.17] Scottish Arts Council
[4.18] Living Tradition
[4.19] Traditional Scottish Music and Culture List
[4.20] Cape Breton music mailing list
[4.21] Reference material for Scottish music
[4.22] The Piano film music
Literature and Poetry
---------------------
[5.1] Primary literary figures
[5.2] Info on Robert Burns
[5.3] Address to a Haggis - Robert Burns
[5.4] Robert Burns links
[5.5] The Celtic muse in Scott's 'Waverley'
[5.6] Scottish Poetry Library
[5.7] The Saltire Society
[5.8] Women's writing
[5.9] Scottish literature and writers
[5.10] Literature magazines and newsletters
[5.11] The Selkirk Grace
Festivals
---------
[6.1] Scottish folk festivals
[6.2] Edinburgh Festival Fringe
[6.3] Edinburgh Folk Festival
[6.4] Gaelic festivals / Feisean nan Gaidheal
[6.5] Festivals in Edinburgh
[6.6] Scottish and Celtic festivals worldwide
[6.7] Hebridean Celtic Festival
Gaelic information
------------------
[7.1] How can I learn Gaelic?
[7.2] Gaelic links
[7.3] Where can I get Gaelic books?
[7.4] Scots Gaelic products and catalogue
[7.5] Where can I get Gaelic music and lyrics, info on Gaelic songs
[7.6] The National Mod and Local Mods
[7.7] How mutually intelligible are Scots and Irish Gaelic?
[7.8] Gaelic playgroups
[7.9] Gaelic newspapers
[7.10] Gaelic Arts
[7.11] Info on Scots Gaelic accents
[7.12] Commercial Scots Gaelic translation service
[7.13] Dog commands in Gaelic
[7.14] Census figures for Gaelic speakers
Gaelic song and music
-------------------
[8.1] Learning Gaelic song
[8.2] Waulking songs and information
[8.3] Puirt a beul
[8.4] Gaelic psalm singing
[8.5] Piobaireachd, Pibroch and Piping
[8.6] Oldest datable Gaelic Song
[8.7] Information on Runrig
[8.8] Information on Capercaillie
Song lyrics
-----------
[9.1] Scottish songs on-line
[9.2] Scottish song books
[9.3] Frequently requested songs
Scottish dance
--------------
[10.1] Understanding Scottish Dance music
[10.2] What is a Ceilidh
[10.3] Article on Scottish Step Dancing
[10.4] What is Scottish Country Dancing?
[10.5] Scottish Highland Dancing
[10.6] Books on Scottish dancing
Historical information
----------------------
[11.1] How do I trace my Scottish ancestry?
[11.2] Scottish Monarchs
[11.3] Declaration of Arbroath
[11.4] History and Archaeology information
[11.5] The Picts
[11.6] Antiquarian books
[11.7] Historical re-enactments
[11.8] Museum of Scotland project
[11.9] The story of Glasgow's emblem (fish and ring)
[11.10] Scottish historic buildings and sites
[11.11] William Wallace / Braveheart
[11.12] Clan Links
[11.13] John MacLean
[11.14] Robert Tannahill
[11.15] Robert the Bruce
[11.16] Thomas Muir
[11.17] John Paul Jones
[11.18] The Auld Alliance
[11.19] The Clearances
[11.20] Battle of Culloden
[11.21] Knights Templar
[11.22] Freemasonry
[11.23] Vikings
[11.24] Scots emigration/immigration to the US
[11.25] The fairy flag of MacLeod legend
Traditions and Culture
----------------------
[12.1] Learning and studying Scottish Culture
[12.2] Cultural Newsletters and websites
[12.3] Kilts and their history
[12.4] Plaid
[12.5] Tartan and Tartan Day
[12.6] Where to buy/hire a kilt and Highland accessories
[12.7] Kirking of the tartans
[12.8] Scotch
[12.9] Scottish Wedding Information
[12.10] The Church of Scotland
[12.11] Choosing a Scottish name for your child
[12.12] Couthie on the Craigie - Hyperreal Scottish culture
[12.13] Burns night / St Andrews Day / Tartan Day
[12.14] Saint Andrew's society
[12.15] Christmas Customs
[12.16] Hogmanay Customs
[12.17] New Year Fire Festivals
[12.18] Ba' game, Orkney
[12.19] Halloween
[12.20] Use of Mc Vs Mac in Scottish Surnames
[12.21] What is worn under the kilt?
Food, drink and pubs
--------------------
[13.1] Haggis information
[13.2] Scottish cooking and recipes
[13.3] Best Scottish pubs
[13.4] Whisky (whiskey)
[13.5] Ale (Beer)
[13.6] Irn-bru
[13.7] Traditional bread recipe (Gaelic and English)
Travel, Tourism and What's on
-----------------------------
[14.1] What's on
[14.2] Scottish Guide books
[14.3] VisitScotland / Scottish Tourist Board
[14.4] Travel information
[14.5] On-line maps
[14.6] Scottish and UK Virtual Reality Map
[14.7] Arts information and events
[14.8] Seeing Underground Edinburgh
[14.9] Photographs of Scotland
[14.10] Gift and Tourist shops
[14.11] Scottish Youth Hostels Association
[14.12] Dynamic Earth exhibition
[14.13] Museums
[14.14] Travel companies
Areas of Scotland
-----------------
[15.1] Aberdeenshire
[15.2] Bonnyrigg
[15.3] Central Scotland
[15.4] Cromarty
[15.5] Dalgety Bay
[15.6] Dunblane
[15.7] Easdale Island
[15.8] Edinburgh
[15.9] Falkirk
[15.10] Fort William and Lochaber
[15.11] Galnafanaigh
[15.12] Glasgow
[15.13] Highlands and Islands
[15.14] Kinlochleven
[15.15] Knoydart
[15.16] Loch Ness
[15.17] Melrose
[15.18] Midlothian
[15.19] Montrose
[15.20] Oban
[15.21] Queensferry and Forth Bridges
[15.22] Road to the Isles
[15.23] Shetland and Orkney
[15.24] St Andrews
[15.25] Stirling
[15.26] The Trossachs
Sport and Recreation
--------------------
[16.1] Football
[16.2] Rugby
[16.3] Camanachd (shinty)
[16.4] Golf
[16.5] Highland Games
[16.6] Curling
[16.7] Fishing and Angling
[16.8] Cricket
[16.9] Cycling
[16.10] Skiing
[16.11] Walking and Rambling
[16.12] Books for hillwalkers
[16.13] What is a Munro, Corbett or Graham?
[16.14] Diving
Education
---------
[17.1] Intro to Scottish Education
[17.2] Scottish Qualifications Authority
[17.3] Books and information on studying Scottish culture
[17.4] Learning and Teaching Scotland
[17.5] SCRAN - Historical and cultural on-line resource
[17.6] League tables of Scottish schools
[17.7] Research papers
Media and Broadcasting
----------------------
[18.1] Newspapers
[18.2] Radio
[18.3] Television
[18.4] Scottish and Celtic broadcasting on the Internet
[18.5] Scottish music radio programmes
[18.6] Gaelic TV and radio information
[18.7] Attitudes towards Gaelic TV in Scotland
[18.8] Scottish film industry
[18.9] Scottish film locations
Government, Politics and Sovereignty
------------------------------------
[19.1] The Scotland Office
[19.2] Sources of political information
[19.3] Scottish politics e-mail lists
[19.4] Government publications
[19.5] Scottish sovereignty
[19.6] Scottish and English oil and energy reserves
[19.7] Political Quotations
[19.8] Quangos
[19.9] Local Councils
[19.10] 1997 General Election results
[19.11] Devolution Referendum Results
[19.12] The Scottish Parliament
[19.13] How the Scottish Parliament might work
[19.14] Scottish Elections
[19.15] Understanding Parliament
[19.16] The Monarchy
[19.17] OBEs, honorific titles, "gongs" etc
[19.18] Scottish Independence information
[19.19] Article on Independence
[19.20] Contacting MPs, MSPs by E-mail
[19.21] Health and the NHS
Internet and Computing information
----------------------------------
[20.1] Silicon Glen - Scottish Computing
[20.2] General Internet information
[20.3] Creating a top level domain for Scotland
[20.4] Scottish usenet newsgroups
[20.5] How to get scot.* hierarchy groups
[20.6] Getting hooked up to the Internet
[20.7] Internet Cafes and Public Internet Access Points
[20.8] How can I find someone in Scotland on the Internet?
[20.9] Faxing Scotland by E-mail
Sources of Further information
------------------------------
[21.1] Scottish links
[21.2] Mailing lists
[21.3] Celtic information and Celtic FAQs
Links in this FAQ
-----------------
[22.1] Alphabetic list of links in this FAQ
[22.2] Links to pages of this FAQ
[1.1] Charter of soc.culture.scottish
Charter
-------
The news:soc.culture.scottish newsgroup will be open to discussion of all
subjects specifically referring to Scotland or Scottish culture. This
newsgroup will be created for reasons including, but not restricted to,
the following:
* To encourage understanding and discussion of Scotland and Scottish
culture, in the many ways people wish to define it.
* To act as a focus for the Scottish Diaspora (Scottish people, including
emigrants and their descendants) and to draw together the global
threads of the Scottish nation.
* To act as a resource for Scottish people who wish to use the Internet
and for people who wish to encourage the development of the Internet
in Scotland.
* To provide a forum for the use and support of the Scots and Scots
Gaelic languages and the Norse influenced dialects of Orkney and
Shetland.
The following exceptions should be noted:
* Matters referring to broader British issues should be posted to
news:soc.culture.british
* Matters referring to the broader Celtic issues should be posted
to news:soc.culture.celtic.
* Matters referring to Scottish Celtic folk music may have a more
appropriate forum in news:rec.music.celtic.
Rationale
---------
Millions of people worldwide are of Scottish descent, and there is
sufficient demand for a forum to discuss specifically Scottish topics.
Many new Usenet users are at a loss when they fail to find a group with
Scottish or Scotland in the title. This group's name will act as a
signpost for these people.
Previously, many people have used either news:soc.culture.british or
news:soc.culture.celtic, but this situation is increasingly difficult.
As the Scots are a small minority amongst the British peoples, many
who would post and/or read articles on uniquely Scottish topics in
the soc.culture.british newsgroup are inhibited from doing so by the
overwhelming number of non-Scottish posts to that group. The group
soc.culture.celtic also tends to be dominated by posts about Ireland
which are not related to Celtic matters and are not of interest to the
group's traditional readers. The soc.culture.celtic newsgroup is also
not particularly suitable for discussing Scottish issues as a great many
Scots do not view themselves as Celts.
The Scottish culture is unique. The Scots are a British people who have
been influenced by a number of different cultures. The main cultural
influence has been an Anglo-Saxon one similar but distinct from that of
England. The Gaelic culture of the Highlands is indeed a part of the
wider Celtic culture. The culture of Orkney and Shetland has been deeply
influenced by Scandinavia. This unique fusion of diverse cultures means
that there is currently no newsgroup that can serve as a forum for all
Scottish people to discuss uniquely Scottish issues.
The motivation for the creation of a soc.culture.scottish newsgroup is not
separatist. The new newsgroup will serve the distinct needs of the Scottish
people in the same way as say the existing news:soc.culture.quebec and
news:soc.culture.berber newsgroups serve the distinct needs of the Quebec
and Berber peoples.
Charter authors: Brian Atkins, John Mack, Craig Cockburn.
One line summary
----------------
The newsgroup line for soc.culture.scottish is:
"Anything regarding Scotland or things Scots."
Control Messages
----------------
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/control/soc/soc.culture.scottish
[1.2] Scotland's name
Scotland gets its name from the Scots, or Scotti who first arrived
in Argyll in the late 3rd to mid 4th centuries AD. It was not until
about 500AD that they built up a sizeable colony though. The Scots
spoke Irish, not Scots. Scots is a Germanic language like English,
described later. "Scotti" is what the Romans called them. We don't
know what they called themselves!
Some info on the Romans is available at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/genhist/
[1.3] The Saltire (Scotland's flag)
Background
----------
Scotland has two flags - the Saltire or St Andrew's cross (white
on blue) and the Lion Rampant (yellow and red). The Lion Rampant
is the Royal flag and is supposed to only be used by royalty.
The Saltire is the oldest flag in Europe.
The St Andrew's Cross according to legend is that shape because
the apostle Andrew petitioned the Roman authorities who had
sentenced him to death not to crucify him on the same shape of
cross as Christ, and this was granted.
Origins
-------
Anyway, legend has it that the saltire flag has its origins in a
battle near Athelstaneford in East Lothian, circa 832AD when Angus
mac Fergus, King of the Picts, and Eochaidh of Dalriada defeated the
army of Athelstane, King of Northumbria comprising Angles and Saxons.
There is a saltire flying there near the church with an explanation
regarding the origin of the flag. The night before the battle, the
Scots saw a cross formation of clouds in the sky resembling a St
Andrew's cross - the patron Saint. They took this sign as an omen
and indeed they were successful in battle the next day. Thus the
colours in the flag are supposed to be white to represent the clouds
and azure, the colour of the sky towards the end of the day. Sky blue
is not the right colour, it is too light.
The saltire was later incorporated in the union flag and union jack
although the colour of blue there is different. In those flags it
is navy blue which is used. The union jack is the version of the union
flag used on the jack staff at the front of a ship. This difference of
colour between the saltire and the union flags has resulted in some
confusion over the correct colour of the Scottish flag - so insist the
you get one which is azure and white and not anything else!
William the Lyon who adopted the Lion Rampant (in 1165) to replace the
previous symbol of Scots Sovereignty, which was a Boar. This has led
to some humorous speculation as to what the present title of the
Lord Lyon King of Arms might be had the change not been adopted.
Further, it was a heraldic symbol (or a Lyon rampant gules) far
before the charge of the Earl of Galloway. I forget what bloodline
used the charge just now, but I know that it predated the adoption
of the Saltire in the 9th century. I've got the reference somewhere
and I'll have a look about for it. The most modern change to the
standard occurred in 1165 with the addition of the gules bordure
tressure fleury-counterfleury, which is entirely distinctive and to
my knowledge not emblazoned on any other arms anywhere.
Purchasing
----------
Reputable places to buy flags include:
James Stevenson Flags Ltd
75 Westmoreland Street
Glasgow
G42 8LH
Tel: 0141 423 5757
James Stevenson Flags Ltd
16 Millgate
Cupar, Fife
01334-656660
The Scottish National Party
107 McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NW
Tel: 0131 525 8900
http://www.snp.org.uk/ (on-line shop)
Scots Independent,
51 Cowane Street,
Stirling
FK8 1JW
Tel: 01786 473523
http://www.freescotland.com/si.html
Please state size (length) required - from half a yard to 5 yards.
Use of Saltire and Union Flag
-----------------------------
It is the case of course that it is NOT permissible for the ordinary
citizen of the UK either Scottish, English, Welsh or Irish to fly the
Union Flag. It is only permissible for Government offices, Royal Navy
ships on their foretop and certain other military uses (and recently
certain royal dwellings in the absence of the monarch). It is the flag
of the Union only. The common citizens should be flying their own
national flags - the crosses of St George, St Andrew, St Patrick and
of Cornwall and the dragon of Wales, unless they are on board ship when
these flags may be flown on the foretop but the red ensign is mandatory.
Scots should not even be flying the lion rampant which is the sign
reserved to the monarch of Scotland.
The question is as to what flag should fly in front of the Parliament of
Scotland, the Assembly of Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly and
over the buildings housing the official administrations of these. This
should be a matter for each body to chose for itself (for instance the
Scots should have the right to change their saltire or its background to
pink if they so wish).
Further information
-------------------
http://fotw.digibel.be/flags/gb-scotl.html
There is a Heritage centre at Athelstaneford and it is open daily
between 10am and 5pm from April to September. Admission is free.
The Scottish Flag Trust, PO Box 84, Edinburgh, Scotland.
[1.4] Geological Information
The landmass known today as Scotland was once connected to the area of
the Torngat Mountain range of Labrador, Canada. This mountain range
was part of the Grenville province, named for the Grenville orogeny
during which it was created when the landmass now known as North America
collided with Gondwanaland during the late Proterozoic Period (about 2
billion years ago). At that time "Scotland" was located nearly
equidistant between the northern tip of Newfoundland and the southern
tip of Greenland, situated northeast of the former and southeast of the
latter.
The Great Glen is a strike-slip fault similar to the San Andreas fault
of California (US). Because of compressional tension along faults, the
rocks along such features are prone to developing fractures. Where such
faults and their consequent fractures meet the surface of the land,
water infiltrates the fractures. Freezing and thawing of this water,
couples with its flow down slope, contributing to the acceleration of
erosion that causes the development of the lochs of Scotland which
display the characteristic southwest to northeast relative trajectory.
This type of loch formation should not be confused with the coastal
lochs which display a predominance of glacial melt erosion features. As
the glaciers melt, the newly unburdened lithosphere uplifts due to
isostatic rebound in the dense, semifluid asthenosphere layer below. The
resulting increase in the slope of the land surface accelerates
meltwaters down slope, and the consequent saltatory transport of
sediments increases, deepening the loch seaward.
Scotland and England were originally separated by a sea known as the
Iapetus Ocean. The suture of Scotland to England occurred along the
area of Hadrian's Wall. The two "parts of Scotland" however might be
considered to be demarcated by the Lewisian (gneiss) deposits (of the
Isle of Lewis, for instance) in the Northwest Foreland (The northwestern
coast from River Donard south to encompass Coll and Tiree Islands and
down to the southwestern most tip of the Isle of Mull--including Rum,
Skye and the lesser inner Hebrides) and the landmass characterised by
the Moinian surficial deposits of the Highlands north of the Great Glen
fault. These surficial deposits converge along the Moine thrust faults -
a fault line that runs from the southeastern most boundary of Skye and
the Isle of Mull north, north east just east of Durness and the River
Donard (also listed as the River Hope according to my maps). Anyway, you
get the area of the basic line of the suture, I'm sure. Suffice to say
that the entire area represents a convergent plate boundary where the
basaltic oceanic plate is being subducted beneath the continental
plate and the ancillary Island Arc of the Outer Hebrides is being rafted
along towards a collision with the mainland (if one can call it that).
Further reading
---------------
For info on Scotland, see the Scottish information on this page
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/geobrit.htm
A formidable understanding of geological terms will be necessary to get
the most out of the above paper. To that end, for education on
geological technical terms one would do well to consult:
http://www.ul.cs.cmu.edu/books/cont_techtonics/cont001.htm
For an informative elaboration of Scotland's geological history in terms
understandable to most folks not particularly well versed in geological
information consult:
http://www.iprs.ed.ac.uk/edit1/09/articles/06.html
A recommended book is Craig, G Y (ed.) "The Geology of Scotland", now in
its 3rd edition, and full bibliographic details available from
http://www.jthin.co.uk/
Book information
----------------
Get more information on the books listed here
via our books page in association with Amazon.
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/books/amazon.html#[1.5]
[1.5] Scottish saints and towns
St Andrew: Scotland and St Andrews
More details below on St Andrew
Towns/Cities/Places in alphabetic order
St Nicholas: Aberdeen
St Blane: Dunblane
St Mary: Dundee
St Margaret: Dunfermline
St Giles: Edinburgh
St Mungo/Kentigern: Glasgow
St Molaise: Holy Isle off Arran
St Columba: Iona (formerly Scotland as well).
St Cuthbert: Kirkcudbright
St Magnus: Kirkwall
St Baldred: North Berwick
St Mirren: Paisley
St John: Perth
St Ninian: Whithorn
Sources: Scottish Traditions & Festivals, Raymond Lamont-Brown,
W & R Chambers, Edinburgh, 1991
St Andrew
---------
St Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland as the result of a
foreign monk/hermit (Greek if my memory serves) named Rule or Regulus
coming to what is today the town of Saint Andrews in 732 bearing with
him the purported bones of St Andrew. The religious foundation which
grew up around these relics was not originally Catholic, but Culdee.
Even this association with St Andrew is tenuous as there are other
places which claim to possess the bones of St Andrew. In any case, the
town of St Andrews became in consequence the premier religious site in
the east of Scotland and remained such when the Catholic Church attained
ascendancy over the Celtic Churches. In the west of Scotland, less
importance was attached to St Andrew than to the various local saints
such as Columba, Mungo, Maelrubha etc. Ultimately when the Scottish court
became dominated by Scots speakers, St Andrew became their principal
patron while the Gaelic areas chose Columba as their principle champion
and I don't think that they ever held St Andrew in great esteem. There has
always a lot of obscure politics going on in Scotland over the selection
of national saints and symbols and I suspect that the medieval kings
were delighted to have St Andrew, an apostle, as the patron of Scotland
which vicariously made Scotland "superior" to England who only had
St George, a popular but rather mythological patron and gave the east
coasters a chance to sneer at Strathclyde's St. Mungo as small potatoes.
Book information
----------------
Get more information on the books listed here
via our books page in association with Amazon.
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/books/amazon.html#[1.5]
[1.6] Scotland's population
Census figures for Scotland as a whole from 1811 onwards are available
at http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/Scotland/pop.html
They show a steady rise in population, summarised as follows:
1811.........1,805,864
1861.........3,062,294
1911.........4,760,904
1961.........5,179,344
and a further slight rise to
1971.........5,228,963
and a slight drop to
1981.........5,130,735
and another (this time attributed to poll tax avoidance)
1991.........5,102,400
Figures from the General Register for estimates of Scotland's population
on 30 June for the following years. Figures in thousands.
1992.........5,111.2
1993.........5,120.2
1994.........5,132.4
1995.........5,136.6
1996.........5,128.0
The numbers of births are currently at the lowest level since civil
registration was introduced in 1855.
Highlands
---------
Here are the figures for the seven Crofting Counties, as posted by
Michael Paterson:
Argyll Caithn Invnss Ross&C Sthrld Orkney Zetlnd Total
1755 66,286 22,215 59,593 48,048 20,774 38,591 255,543
1801 81,277 22,609 72,672 56,318 23,117 24,445 22,379 302,817
1811 86,541 23,419 77,671 60,853 23,629 23,238 22,915 318,266
1821 97,316 29,181 89,961 67,762 23,840 26,979 26,145 361,184
1831 100,973 34,529 94,797 74,820 25,518 28,847 29,392 388,876
1841 97,371 36,343 97,799 78,685 24,782 30,507 30,558 396,045
1851 89,298 38,709 96,500 82,707 25,793 31,455 31,078 395,540
1861 79,724 41,111 88,888 81,406 25,246 32,395 31,670 380,442
1871 75,679 39,992 87,531 80,955 24,317 31,274 31,608 371,356
1881 76,468 38,865 90,454 78,547 23,370 32,044 29,705 369,453
1891 75,003 37,177 89,317 77,810 21,896 30,453 28,711 360,367
1901 73,642 33,870 90,104 76,450 21,440 28,699 28,166 352,371
1911 70,902 32,010 87,272 77,364 20,179 25,897 27,911 341,535
1921 76,862 28,285 82,082 70,818 17,802 24,111 25,520 325,853
1931 63,014 25,656 84,930 62,802 16,100 22,075 21,410 293,139
1951 63,631 22,710 83,480 60,508 13,670 21,255 19,352 285,786
1961 59,390 27,370 83,480 57,642 13,507 18,747 17,812 277,948
Of course there are other definitions of the *Highlands* that one could
come up with but the Crofting County figures were carefully maintained
and monitored from the time of the Crofting Act (1880s ISTR). Please
bear in mind that Ross and Cromarty included Lewis and Inverness-shire
included the rest of the Western Isles, Skye and the Small Isles.
These figures were taken from a personal Memorandum to the Minister of
State, Scottish Office, about the Highland Development Bill then
before Parliament, written in 1965 by Mac Mhic Iain, the Earl of
Dundee, P.C., later MP for West Renfrewshire, becoming Under-Secretary
of State for Scotland. He was later Minister of State in the Foreign
Office and Deputy-Leader of the House of Lords.
1991 census
-----------
This info from the 1991 Census shows the population of 'localities',
i.e. the name used by the General Register Office for Scotland
Info also available at
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/road/aa383/scotloc.shtml
Localities are cities, towns and villages with a population of 500
residents or more. I won't go into the details of how such areas are
defined but they were drawn up in consultation with local authorities.
Hence, the boundaries and names should reflect local usage.
You can differentiate between towns and cities as you wish - GRO don't.
Note that Glasgow is apportioned between two local authorities.
Figures in thousands
---------------------------------------------------
Local Authority Locality Pop 1991
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