Funny how we’ve been living here on Davie Street for over 3 weeks now and I just today noticed that we have a cobblestoned street! Today was all about getting ready to ship things home. I have books and souvenirs that I don’t want to lug all around Scotland, onto the cruiseship, then onto the plane. Once that was managed, we took the # 35 bus out to Ocean Terminal. We had dinner at Frankie Benny’s—funny to be in Scotland and sit in a restaurant with Italian gangster deco and 60’s American music playing—but the food was delicious. Then we saw Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Or 5. Or whatever number they’re up to. They’re all running together for me now.
Since nothing much happened today, I will expound upon some Interesting Facts I Didn’t Know about Scottish Places We’ve Visited:
--Jedburgh is pronounced “Jeddart.” Here was dispensed “Jeddart Justice,” which involved hanging the person first and trying him later. The people of Jedburgh would wield the fearsome “Jeddart staff,” a long pole tipped with a metal hook or axe head, and then play with the severed English heads in a type of ball game known as :Jeddart hand-ba.” The game is still played on Shrove Tuesday but with footballs.
--Floors Castle in Kelso stood in for Greystoke Castle in the 1984 film, Greystoke. The real Greystoke Castle is in Cumberland but was unsuitable.
--In Sir Walter Scott’s library at Abbotsford are 20,000 Scottish books housed beneath a carved cedar-wood roof copied from that of Rosslyn Chapel. This fact has brought fans of The Da Vinci Code flocking to Abbotsford, convinced that he uncovered the secret of the Holy Grail as he had tracked down the missing Scottish Jewels. His orchestration of the visit of George IV in 1822 to Edinburgh helped to reintroduce much of the Highland culture that had been stamped out after the Jacobite uprisings.
--King Arthur is supposedly sleeping beneath the tallest of the Eildon Hill and will ride forth with his knights when Britain is threatened.
--members of the Scott family acted as rangers in Ettrick Forest and accompanied visiting monarchs who came to hunt. On one occasion, a young ranger Scott grappled with a cornered stag that was threatening the King’s life, seizing it by the antlers and tossing it over his shoulder. From this act of courage came the name “Buck-Cleauch” or Buccleuch that is now associated with Clan Scott.
--when we took the Forth Bridge bus & ferry tour, I mentioned that we saw a Hawes Inn right across from the ferry terminal and right under the Forth Railway Bridge high above it. This is a 17th century inn where, in room 13 above the entrance, Robert Louis Stevenson began writing Kidnapped.
--at Whithorn in St. Ninian’s Cave that we visited are 7 crosses on the cave walls, pecked into the rock by pilgrims in the 8th century.
--Six miles east of Nairn near Forres and just before Brodie Castle is where Macbeth encountered 3 witches on the Blasted Heath. Nairn is the sunniest and driest place in Scotland.
--Jenner’s Department Store in Edinburgh was established in 1838 and is the oldest independent department store in the world.
--a visit to Rosslyn was George Meikle Kemp’s inspiration for the Scott Monument.
--Ramsay Gardens is named after the poet & bookseller, Allan Ramsay, who lived in a curious octagonal house here that he designed himself and is still here. He established the first lending library in Britain in 1725.
--Waverley Station is the only station in Britain named after a book.
--Orchardton Tower was built in the 15th century and is the only round tower house in Scotland.
--Hidden deep in Dunnottar Woord near Stonehaven is an alfresco bathtub built by Lady Kennedy of Dunnottar. It is a large oval tub 3 feet deep and surrounded by a low stone wall. While bathing, she posted handmaidens thoroughout the woods to look out for sightseers.
--Walt Disney is said to have drawn the inspiration for his magical castles from Craigevar Castle.
--Cullen is famous for Cullen Skink—a soup of smoked haddock, potatoes, and onions. Skink is Gaelic for essence.
--Bell Rock Lighthouse is situated 12 miles off the Angus coast near Arbroath and is the world’s oldest surviving offshore lighthouse. It was erected between 1807-1810 by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson. It was built in the middle of the sea on a rock that was submerged by up to 16 feet of water for much of the time.
--The round tower at Brechin Cathedral was built around 1000 AD and is 106 feet high. Round towers were used as watchtowers and as places of refuge, which is why the doorway is six feet off the ground and reached by a ladder that could be hauled inside.
--Edzell Castle’s walled garden displays the fleur-de-lis, shamrock, rose, and the thistle of France, Ireland, England, and Scotland respectively.
--Culross, a town seemingly frozen in the 18th century, has quaint little cottages piled up the hill and along steep, narrow cobbled lanes. The streets around the Mercat Cross feature a “crown o’ the causie,” or raised section downt he middle where only the grandees were allowed to walk. The hoi polloi had to traipse along in the gutter with the slop and rubbish.
--the 14th century Scotstarvit Tower was the home of Sir John Scot (1585-1670) in the 17th century. He sponsored and published the earliest topographical work on Scotland, the Scotstarvit maps of 1654. These are mapsof all the counties and islands of Scotland, drawn by master draughtsman Timothy Pont, with added descriptions written by Sir John. At Scotstarvit, Sir John hosted dinner parties and discussions with many of the most important and colorful characters of the day, occasions which no doubt provided material for his most famous work, “Scot of Scotstarvit’s Staggering State of Scots Statesmen.” In this, he puts forth the theory that the majority of Scottish statesmen had attained their status and wealth by fraudulent and underhanded means. The book was considered so libelous that no one would publish it un til 1714, when Scot and all the people he referred to were long dead.
--The opening scenes of Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire were filmed at the West Sands at St. Andrews. Most of the runners in that scene were golf caddies from St. Andrews.
--In 1286, at the Pettycur Crags to the west of the town of Kinghorn, Alexander III was thrown from his horse and suffered fatal injuries. He was the last of the country’s Celtic kings. The heir to the Scottish throne was now three-year-old Margaret, known as the “Maid of Norway”. She was the daughter of Alexander’s own daughter, who had married Eric II of Norway. But while crossing from Norway to Scotland, Margaret also died, leaving the country without an heir. In the resultant vacuum, noblemen jockeyed for position, putting forward many claimants to the throne. Edward I of England was asked to intercede, and he saw his chance. He tried to incorporate Scotland into his own kingdom by installing a puppet king (John Balliol), and thus began the Wars of Independence.
Pictures from top: beer and wine store near Leith with a clever logo; something you wouldn’t see in the States—a fishmongers store near Leith.
