History Scotland

Explore centuries of Scottish history and archaeology with fascinating features on topics from all branches and periods of Scottish history and archaeology, written by leading historians, archaeologists and museum curators. With news on the latest research, opinion, expert reviews and spotlights on the country's most significant historical archives, this lavishly-illustrated magazine has everything you need to explore Scotland's rich past.

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History Scotland

Applications open for Charles McKean Memorial Prize 2022 • The future of Scotland’s historic tower houses is at the heart of a £1,000 prize competition for students of architecture, architectural conservation and architectural history

NEW JACOBITE MUSEUM OPENS IN PRESTONPANS • A new museum has opened at PrestonpansTown Hall following a refurbishment of theVictorian building by The Battle of Prestonpans (1745) HeritageTrust

5,000 years of Orkney history told through 90 stories • Discover the stories of the Orkney Isles with a new digital tour featuring drone footage and 3D scans, alongside tales from 5,000 years of history

Launch of History Scotland’s summer lecture programme • Dr SimonThurley CBE will be the first guest speaker on History Scotland’s summer lecture programme, which shares the latest research with a worldwide audience via Zoom

An auspicious opening for Roman museum • On 21 April, the duke of Gloucester officially opened the newly-refurbished Trimontium museum in Melrose

EXPLORING THE PREHISTORIC LANDSCAPE WITH MESOLITHIC DEESIDE • Sheila Duthie shares the experiences of the Mesolithic Deeside group who, for the past five years, have built up their expertise in fieldwalking and community archaeology, providing volunteer opportunities for people of all ages and levels of experience

Uist Unearthed: Interpreting an ancient site for a modern audience • Drawing on archaeological evidence, documents, and oral histories, Dr Emily Gal discusses what we know about the fascinating site at Dùn an Sticir in North Uist, and how it has been reimagined through digital technologies in the Uist Unearthed app

SCOTLAND AND JAPAN • Professor Murray Pittock explores the long, shared history between Japan and Scotland, demonstrating how strong education and business networks forged over many decades before the start of the Meiji age contributed to wider shifts in world and Pacific history

…THE MURDER OF CARDINAL BEATON • History Scotland’s consultant editor, Dr Allan Kennedy, looks into the infamous assassination in 1546 of Cardinal David Beaton, a seminal event during the chaotic minority of Mary Queen of Scots.

THE SEARCH FOR CLASSICAL CALEDONIA • Long subject to fantastical myth-making, ancient Caledonia’s interaction with the Roman Empire became the subject of vigorous, often politically-fuelled argument during the 18th century. Dr Alan Montgomery explains how the classical past was rediscovered and reinterpreted for a post-union audience

ANNIE MCDONALD DRESSER TO THE QUEEN • Veronica Schreuder tells the story of Queen Victoria’s principal dresser Annie McDonald, who served in her household for 41 years

BOOKSHOPS AND BLASPHEMY IN 1840S EDINBURGH • Following the abolition of blasphemy as a criminal offence in 2021, Dr Felicity Loughlin reflects on Scotland’s last prosecutions for this crime, and asks what they tell us about changing attitudes towards religion & free speech in the earlyVictorian period

JOHN BROWN AND HIS BIBLE • David Dutton recounts the unorthodox life-story of the 18th-century biblical scholar and Secession minister John Brown, who became famous during his lifetime as the author of a new and much-admired version of the Bible

Researching the career of merchant marine seamen...