The Way it Was

The Way it Was
Author: Catherine Czerkawska
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2016-07-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857909207

The island of Gigha is a small gem, the most southerly of the true Hebridean islands, lying just off Tayinloan on Scotland's Kintyre peninsula. Gigha's good harbours, fertile land, mild climate and strategically useful position have given it a fascinating history. Catherine Czerkawska relates the sometimes turbulent story of the people of Gigha, from the settlers of prehistoric times, through successive incomers including the Celts, the Vikings, and the McNeill lords of this island. A few years ago Gigha was the subject of the largest community buyout in British history, and she brings the story up to date, in examining the relationship between a contemporary island community and its own rich past. The author, like so many people, fell helplessly in love at first sight with Gigha and returns to it time and again. This book explores just what it is that makes the island such an enchanting place.

Peat and Whisky

Peat and Whisky
Author: Mike Billett
Publisher: Saraband
Total Pages: 431
Release: 2023-10-12
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1915089964

“Outstanding … among the most important books about whisky ever written.” Charles MacLean BRINGING TOGETHER LANDSCAPES, geology, history, people and their whisky, and addressing the key role of peatlands in mitigating climate change, Peat and Whisky: The Unbreakable Bond is a love letter to Scotland and the unique substance that forms part of the DNA of Scotch whisky. Through epic journeys around Scotland and back in time, Mike Billett dives deep into the science and stories of ancient peatlands and bogs, capturing the spirit of places where whisky has been distilled for centuries. He sheds light on how peat imparts its distinctive aroma and flavour to the world’s finest single malts. He looks back to tradition and heritage, as well as forward to a future in which the dark matter will remain part of the recipe for liquid gold, while at the same time becoming an increasingly precious living sponge for atmospheric carbon. He takes us to places where the bond between peat and whisky is growing around the world. Whether you’re a whisky connoisseur, a lover of Scotland’s environment and beautiful landscapes, an armchair traveller or a history buff, this unforgettable book will deepen your appreciation for the land itself and help you to understand the profound connection between peat and the unmistakable character of uisge beatha, the water of life.

Rural Society in the Age of Reason

Rural Society in the Age of Reason
Author: Chris J. Dalglish
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2006-04-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0306479400

My interest in the archaeology of the Scottish Highlands began long before I had any formal training in the subject. Growing up on the eastern fringes of the southern Highlands, close to Loch Lomond, it was not hard stumble across ruined buildings, old field boundaries, and other traces of everyday life in the past. This is especially true if you spend much time, as I have done, climbing the nearby mountains and walking and driving through the various glens that give access into the Highlands. At the time, I had no real understanding of these remains, simply accepting them as being built and old. After studying archaeology for a few years at the University of Glasgow, itself only a short commute from the area where I grew up, I became acutely aware that I still had no real understanding of these - miliar, yet enigmatic, buildings and fields. This and a growing interest in Scotland’s historical archaeology drove me to take several courses on the subject of rural settlement studies. These courses allowed me to place what I now knew to be houses, barns, mills, shieling (transhumance) settlements, rig-and-furrow cultivation, and other related remains in history. Overwhelmingly, they seemed to date from the period of the last 300 years. I also began to understand how they all worked together as component parts of daily rural life in the past.

Last of the Free

Last of the Free
Author: James Hunter
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2011-03-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1780570066

Written by award-winning Scottish historian James Hunter, this groundbreaking and definitive account reveals how the Highlands and Islands of Scotland have evolved from a centre of European significance to a Scottish outpost. Never before has the history of the region been recounted so comprehensively and in so much fascinating, often moving, detail. But this book is not simply the story of humanity's millennia-long involvement with one of the world's most spectacular localities. It is also a major contribution to present-day debate about how Scotland, and Britain, should be organised.

The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland

The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland
Author: Steve Roud
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 1004
Release: 2006-04-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0141941626

Are black cats lucky or unlucky? What should you do when you hear the first cuckoo? Since when have people believed that it's unlucky to shoot an albatross? Why does breaking a mirror lead to misfortune? This fascinating collection answers these and many other questions about the world of superstitions and forms an endlessly browsable guide to a subject that continues to obsess and intrigue.

Up-helly-aa

Up-helly-aa
Author: Callum G. Brown
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1998
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781901341072

Up-Helly-Aa is Europe's largest and most spectacular winter fire festival. In the biting Arctic wind on the last Tuesday of every January, a Guizer Jarl leads one thousand men in guising costumes with flaming torches through the streets of Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Isles, accompanying a Viking galley to its ceremonial burning.