Find out about history, legends, places and local people from times past.
Heritage
Eighty years ago, in 1940/41 more than 30 anti-invasion concrete structures were built around the Kyle of Sutherland and the Dornoch firth. These were in the form of pillboxes, road blocks and gun emplacements. By Gregor Laing After the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940, a German invasion of
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In Guyana's Berbice region, a handful of interrelated families from the north Highlands were the first to build sugar-cane plantations. Among them were the Baillies of Rosehall. The first recorded owner of Rosehall Estate, which included the east side of Glen Cassley –the west side being a part
Heritage
W. A. M. MacKenzie remembers this local character and his horses, two big working Clydesdales used for clearing timber from the nearby forest in 1950s Invercharron farm. By W.A.M. MacKenzie Pat slipped into my boyhood ken almost unnoticed. There was no fanfare, no advance publicity. He and his
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An unidentified object thought to have been a Russian Sputnik satellite was found on the hillside near Ardgay in 1962 by a shepherd named Donald Mackenzie. By Dr David Clarke Picture the scene: A shepherd visiting a remote area stumbles upon strange wreckage strewn across the ground which could be
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Back in the 1940s and 50s, the hoeing of the turnip, a time-consuming and back breaking task was made into a competition, alternating each year between The Poplars and Invercharron farms. W. A. M. MacKenzie shares his memories of this event. By W.A.M. MacKenzie Casting my mind back
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Forests and Forestry People An overview of the history of the forestry industry in the Kyle of Sutherland By Norman Davidson, curator of the Forestry Memories website Many of us are very familiar with the ‘million dollar’ view from the Struie Road. As a forester I noted the extensive tree
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Legend of a young man, his family and a gift from the fairies By David Watson Many years ago, a young couple who lived in a cottage near Invernauld Brae were expecting the birth of their first child. They awaited the day excitedly. The future father was very attentive towards
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Has our relationship to food changed during the coronavirus crisis? Stockpiling, shortages, local sourcing, and self-sufficiency are now on everyone’s lips. William Mackenzie shares his memories of the time when almost all common foods had been placed under rationing. By W.A.M. MacKenzie Some eighty years ago ( but
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300,000 to 1. Those are the odds of being struck by lightening in the UK. The chances of being fatally struck are speculated to be around 1 in a million. by Anna MacRae MacDonald In the late spring of 1895, parts of the Highlands were experiencing hot and humid
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A day or two after any visitor arrived to St Kilda, the inhabitants suffered from outbreaks of a respiratory tract infection known locally as the ‘boat cough’ By James Currall On August 15th 1727 three men and eight boys were rowed from Village Bay on Hirta, the largest island of
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This Irishman based in Culrain was one of the most successful dog handlers in Scotland and quite a character. Born in Donegal in 1929, he came to the Highlands as a teenager to work in Hydro Electric schemes such as the 5-mile tunnel in Lairg. He began to work as
Heritage
“I hope you will forgive a stranger intruding on your sorrow, which must be so deep, but the story was so heart-rending I could not but write…” These were the parting words of a gentleman from Montrose in a letter written to Mr & Mrs Fraser of Inveroykel, written on