Another Pictish symbol stone, this one by the side of a minor road just northwest of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire:-

Information board:-

This stone is now in the middle of a housing estate in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. It was once part of a stone circle.

Stone’s markings:-

Information Board :-

St Machar’s Cathedral in Aberdeen has not had a bishop since 1690, so it is now technically a high kirk. It is used as a parish church by the Church of Scotland.

Spires:-

From entrance gate:-

From sides:-

Rear of kirk:-

We had meant to visit Arbroath Abbey for some time but did not actually do so till last year. (We had tried the year before but the Abbey was undergoing some restoration work so access was limited and we decided against it.)

William the Lion was the longest reigning king of Scotland before the 1603 Union of the Crowns. He was the first Scottish king to arrange an alliance with France. His epithet ‘the lion’ did not relate to military prowess but rather to his banner the red lion rampant on a yellow background, still the banner of Scottish monarchs though frequently used as a symbol of Scotland itself and often brandished at sporting events.

Domestically his reign saw legal and local government reforms but disputes with English kings and his attempts to regain the Kingdom of Northumbria were not so successful.

William is credited with founding the Abbey at Arbroath, so to find his grave there is not surprising.

Perth Museum recently relocated to the building which used to be Perth City Hall. It’s slap bang in the middle of the city so a good location.

The new museum’s main attraction is the Stone of Destiny, removed from Edinburgh Castle to be nearer to its spiritual home in Scone a couple of miles north of Perth itself.

Some of the exhibits have been transferred from the old Museum and Art Gallery in George Street, notably the St Madoes stone, which, in its new location, is now lit up to help highlight the carvings:-

Side and back views:-

I particularly liked, though, the illumintaed map of Perth through the ages where different parts were lit up at different times to show the evolution of the town/city:-

Then of course there was this picture of the famous old Pullars of Perth premises a building which verges on Art Deco:-

Bannockburn is the site of the Scottish nation’s birth. Had it not been for the victory Robert the Bruce won over the forces of the English King Edward II  in 1314 Scotland would almost certainly have been absorbed into England, as Wales was under the previous King Edward – Edward I, known as Longshanks and also as the Hammer of the Scots. (Not that the intervening 700+ years have eroded Welsh identity entirely away nor the three hundred since the Union of the Parliaments diluted the sense of Scottishness.) But Scotland as we know it would not exist, its separate legal and educational system not even a fleeting thought.

While the fact of the battle is undeniable there is no archæological evidence of the actual battle site, most of the soldiers’ accoutrements being perishable, its exact location is now a matter of conjecture informed by historical sources and topography.

We visited the Visitor Centre in April. This is the major information board:-

There was also this tableau of the battle site constructed from historical references:-

The tour guide (a genial Englishman) was very informative and there were some cartoonish films no doubt intended to appeal to children filling in some of the background to the battle.

On the small hill outside the Visitor Centre there is a huge flagpole flying the Saltire of Scotland. It is situated within a rotunda:-

Inside the rotunda is a cairn which bears the inscription “For God and St Andrew Robert the Bruce King of Scots planted his flag near this spot when the Scottish patriots under his command vanquished the armies of Edward of England at the Battle of Bannockburn, 24th June 1314.” Below that is a quote from the Declaration of Arbroath, the assertion of Scottish nationhood sent to the Pope in 1320. “We fight not for glory nor for wealth nor honour but only and alone we fight for freedom which no good man surrenders but with his life.”

In the background above can be seen the statue of King Robert seated on a horse which dominates the area beyond the rotunda:-

Rotunda and flagpole seen from the path to the statue:-

View down to suggested battlefield site:-

I mentioned the village of Aldborough some years ago. The day we went the English Heritage site was closed. In September 2023 it was open.

It’s a small site up a lane in the village but it opens out into somethig more substantial. There is also a small museum attached.

We wandered round both.

Roman perimeter wall/ditch:-

A smaller (closed off) building on the site contains a Roman mosaic:-

Another mosaic:-

Information in the museum about the above two:-

This one was under glass in the museum:-

I didn’t mark the passing of former US President Jimmy Carter when it occurred on 29^th December, but do so here now.

In all his actions he seemed to be a thoroughly decent man, his instrumental part in the Camp David Accords testifies to that.

That acheivement apart, history might have got the better of him when he was in office – as it usually does for political office holders: events, dear boy, events – but in his long period of being a former President he has a large body of good works to be remembered by.

James Earl Carter: 1/10/1924 – 29/12/2024. So it goes.

Ramparts at Avebury:-

If you follow the path round you come to the outer circle of stones complete with grazing sheep:-

Standing Stones from road:-

Inner circle of stones with people communing with the spirits of the past:-

Some of the large stones at Avebury.

We were amused to see some of the people at the site hugging the larger stones as if they actually were portals to the past or of some spiritual significance. To the people who erected them they probably were; but in the end nowadays they’re just stones:-

Standing stone and rampart:-