The Grand Finale!

Today was the last day of our trip and we spent it in Norway's capital, Oslo. Our first stop this morning was the history museum which boasts 9,000 years of Norwegian history, from prehistoric times through the Vikings and Middle Ages. It was interesting to see the trade artifacts that archaeologists have uncovered. Having just been to England and Scotland, I was rather delighted to see Celtic motifs and mention of the Book of Kells. There is an interesting similarity between some of the Norse designs and the Celtic designs. One Norse design style favors interlocking snakes, which is very much like the Celtic motif of never ending snake loops. Snakes in Celtic beliefs are not representations of evil, rather, eternity, and I assume the same goes with the Norse. The exhibit had many artifacts from graves and one interesting thing the museum had done is arrange them in order of social class. For example, the wealthiest woman would have tortoise shell broaches and perhaps some other pieces of jewelry and symbols of womanhood. The man would have spears, swords, chain mail etc. Next down the line is the craftsmen, them the farmers and finally the trolls, which are from Scandinavian mythology. Speaking of graves, there was a model and picture of a prehistoric burial cairn and it looked exactly like the Clava Cairns we saw in Scotland. There are also cairns just like these in Ireland as well. In fact, they date back to the same time period, around 3000 BC, which raises some anthropological questions about this group of people. One other interesting artifact (or artifacts as the case may be) that the museum had was the stave portal. These stave portals are the doors or entry ways to he old stave churches, few of which now exist. The stave churches are made of wood and the portals are magnificent. They are tall and large intricately carved with flowers, leaves and figures from folklore like Sigurd and the dragon. Sigurd is a hero in Norse folklore and although there are many versions to the story, basically he is tricked into killing Regin's brother Fafnir who can change his shape into a dragon. Fafnir had a hoard of gold which had left him cursed. Sigurd kills Fafnir, takes the gold and lives happily for awhile with his wife Gunnar. But since the gold is cursed, Sigurd is killed by a jealous rival (in some versions it's Gunnar's brother and in others it's a woman who had wanted Sigurd for herself and was tricked). The reason Sigurd is on a church door is because the carver (and other Norse) likened him to St. George who slayed the dragon, and in those respects, it was deemed acceptable. Also, there was a model of a stave church and you can see both Christian symbols and those of Norse deities. It was a safety measure in case one deity failed or got angry, there was the other. 

After touring the history museum, we walked down past the parliament building and palace and went down to the harbor. At the harbor is the Askerhus Fortress and Castle. After touring various castles and palaces in England and Scotland on this trip, and having toured other European castles as well, I was curious to see what a Scandinavian castle looked like, especially since Scandinavian countries live rather simply. The Askerhus Castle is not opulent, large or majestic. In fact, it's rather simple as far as castles go, and a big departure from, say, Holyrood or many of the other castles I have visited in Germany, England etc. Askerhus Stoll was built around 1300 by King Håkon V. It's purpose was to defend Oslo, Norway's capital. In the 17th century, King Christian IV had the castle rebuilt in a renaissance style and fortified the fortress even more. The castle fell into disrepair in the 18th and 19th centuries but was later restored. During WWII, it was taken by the Nazis and turned into a prison and execution site of Norwegian resistance fighters. The castle and it's fortress now serve as the headquarters of the Norwegian military, although the castle church is also used by the Royal family for burials as their mausoleum lies within the castle. Here are some pictures which I think will demonstrate the Scandinavian simplicity...

The tapestries on these walls are mid 17th century and were woven in Brussels. 

The tapestries from this room are from the 17th century and were made to decorate the bed on the wedding night.

The chapel altar, dating to mid 1700s. Note the Hebrew script at the top. 

Royal mausoleum-in the white marble sarcophagus is King Haakon VII (1972-1957) and Queen Maud (1869-1938), in the green sarcophagus is King Olav V (1903-1991) and crown princess Märtha (1901-1954). When my dad was at the University of Washington, King Olav came to visit and my dad saw him wandering around the campus.

After touring the castle we watched the changing of the guard and while the plumes on their hats are nice, I think kilts are classier!

Then we went to the Resistance Museum. This museum was excellent! It covered the five years, from 1940-1945, of Nazi occupation in Norway and the staunch resistance of the Norwegian population. It was amazing to see how, despite the Nazi threat of death and number of Nazi troops on Norwegian soil, the Norwegian people found ingenious ways to sabatoge, organize and inform. When the Germans planned on invading Norway, they thought it would be easy, but they learned quick that it wouldn't be. As the first Nazi ships entered the fjord, they found themselves under fire by the Norwegians. Their battle cruiser, the Blücher, never made it to its destination. It was a new cruiser. Norwegian teachers refused to teach Nazi propaganda, even after many were sent to prison camps. Bishops and priests rebelled and even when churches were closed, continued to hold services in secret. In one case, a cross was made of three pieces of wood and each piece was kept by a different person, only to be put together for a covert service. When radios were banned, the Norwegians found ways to hide them, even in prison camps. One man hid his in his dentures! No matter what the Nazis tried to do, nothing worked. General Ruge said it best as he surrendered to the Nazis, "The war will continue on other fronts, and there Norwegians will fight on." The resistance groups were also aided greatly by the British. One of my favorite stories involves the HMS Glowworm. This ship was the misfit of the British navy. You "failed" to get into this ship. It was tasked to be part of an escort to British war ships, who were sent to look for a German fleet in Norwegian waters. When a man went overboard, the Glowworm was sent to look for them. They got lost. When it came out of the fog, all alone, it came face to face with the German fleet. Unfortunately, the Germans saw them, but weren't sure if this ship was part of a larger fleet. The Glowworm knew it was in trouble and sent out a plea for help even though they weren't supposed to use the radio. Then, with all the greatness of British perseverance, attacked the four German destroyers. They attacked with such ferocity that the German destroyers tried to flee and called for help. The Admiral Hipper, a German cruiser came to confront the Glowworm. Instead of surrendering or fleeing, the Glowworm surprised the Germans and attacked the Admiral Hipper and continued to attack even after it was on fire and guns destroyed. So, they did what any self respecting Brit would do in this situation, they charged and rammed the Admiral Hipper, ripping a hole in the German ship's hull and sending one German sailor overboard. The Admiral Hipper had to return to Germany for repairs but never saw any action as the RAF continued to find it in the dry dock and bombed it. The captain of the Admiral Hipper was so impressed that he later contacted the Royal Navy through the Red Cross and recommended Lt. Roope for a Victoria Cross. The Glowworm was mentioned in the Norwegian resistance museum because the Norwegians felt that this sole ship did a great service to help them, despite its misfit reputation and it epitomized the Norwegian resolve to not give up regardless of the odds.

It has been a whirlwind of a trip but it has been absolutely fantastic to be able to visit so many places that are connected to my family. To see where my ancestors lived, to walk where they walked, and glean a better understanding of the world they lived in has been incredible. I feel like I have gained a better understanding and appreciation for my family and who I am as well. People keep asking me why I am doing what I am doing, researching my family. One person commented that she is more interested in the thoughts and feelings of the living. Perhaps that may be more relevant, but each of us has been shaped by the actions and ideologies of our ancestors so to know who they were is to know who we are as well. 

Cheers!

Elizabeth

The Borderlands

With our Edinburgh tour complete, we started our way south and stopped at the ruins of Melrose Abbey. In the 600s AD, St. Aiden of Lindisfarne established a monastery at 'Mailros' a mile east of the current monastery ruins. In 1136 David I encouraged monks from Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire to found Scotland's first Cistercian monastery here at Melrose. This invitation was strategic. Melrose lies on the English border and the monastery showed the English the immense wealth and power of the Scottish King, which is why in the 1300s, the English attacked and destroyed the church. You can still see the wall remains. The current ruined church that now stands was built in the 1400s and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Interestingly, the English King Richard II actually provided funds for the rebuilding of Melrose after his armies destroyed it. Perhaps it was because he no longer saw the Scottish border lands as a threat or maybe he was trying to ease his conscience. It was a grand monastery and the church is remarkably well preserved, or at least preserved enough to get a sense of style and scale. Fun fact, when the church was damaged in 1322 from heavy fighting during the wars of Scottish independence, Robert the Bruce helped pay for it to be rebuilt and later had his heart (and just his heart) buried here. The rest of his body lies in Dunfermiline Abbey. I think my favorite part of the Abbey is a little sculpture high on the outside of the nave. It is of a pig playing the bagpipes! Can you doubt the Scottish essence of this place? 

         See the bagpipe playing pig?

From Melrose we wound our way down and stopped in Jedburgh for the night. Jedburgh also has beautiful abbey ruins. Although we didn't tour them, we did drive by them as the sun was setting and they made for a stunning view. We stayed in a 300 year old B&B. Or rather the house was 300 years old, I don't think there was a B&B there in the 1700s! The owners have a farm and on this farm is a peacock. I don't know if you have ever heard a peacock call but it can be rather unsettling if you don't know what it is. This peacock was also rather cocky, but then, what peacock isn't?

They also had a very friendly dog who had absolutely no sense of boundaries. I was sitting in the car with the door open trying to let my phone charge and all of a sudden this wee dog came out of nowhere and practically jumped up on my lap. There was also a lot of licking. Yesterday morning it was waiting outside of our door when we opened it to go down to breakfast. It was a cute little thing! Anyway, since yesterday morning was our last morning in Scotland, I chose to have haggis for breakfast. It was offered so of course I had to have it along with scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast with whiskey raspberry jam, and tea. 

After breakfast we decided we had a few hours to kill before heading to Newcastle to catch our ferry to Amsterdam so we headed out to Lindisfarne Abbey, which of course, meant crossing back into England! St. George's Day was Wednesday so many houses had the flag of St. George flying outside. For those who don't know, St. George is the patron saint of England. The patron saint of Scotland is St. Andrew which is why on the Scottish flag you will see a white X cross. As we drove towards Lindisfarne, we went past Flodden Battlefield. Flodden was the site of a brutal battle in 1513 in which a whole generation of Scottish men was wiped out. The Scots had managed to push their way into Northumbria and when they confronted the English at Flodden, they did not realize it was a bog. They surged forward, got stuck and became sitting ducks. Thousands were killed including King James IV. It was also the largest battle fought between two kingdoms. Years later, the losses at Flodden still struck a chord with many Scots and there was even a song written to commemorate it, The Flowers of the Forest. It is an incredibly moving song and quite haunting. The tune dates to the 1600s and the words added in the 1700s. The tune is still used by the Canadian, British and Australian Forces for their fallen soldiers. I encourage you to take a listen: http://youtu.be/hqY79y-SCbA

The interesting thing about Libdisfarne is that it is on an island called Holy Island which is connected to the mainland by a causeway. This causeway is impassable twice a day at high tide. Guess what time we got there? That's right, high tide! Nevertheless, we (and the other tourists) walked out to the edge of the flooded road and took a look out to Holy Island. One truck driver decided he had enough waiting and drove across the flooded causeway. We all waited with bated breath to see if he would make it or not. He did but he was lucky. It was quite difficult to make out where the road was, one slip and you'd be toast. Since the causeway wouldn't be clear again for another two hours, we decided to leave. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to wait and make our ferry. But we did drive around and found a nice view of the island with the castle and abbey. 

We took the coast route down to Newcastle and enjoyed the seaside views and occasional castle ruins, some less "ruined" than others. 

It took awhile to board the ferry. The crew had some difficulty figuring out how to load all the cars but we eventually boarded and found our cabin. We had bunk beds and a bathroom. The toilet was in the shower so you needed to choose one or the other although I suppose you could multitask. The ship operated on Central European time so even though we were still in the UK, we had to push our time up an hour. We ate dinner at one of the restaurants on board and guys, I was in heaven! There were vegetables! So many vegetables! Baked cheesy vegetables, steamed vegetables, vegetables in stir fry, vegetables in salad, vegetables, vegetables, vegetables! I ate more vegetables that night than I did the entire trip. Most of the vegetable choice on this trip has been the potato. Don't get me wrong, potatoes are grand but it's nice to occasionally see some leafy greens on your plate. Since we were leaving from Newcastle, I had to take advantage of the irony and order a Newcastle Ale. When I did, our waiter laughed and said partially to himself, "Germans really love Newcastle!" He thought we were German. It's okay, we have been mistaken for Scandinavian, Australian and English (yes, that actually happened in Scotland) on the trip as well. And frankly, apart from the Australian, we are Scandinavian, English and German! After dinner we headed back to our cabin for bed. As I had claimed the top bunk, I prepared to climb up. I admit, I had some difficulty which resulted in hysterical laughter from my father. In my defense, it is difficult to climb up a ladder when a boat is moving from side to side. It is also difficult to take a shower, but I digress. But the good news is that nobody got seasick! Those Viking and shipmaster genes kicked in and all was well.

We docked yesterday morning in Amsterdam, or rather, west of it. I got a little nervous when we went through immigration. When we gave our passports to immigration the Dutch officer looked at them and said, "please wait a moment." Then he walked away and motioned for another officer to go with him into a hut. They had not done that to anyone else. Eventually they came back and we realized it was because we don't belong to the EU so they had to do an extra check and give us a stamp. So we navigated our way through the Netherlands, saw some windmills, canals, lots of people on bikes and incredibly colorful tulip fields. There are so many colors of tulips! Various shades of purples and blues, yellow, orange, white, red, and pink! Fun fact, the Netherlands is the biggest exporter for flowers. 

Our trip is just about finished. We are now working our way back to Norway. Tomorrow we will take a ferry from Denmark to Oslo, then we will have one day in Oslo and fly home! 

Cheers!

Elizabeth

Edinburgh

We spent Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday in Scotland's capital, the historical city of Edinburgh. We stayed in a little B&B run by Mr. and Mrs. Cameron. Mrs. Cameron was from the Shetland islands and she told us about growing up there, visiting her grandparents in their cottage. She came to Edinburgh in the late 1960s and presumably met her husband there. He actually has roots in Bo'Ness and was interested to know who our Bo'Ness ancestors, just in case we might be cousins!

Monday morning we set off for Edinburgh castle, which sits on top of a hill (probably the only big hill in Edinburgh) in the center of the city. Monday also happened to be Queen Elizabeth's birthday so as we were purchasing our tickets at the castle, we were told that at noon there would be a 21 gun salute in her honor along with the usual pomp of a kilted marching band and pipers. So we made our way to the parapets and found a good place to watch the event unfold. At noon, the marching band stopped playing and the guns were fired. After the 21st shot, the band played "God Save the Queen" and then the piper began playing his bagpipes as the kilted soldiers marched from the guns to another part of the castle. For those of you who don't know, I love bagpipes! I don't know what it is about them, maybe it's in my genes...whatever it is, they are fantastic! I also love kilts, especially men in kilts! 

There has been a castle on this site since the reign of King David in the 12th century. St. Margaret's Chapel is the oldest building, dating back to the 12th century. The castle was used as a royal residence until 1603 and then became a military barracks and garrison. It was involved in the wars for Scottish independence in the 14th century and the Jacobite Rising of 1745. It was here in the castle that Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to her son James, the future King of England, Scotland and Ireland. She was later forced to abdicate in favor of her son. The Scottish Crown Jewels also call this place "home." The history of the jewels is interesting. They are the oldest set of Crown Jewels in the British isles and have been used by all the monarchs from the 1543 coronation of Mary, Queen of Scots to the 1651 coronation of Charles II. Now they are used as a symbol of Royal Assent to legislation in the Scottish parliament as well as state occasions. The crown was created in 1540 by James V who ordered that the original crown be refashioned. The sceptre was given to Alexander II by the pope and has Christian symbols: dolphins, the Virgin Mary and Christ and St. Andrew. The sword was also a papal gift. It was presented to James IV in 1507 and includes images of Sts. Peter and Paul. When Oliver Cromwell came to power, he ordered the Crown Jewels be melted down and destroyed. But they were hidden, first in Dunnotar Castle and later under the floor of a church. They were brought back out in 1660 but were no longer used to crown monarchs. When the English and Scottish parliaments united to form the parliament of Great Britain, the Crown Jewels had no use and were locked away in a chest in Edinburgh castle. They lay there forgotten for years and years until 1818 when a group recovered the jewels and set them on public display, where they have been ever since. Interestingly when the group opened the chest, they also discovered a necklace which did not belong to the collection. It is now also displayed with the Crown Jewels along with the stone of scone which was returned to Edinburgh in 1996. The stone of scone has been used in the coronation of Scottish and later English monarchs for centuries. The last time it was used was for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The castle is also home to the war museum. I am not really into that kind of thing but it was fantastic! It went into the history of Scotland and war/military and the importance Scottish soldiers have played over the centuries, including the long lasting romantic vision of the kilted highland troops. Ironically, highland troops were first used in the Jacobite uprisings to squash the highlanders...rid them of the Gaelic language, the kilt, all highland culture. Yet now, the kilt is their most prominent feature! I also thought it was quite neat that in the museum there is a Scottish flag that was flown by a New Zealand infantry unit on Crete in 1941 during the German invasion. They flew the flag to express their Scottish roots. It was later picked up by a Greek soldier when the infantry unit underwent heavy fire. It was kept by the Greek partisans and handed over to the British when they liberated the island in 1945.

After touring the castle, we walked down the Royal Mile and my, does it have character! From the spiked haired lady wearing yellow plaid and singing "Nancy Whiskey" while playing a bodhràn to the bagpipers and the most pierced lady in the world, the Royal Mile is an interesting place! Along the Royal Mile is St. Giles Cathedral. A church has been on that site since the 800s and has seen many changes throughout history. It was formerly made a cathedral in the 1600s. It is also home to the chapel of the Order of the Thistle.

On Tuesday it rained. Typical British weather. So we decided to head to the Scottish archives here in Edinburgh to do some ancestry research. We spent the whole day there and uncovered some pretty amazing stuff! Turns out, I am descended from weavers, coal miners, merchants and shipmasters (sea captains for merchant vessels)! We were able to extend the ancestry lines a few more generations back and added more names (and more clans). One line, we extended back into the 1600s! I am afraid that as far as the MacGregor line is concerned, we may just have to deal with not knowing. The proscription did a number on the MacGregors and records are not that great. I spent most of my time researching the Meickleham line, mainly because the name intrigues me. When we have told Scottish people the name, they look at us confused and ask if it is even Scottish because it doesn't sound like it. It is pronounced "Muckle-wum." What I found is that the name has numerous spellings and it seems no one knew how exactly to spell it. Some variations include McIlquhom, McIlquham, Meiklehem, Maiklem, Meiklem, and my favorite, Mcelwham. The records are interesting and reveal a lot about the family, like occupation, residence, and, if a baptism record, whether the child is "lawful" or "natural"..."natural" meaning illegitimate or born out of wedlock. The only "natural" born child we found was John MacGregor, who I have already discussed. Here are some of the records I found relating to the Meicklehams and Mitchells:

Alexdr Mitchell son to Alexdr Mitchell weaver in Drumen [Drymen] and Janet McIlquham daughter to James McIlquham of Glenfoot both of present residing in this parish of Drumen listed for proclamation of Banns on the 12th of July 1817.

Alexander Mitchell weaver in ?ounfoot of Drumen and Helen Buchan his wife had a son born the 13th and baptized Alexander upon the 14th day of April 1794.

Alexander Mitchel weaver in Drumen and Helen Buchanan daughter of the deceased Edward Buchanan late of Gartaeharran both of this parish listed for proclamation of Banns 26th June 1789.

Edward Buchanan in Hinnich? in this parish and Agnes Cameron daughter to     Cameron in Kilearn parish listed for proclamation in order to marriage and were married at [Drymen] by   . [February 2, 1759]

June 29, 1787 James McIlquham in this parish and Jean McCowat in the parish of Drumen gave up their names for proclamation of Bannes in order to marriage gave up to the ?  were married.

January 11th 1757 James McIlquham and Mary Cunningham in Woodend of Mains had a lawful son baptized and named James.

March 2, 1717 James Mcelwham and Janet Mitchell had a lawful son baptized and called James.

So here's what this tells me....my fourth great grandparents were Alexander Mitchell and Janet Meickleham. The first record is their banns of marriage record. It says that Alexander was a weaver and that Janet's father is James. Using that, I found that Alexander's father was also named Alexander and he was also a weaver. The younger Alexander's mother was Helen Buchan. It also seems that Buchan may, at least in Helen's case, been short for Buchanan as her marriage record indicates. The marriage record also reveals Helen's father's name, and using that I found his marriage record to his wife Agnes Cameron. Now, going back to the Meicklehams....I found the marriage record of Janet's parents, which was great, and then was able to trace back her father's line several generations which reveals that his family were established in Kilmaronock parish in Woodend for generations. Another interesting line to trace was the Russell line. I know I didn't really talk about them very much. My grandmother's maternal grandfather was William Russell. He married Elizabeth MacGregor's daughter, Jean. William's parents were William Russell and Margaret Buchan. Here are some records pertaining to the Russell's:

November 2, 1845

Contracted [marriage] William Russell in the parish of Fossoway and Margaret Buchan in this parish.

William son of William Russel merchant in Kinross by Jean Spittal his wife was born 14th and baptized on sabbath 8 April 1819 by Mr. Leishman in the ?antiburgher? congregation Kinross.

William Russel in this parish and Jean Spittal in Edin. were proclaimed in order to marriage on Sab: the 22nd May 1814 for first time. 

20th May 1814

William Russell plasterier in Kinross and Jean Spittal daughter of James Spittal, shipmaster, Alloa, residing in Broughton, ?, 5, gave up their names for proclamation of Banns matrimonial

+ George More minister Edin. [St. Cuthbert's parish]

These records are interesting. If you notice, the last two marriage banns records are for the same people but different places and different dates. Why? Well, I discovered that if a couple is from different parishes, like Wiliam from Kinross and Jean from Edinburgh, the marriage banns have to be done in both parishes. If the couple is from the same parish, then only one marriage banns is necessary. The marriage bans for William and Jean from St. Cuthbert's parish reveals that Jean's father is James and that he is a shipmaster. It also reveals that they were originally from Alloa but currently reside in neighborhood of Broughton in Edinburgh. It seems that somehow, although William started as a plasterier, by the time his son William was born, he was a merchant. The script on many of the records was difficult to read and in some cases the print had faded to where you could barely make out what was written. Regardless, our time at the archives was quite fruitful and well spent! 

Wednesday started cloudy but turned out to be a lovely day. This was our last day in Edinburgh and since we didn't get to the Palace of the Holyrood on Monday, we decided to finish our Edinburgh tour at Her Majesty's official Scottish residence (Balmoral is her vacation home). However, first we went by St. Cuthbert's church. Since the William Russell and Jane Spittal marriage banns record indicated St. Cuthbert's, we decided to check it out. The current church was built in the 1800s but the steeple dates to the 1700s. There has been a church/Christian worship on this site for thirteen centuries. According to tradition, St. Cuthbert founded a church below Castle Rock. Fun fact, John Napier, inventor of logarithms is buried here.

The Palace of the Holyrood is a fascinating place. If you look at it straight on, you'll notice that the stones on the left side look rougher than the stones that make up the rest of the palace. See?

That is because that section of the palace is the oldest. It was built in the 16th century as a guest house for the Abbey of Holyrood, which sits next to it. The guest house was later turned into a palace for the Scottish monarchs. Much of the preset building was built for Charles II. Since the palace is a working palace, no pictures were allowed inside but we were allowed to take a tour. It is interesting because you start in the entrance hall and as you go from room to room, you notice a shift in the decor. It starts as rather rustic and "plain" as far as palaces go. But as you go further in the rooms become grander and more opulent so by the time you get to the king's bedchamber, you reach the grandest room of all! This was its purpose of course, as people traveled in procession from room to room they would have noticed the increased grandeur that was leading to something incredibly regal, the king's rooms. When Queen Victoria visited the palace for the first time, she disliked the lack of color so she brought in colorful furniture and tapestries to add warmth and life to the otherwise drafty building. One of the most fascinating rooms is the gallery. One of the Jameses decided he needed to prove that the Stuarts had the right to the throne and in order to do that, he commissioned a Dutch artist to paint his "ancestors". What is so funny is that if you take a good look at the portraits, you will see that they all look alike. The artist had no idea what these people looked like (it's not like there were photographs in the 800s AD) so he used two or three models to create the portraits! In the old section of the palace you will find the rooms of Mary, Queen of Scots. It is in these rooms that the start of her troubles began, although I suppose one could say  that perhaps she was just cursed. She was crowned Queen of Scotland as an infant and then hurriedly taken to France for safety. She married the French dauphin, who died two years into their marriage. She returned as a widow to Scotland. She married the ambitious Lord Darnley and gave birth to their son, James in Edinburgh Castle. Lord Darnley was a jealous man and Mary had an Italian secretary named David Rizzio with whom she was quite close. One evening as Mary supped with Rizzio and one of her ladies in her rooms at Holyrood, Darnley came charging in with several other men and demanded Rizzio. The poor man clung to Mary's skirts but it was useless, Darnley and his men dragged Rizzio off and, according to Mary's account, murdered him by stabbing him 56 times. Why? Darnley feared Rizzio was a suitor. Mary was also heavily pregnant at the time. Darnley was suspicially killed when his estate blew up. Some say Mary had something to do with it. After Darnley's death she married the unpopular Earl of Bothewell. It was this action that forced her to abdicate and flee to England seeking refuge from her cousin Elizabeth I. Elizabeth saw her as a threat and imprisoned her. Mary was executed some years later. So, moving on from that tragic tale...there is an exhibition displaying the gifts the Queen has received from various countries in the Commonwealth and it was interesting to see so many cultures packed into one room. We ended the Holyrood tour with the Abbey ruins and a walk around the garden. 

 Thus ends our Edinburgh (and our Scottish) tour! From here we started heading back down south towards England. I must confess, I was loath to leave! Scotland is an incredibly beautiful place with its dramatic scenery. It is also a country with a deep rooted history tied into the landscape; a history in which my ancestors were very much involved!

Cheers!

Elizabeth

St. Columba's Iona, Culloden and Cairns

Off the coast of the Island of Mull is the small island of Iona. It is 3.4 square miles, total. Iona is probably the most sacred place in all of Scotland, so what better place to spend Good Friday than on this little island? From our B&B on the east side of Mull, we drove west. Just like the previous day, the views were magnificent. What was even more amazing is that since there was no wind, the water was as still and smooth as glass, and it reflected scenery. We also came across some recalcitrant sheep. The stubborn sheep from the previous day were nothing compared to the sheep on Friday. One sheep we met on the road decided that the road was his and made no effort to move. So we waited till he walked by. Another sheep simply stopped and stared us down. It finally relented but after it passed, the sheep and his sheep buddies decided that this stare down was unacceptable and proceeded to baa at us until we drove away. They looked a little peeved. 

To get to Iona you take a short 9 minute ferry ride, passengers only, no cars. So we left our car in the car park and walked on. You can pretty much see all of Iona from the ferry and the water was amazing! It looked like the Mediterranean, turquoise blue and clear near the shoreline. What was so interesting is that the island really is bilingual, Gaelic and English. Our ferry operator even spoke in Gaelic! 

After we disembarked from the ferry, we went to the convent ruins. The Iona convent was founded around 1200 AD and operated for more than 350 years. This convent was for Iona's nuns. Many came from noble families, others were widows, unmarried daughters, illegitimate daughters and estranged wives. They continued to remain in contact with the outside world and supported themselves off the nunnery lands. The convent was shut down as a result of the Reformation but until the 1600s the south shore of Mull's Loch na Keal was known as "Leirnacalloch", "hillside of the nuns". Interestingly, over the refectory window there is a carving of a naked woman with her legs open, called Sheela Na Gig. These figures are actually symbols to ward off evil spirits, which is why they are placed around doors and windows. The convent never recovered after the Reformation and was left to ruins. Next door is a medieval church called St. Ronan's or Teampull Rònain. This is where the Iona islanders worshiped between 1200 and 1560, although archaeological excavations have revealed traces of an earlier chapel possibly dating to the 700s. Beneath this early chapel were burials that dated even earlier, and they all belonged to women. 

After touring the convent ruins we went to the Abbey. St. Columba founded this monastery when he arrived on Iona around 1,450 years ago and was buried there. He turned this place into a vibrant center of Christianity and even after his death, the Abbey continued to be a center of artistic Christian creations. The current abbey church was built on the site of St. Columba's church by Benedictine monks in the 1200s. Perhaps Iona's Abbey is most famous for producing the Book of Kells which currently resides in Dublin. Viking invasions became common and to protect the sacred treasures of the monastery, many items were taken to sister monasteries, including the Book of Kells. Along the road to the Abbey are high crosses, pilgrimage points for the pilgrims to pause and pray, to prepare themselves for their final destination of St. Columba's shrine. Some of the crosses, while engraved with Celtic design, also have Biblical images such as the St. Martin's Cross. At the top there are lions symbolizing Christ, at the intersection of the cross is the Virgin Mary holding Christ and surrounded by angels, below them is Daniel and his lions, then Abraham preparing to sacrifice Isaac, below them David and his harp, then David and Goliath, and finally at the bottom the Celtic snake and boss motifs. Snakes are not necessarily evil, they are often depicted as swallowing each other, creating a never ending circle which symbolizes eternity. 

A little ways away from the Abbey is a hill called Tòrr an Aba or Hill of the Abbot. It is on this hill that St. Columba had his writing hut. 

In front of the Abbey church is a well which would have been used for religious rituals and bottled for pilgrims to take home. Around the well are stones called clachan bráth or prayer stones. They are hollowed and once held marble globes which pilgrims would rotate as they said their prayers. Supposedly, once the stone was worn through, the world would end. 

Running in front of the Abbey are the remains of a cobbled road known as Sràid Nam Marbh, Street of the Dead. This road is thought to be about 1000 years old and links the abbey with the burial ground and the landing point at Martyr's Bay. Abbots, lords, warriors, and even kings were carried along this road before being put to rest.

Directly in front of the Abbey church is a trough which the pilgrims used to wash their feet before entering the church. According to tradition, if you throw three handfuls of water into the trough, you can ask St. Columba for a favorable wind before setting sail. Since it was Good Friday, the baptismal font, altar and Christ on the cross were shrouded in black inside the Abbey church. 

The cloisters section is beautiful and the pillars around the courtyard have been restored to include carvings of plants that appear on Iona. 

After touring the Abbey we walked around the island, ending up on top if a hill overlooking Iona, out onto the water and to Mull. After spending the day on Iona (and getting a little sunburned and a bunch of freckles), we got back on the ferry, headed back to Mull, finished our drive around the island and got on another ferry to the mainland. When we got to mainland Scotland the ferry operator informed us that due to the ramp was not working and we would have to back out. That was interesting but as far as I know, nobody ended up in the water. We headed back to Fort William for the night and found a quaint B&B on the loch. 

Saturday was a fairly quiet day. I had somehow contracted a nasty cold and simply wanted to curl up and sleep all day but you can't do that when you're traveling! We stopped by a viewpoint to look at Ben Nevis and then drove towards Loch Ness, crossing Loch Lochey. Yes, that is the name of the Loch. I wonder if they ran out of names. There is also a lock on loch Lochey so I imagine it can get confusing when talking about whether the Loch Lochey lock is locked (or not)! Moving on, we didn't see Nessie unfortunately, so traveled forward to Culloden Battlefield, the site of a Jacobite vs. English battle on April 16, 1746. Within the first three minutes, 700 Jacobites were killed. I don't think I need to say how it ended. In a nutshell, the two sides were fighting over control of Scotland...Bonnie Prince Charlie (a Stuart and son of the exiled King James) vs. the Hanoverians, King George. In all honesty the Scottish people got caught in the middle of a political game where no one would win. The highlanders sided with the Jacobites, including my ancestral clans, and most were at the battle of Culloden. The English wanted to wipe out the highlanders anyway, so the Jacobite uprisings were a great excuse to end the highlander way of life...the tartans, clan system, bagpipes, etc. When we arrived at the site, there were numerous people in kilts carrying flags and playing bagpipes. It looked like some commemoration of the event had just ended. We toured the museum and took a walk around the battlefield. There are grave markers for each clan as well as one large cairn for all the Scots who were killed. When the battle ended, the Jacobites were hunted down and killed, they were not allowed to surrender. Many civilians were also killed just because they were wearing a tartan. 

      Ben Nevis is in the background

           Culloden Battlefield

Culloden memorial to the fallen Scots

After Culloden we went to the Clava Cairns, prehistoric burial mounds. They had passageways into the center and it is believed they were built so at a certain time of the day, the sun would shine down the passageway. It was very interesting. 

We headed to Dunblane and found a hotel for the night. It was interesting. The staff was very friendly but we couldn't understand a single thing they were saying. They really were speaking Scottish, and I am not talking Gaelic! Ironically, two old men sitting at the bar were talking and one said how Americans don't speak "good" English. 

Today (Sunday), was another easy day as I was still feeling under the weather. We mostly spent driving to possible ancestral locations, looking for our Robertson, Buchan and Russell ancestors. Kinross, Portmoak and Bo'Ness. We went to the old Kinross cemetery which in itself is interesting since there is an old watchtower overlooking it. The purpose was to scare away grave robbers. We didn't find any Russell's but we did find Glass and Whyte families. The Glass and Whyte families married into the Buchans. Portmoak was difficult to find because it doesn't exist as a town, like Kilmaronok. We drove around for awhile but after coming up empty handed, went back to the Kinross police station. They were closed, but a map indicated a Portmoak Primary School so off we went and lo and behold, we found the Portmoak church! We also found Buchans, Whytes and Glasses in the cemetery. What was interesting about the Portmoak cemetery was that symbols of occupation were carved on the back and the actual occupation was often mentioned in the epitaph. The stones were also remarkably well preserved. There were some stones dating back to the early 1700s. Many, however, had sunk down into the earth so far that only the top showed. Bo'Ness is where Jane Robertson, my fourth great grandmother and the wife of John MacGregor, was born. Bo'Ness is huge compared to the places we have been. It even had two very old and still operating churches of Scotland. We walked through their cemetery but found no graves older than 1850. It may be that because of the large size of the town, they follow the same practice as much of Europe, removing the bodies to make room for new ones. Bo'Ness isn't far from Edinburgh so we headed towards that lovely city to spend our last few days in Scotland, which includes (hopefully) going to the archives to see what we can find! 

Cheers!

Elizabeth