131 items

• Small History & Origins: James Small's Plough, Dirnanean & Scottish Heritage

  James Small's iron swing plough changed Scottish farming and he refused to patent it, dying poor in 1793. Plus the Old English root of the name, the Smalls of Dirnanean...

• Clan Allardice History, Motto & Origins: Kincardineshire, The Mearns & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history of Clan Allardice — their Kincardineshire origins, Allardice Castle, the motto In the Defence of the Distressed, Captain Barclay-Allardice the celebrated pedestrian athlete, and Scottish heritage gifts.

• Warden Surname: The Watch Hill, the Wardens of the Marches & the Name in Scotland

  Warden comes from the job of keeping watch or from an English place meaning the watch hill, not from the office that policed the Anglo-Scottish frontier. The 1249 treaty, March...

• Ward Surname in Scotland: The Watchman's Name, the King's Doorward & the Irish Mac an Bhaird

  Ward is an occupational name for a watchman, from Old English weard, and in Scotland it is also the anglicized Irish Mac an Bhaird. Older Scots usage, Alan Durward and...

• Clan Melville: History, Motto & Origins in Fife

  Clan Melville descended from Norman settlers who arrived in Scotland in the twelfth century, establishing themselves in Fife and the Lothians as one of the more distinguished Lowland families of...

• Clan Ritchie History, Motto & Origins: Mackintosh Sept, Clan Chattan & Scottish Heritage

  The Ritchie surname is one of Scotland's familiar names, most often understood as a Scots diminutive of Richard and recorded as a sept name connected to Clan Mackintosh and the...

• Clan Bethune History, Motto & Origins: Scholars, Physicians & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history of Clan Bethune — Norman origins in Fife and Angus, the Beaton medical dynasty who served the Highland clans, Cardinal David Beaton, Dr Norman Bethune hero of...

• Clan Buchan History, Motto & Origins: Aberdeenshire, John Buchan & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history of Clan Buchan — Aberdeenshire origins in the ancient Earldom of Buchan, the motto Non Inferiora Secutus, the Herschip of Buchan by Robert the Bruce, and John...

• Scottish Castles with the Best Views: Ten Perspectives Worth the Climb

  The view from a Scottish castle battlements is one of the great experiences of heritage travel — but not all views are equal. These ten Scottish castles offer perspectives so...

• Scottish Clans of the Jacobite Risings: History, Loyalty & Highland Legacy

  Discover the Scottish clans of the Jacobite risings — Cameron, MacDonald, MacPherson, Fraser, Murray, MacKintosh and more. Explore their loyalty to the Stuart cause, the battles they fought, and the...

• Clan Rattray: History, Motto & Craighall Castle, Perthshire

  Clan Rattray of Perthshire holds one of Scotland’s oldest territorial surnames, their name rooted in the Blairgowrie district of Strathmore from the twelfth century. Their dramatic seat at Craighall Castle...

• MacGlashan History & Origins: Gaelic Glas, King McGlashan & the Mackintosh Sept

  MacGlashan means son of the grey one, from Gaelic glas. We follow the name through Perthshire and Clan Chattan, confirm the Mackintosh sept listing, correct the Stewart of Appin claim,...

• Toshach History & Origins: Gaelic Toiseach, the Strathearn Lairds & the Mackintosh Sept List

  Toshach is not built from a chief's name; it is the Gaelic word for chief. We follow toiseach from the Scots dictionaries to the Toschoch lairds of Monzie and Monzievaird,...

• Newton Family Name: History, Motto & Scottish Origins

  The Newton family name arose from the Old English words for new settlement, a topographic surname that developed independently across multiple Scottish counties from Ayrshire to the Lothians and the...

• Clan Chattan History, Motto & Origins: Highland Confederation, the Wildcat & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history, motto, and origins of Clan Chattan — Scotland's great Highland confederation of families, united under the wildcat crest, the motto Touch Not the Cat Bot a Glove,...

• Clan MacDuff: History, Motto & Origins as Earls of Fife

  Clan MacDuff held one of the most remarkable positions in Scottish history — as Earls of Fife, they possessed the hereditary right to crown the King of Scots, a privilege...

• The Battle of Sauchieburn 1488: The Day a King Fell and James IV Rose

  On 11 June 1488, a Scottish king rode into battle carrying the sword of Robert the Bruce — and by nightfall his fifteen-year-old son was King James IV. The story...

• Clan Lundin History, Motto & Origins: Fife, Largo & Scottish Heritage

  The Lundins were a Fife family, their name drawn from the lands of Lundin in the parish of Largo on the East Neuk coast — a stretch of Fife shoreline...

• Clan Kinninmont History, Motto & Origins: Fife, the East Neuk & Scottish Heritage

  The Kinninmonts were a Fife family of long standing, their name drawn from the lands of Kinninmont in the parish of Carnbee in the East Neuk. They were not among...

• Clan Belshes History, Motto & Origins: Kincardineshire, The Mearns & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history of Clan Belshes — Norman origins in Kincardineshire and The Mearns, the motto Fulget Virtus Intaminata meaning Virtue Shines Undefiled, the remarkable connection to Sir Walter Scott,...

• Clan Leslie History, Motto & Origins: Aberdeenshire, Rothes & Scottish Heritage

  Clan Leslie is one of the great families of north-eastern Scotland, their name rooted in a small settlement in Aberdeenshire and their story running from a twelfth-century Flemish settler to...

• Sandeman History & Origins: Perth Roots, the Port House of 1790 & the Sandemanians

  Four Sandemans out of one Perth burgh: the merchant who founded a port house in London in 1790, the theologian who gave his name to a sect, the man who...

• Scottish Clans of Fife: Ancient Names, Castles & East Coast Heritage

  Discover the clans and families of Fife — Wemyss, Leslie, Seton, MacDuff, Halkett, Menzies, Melville and more. Explore the Kingdom of Fife and its long tradition of powerful Scottish families.

• Clan Reid History, Motto & Origins: Clan Donnachaidh, the Red Name & Scottish Heritage

  Reid is one of the most common surnames in Scotland, a descriptive byname from the Scots word for red, originally applied to a person of red hair or ruddy complexion....