History Scotland

Explore centuries of Scottish history and archaeology with fascinating features on topics from all branches and periods of Scottish history and archaeology, written by leading historians, archaeologists and museum curators. With news on the latest research, opinion, expert reviews and spotlights on the country's most significant historical archives, this lavishly-illustrated magazine has everything you need to explore Scotland's rich past.

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History Scotland

Galloway Hoard: Viking-age Treasure • Dr Martin Goldberg, Principal Curator, Medieval Archaeology and History at National Museums Scotland, invites us to take a closer look at a hoard of Viking-age treasures hidden for a millennium

UNCOVERING THE STRUCTURE OF JOHN RENNIE’S WEST OLD DOCK IN LEITH • Kai Wallace shares the results of a recent archaeology project to excavate and record the site of Leith’s West Old Dock, revealing early features of the dock and providing clues as to what life was like for those who lived and worked there

Scotland and the art of slavery • Scotland’s long and deep involvement with slavery often found expression in works of art. Dr David Alston explores the ways that Scottish artists and artworks handled this relationship, either by depicting slaveholders, plantation life, or enslaved people themselves

SCOTLAND’S SMUGGLING PAST • Over 10,000 miles of Scotland’s coastline is defined by clifftops, creeks and caves that have given land access to smugglers for centuries. Andrew Millham delves into Scotland’s smuggling past, exploring what goods were smuggled and why

NO COWARD SOUL • Kimberley Jordan Reeman tells the intriguing story of Major James Gardiner, a career soldier killed fighting the Jacobites at the battle of Prestonpans in 1745, but who is best known for undergoing an intense religious experience in 1719 that profoundly shaped his future life

Colonel John Gordon of Cluny: the ‘richest commoner’ and his West Indian estates • The Caribbean island of Tobago was one of the most popular locations for upwardly-mobile Scots in the 18th and 19th centuries to seek enrichment by investing in the slave economy, and among these plantation-owners was the notorious Colonel John Gordon of Cluny. Neil M. Bruce investigates

A NEWLY RECOGNISED SWORD OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART • Edward Corp and Graeme Rimer present the results of their research into a sword belonging to Prince Charles Edward Stuart, working through a body of evidence to ascertain whether this weapon actually belonged to the exiled prince

THE LEDGER OF ANDREW HALYBURTON • In our regular look at the holdings of National Records of Scotland, Peter Dickson spotlights a 16th-century volume that tells of strong trade connections between Scotland and the city of Bruges

The remarkable career of Peter McLagan MP • David William Main takes a look at the career of a man born in Demerara who embarked upon a political career thousands of miles from his homeland when he became MP for Linlithgowshire, holding office for almost 30 years

THE FIRST INOCULATOR: Charles Maitland • Sylvia Valentine tells the story of Charles Maitland, an Aberdeen physician who, through his inoculation experiments, laid the foundations for those who followed in the widespread use of the smallpox inoculation

TALES FROM THE FIELD • In commemoration of the 275th anniversary of the battle of Culloden, Dr Darren S. Layne relays some personal stories of the rank-and-file combatants who fought on the moor within the Jacobite army

SCOTLAND’S SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, PART 3: RECOVERING THE KINGDOM, 1337-41 • Dr Iain A. MacInnes continues his reconstruction of the Second War of Independence by discussing how the Bruce Scots, having weathered the storm of Edward III’s invasions in the...