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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18th-century clan portraits now on display in Edinburgh • Two portraits of important members of the chief of Clan Grant’s household are now on display in the National Museum of Scotland

National Trust for Scotland president puts time travel on the curriculum • The National Trust for Scotland president Jackie Bird supported the pilot of a new education programme that is using time travel to get school pupils excited about Scotland’s history

Tomb of Eagles artefacts displayed as Orkney Museum reopens • ‘Hugely significant and much-loved’ artefacts from theTomb of the Eagles in South Ronaldsay have been transferred to the care of Orkney Islands Council’s Museums Service, whilst a long term plan for the site continues to be investigated

2023: a summer of archaeology • We take a look at archaeology events taking place over the coming months – whether you will be digging on site, visiting an open day or enjoying an online talk

WORLD’S FIRST PEATLAND WORLD HERITAGE SITE • A proposal to create a World Heritage Site in the Flow Country, north-eastern Scotland, is to be considered by UNESCO after submission of a proposal by the Flow Country World Heritage Project

HOLIDAYS ON THE SCOTTISH HOME FRONT DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR • Despite popular ideas about the Second World War being an age of duty and sacrifice, Scots continued to value their leisure time, and many proved determined to keep taking holidays, even in the face of significant challenges. Dr Michelle Moffat explores wartime’s vacationing spirit

CHURCHILL AND BALMORAL CASTLE • Alastair Stewart explores various visits made to Balmoral Castle by Sir Winston Churchill, during a period that spanned the reigns of five monarchs

PASTRY WOMEN AND CAKE BAXTERS IN THE EARLY MODERN BREAD MARKET • In the early modern era, baking was a skilled and highly exclusive trade. But while the right to produce high-quality bread was fiercely guarded by baxters’ guilds, there was plenty of space for others – including women – to get involved at the margins of industry. Dr Aaron Allen explains

MOTHER AND SON: MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND JAMES VI • Dr Steven Reid explores the tumultuous relationship between Mary Queen of Scot and James VI, with its underlying tensions due to the uncertainty of who would inherit the English crown

The man that time forgot • Dr Lachlan Munro explores the life and legacy of the politician and writer Robert Cunninghame Graham, whose radical ideas and unorthodox lifestyle made him one of the most famous Scots of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, but who has now been almost entirely forgotten

A poignant relic from Culloden • Colin C. Hendry studies a 17th-century pistol found close to the site of the battle of Culloden, assessing what clues we can discern as to where the weapon was made, its owner and how it came to be abandoned

...DONALD BÁN • History Scotland’s consultant editor, Dr Allan Kennedy, looks at the brief and turbulent reign of Donald III, whose campaign to hold the throne in the 1090s is often seen as an attempt to assert traditional Gaelic values in the face of growing Norman influence

SCARS OF BATTLE • In this issue’s Spotlight: Jacobites column, Dr Darren S. Layne examines some of the medical records from prisons and infirmaries to assess the types of wounds sustained in...