Stirling

Susan Calman’s Secret Scotland

Feb 16, 2020

buildings, television reviews

Arran, Auld Lang Syne, Ayrshire, Balmoral, Burns, Cairngorns, cannon, Channel Five, chicken tikka masali, DC Comics, Dumfries, Dundee, Dunlop cheese, Dunrobin, Dunure Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Glasgow, Glasgow Subway, Greenyards, Irn Bru, J.M. Barrie, John O’Groats, lighthouses, Loch Ness, making glass, Melrose, music halls, Orkneys, Perthshire, Rose Reilly, Scone Palace, Scotland, seaweed, shearing, Skye, smugglers’ tunnels, Stirling, Susan Calman, Tam O’Shanter, tree planting, Viking longboats

This excellent programme, now on its second series, has seen the diminutive Glaswegian comedienne visit parts of Scotland that she had not previously, “behind the scenes” areas or, in the case of the Borders, driven straight through to work in England. Last year, Calman visited places like Edinburgh Castle (left), Stirling (to fry fish, among…
A guide to Britain’s battlefields: history and the best sites to visit….

Oct 27, 2019

anniversaries, battles

Battle of Hastings, battlefields, Bosworth, Countryfile, Culloden, Edge Hill, Flodden, Maldon, Marston Moor, Scotland, Stirling, Towton

“….Many of Britain’s most important conflicts were fought on what are now quiet stretches of countryside. Here is our guide on the best historic battle sites to visit in the UK, with a brief look at the history of each bloody battle….” To read more and see the list, go to this website
Britain’s Most Historic Towns (2)

Jun 27, 2019

battles, buildings, culture, religion, television reviews

“Tudors”, Alice Roberts, ATS, Ben Robinson, Black Death, Bristol, Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral, Cardiff, Channel Four, Charles I, chocolate, city walls, coal, defences, Demonology, Dover, dressing up, Dunkirk, Edwardian era, England, English Civil War, Flodden, France, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, Georgian era, gin, Henry VIII, James III, James IV, James V, James VI/I, Magna Carta, Marquess of Bute, Mary Stuart, New Model Army, Oxford, Peasants’ Revolt, Plantagenet era, real tennis, Rough Wooing, Sauchieburn, Scottish Reformation, Second World War, Siege of Oxford, slavery, Solway Moss, St. Augustine, Stewarts, Stirling, Stirling Castle, Thomas Becket, witchcraft

This excellent Channel Four programme, presented by Professor Alice Roberts, with Dr. Ben Robinson in the helicopter, has returned for a new series. The early venues were Dover (World War Two, visiting the underground base, concentrating on the retreat from Dunkirk and subsequent Channel defence, meeting some survivors, wearing ATS uniform and riding in a…
Does Richard II lie in an obscure grave in Stirling….?

Feb 14, 2019

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, religion, Science

Anne Neville, Anne of Bohemia, Edward II, Edward III, Gloucester Abbey, Henry IV, Hertfordshire, Pontefract Castle, Richard II, Richard III, Richard Maudelyn, Ron Page, royal murder mysteries, royal tombs, Shakespeare, Sir Piers of Exton, Stirling, Westminster Abbey

“There was nothing at Westminster Abbey yesterday to alert visitors to the renewed speculation that one of its most revered sites may not be what it seems. To the unwary, King Richard II still lies in the south aisle of the Lady Chapel just where he has for nearly six centuries. A sign points out…
THE ANGLO SCOTTISH WAR 1480-82

Nov 30, 2016

anniversaries, battles

AJ Pollard, Alexander Stewart Duke of Albany, Anzio, Archibald Douglas Earl of Angus, Bamburgh, Berwick, Canon Alexander Leigh, Carlisle, Cecilia, Charles Ross, Charles the Bold, chevauchee, Cheviot Hill, Commines, Cora Scofield, Cordingham, Crowland, Dockray, Dumfries, Dunbar, E. Nesbit, Earl of Northumberland, Earl of Oxford, Edward IV, Edward of Lancaster, Edward Woodville, Froissart, George Buck, George Duke of Clarence, Hedgeley Moor, Henry VI, Hewitt, Hexham, Hicks, J.D. Mackie, James III, James IV, John Ashdown-Hill, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Kincaid, Lancastrians, Lauder, Leith, Lord Linton, Lord Scrope of Bolton, Louis XI, Margaret of Anjou, Margaret of Scotland, Marie of Guelders, Marquess of Montagu, Michael K Jones, Middleham, naval fleet, Neville’s Cross, Nevilles, Norham, Norman MacDougall, Nottingham, Otterburn, Paul Murray Kendall, peace treaties, pensions, Percies, Picquigny, Readeption, Reivers, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Robert Lord Boyd, Roxburgh, Salerno, Scotland, Scottish Marches, Sean Cunningham, Sheriff Hutton, siege of Edinburgh, Simon Payling, Sir Robert Plumpton, Sir Thomas Fulford, Stirling, Thomas Howard, Thomas Lord Stanley, Topcliffe, Towton, Treaty of Lincluden, York

Richard duke of Gloucester – The King’s Lieutenant in the North “And he governed those countries very wisely and justly in time of peace and war and preserved concord and amity between the Scots and English so much as he could. But the breaches between them could not so strongly be made up to…
Dan Jones (again)

Apr 26, 2015

buildings, television reviews

Caernarvon, Dan Jones, Dover, Edward II, John, Owain Glyndwr, Owain Tudor, Princes of Wales, Richard III, Starkey, Stirling, Tower of London, Wales

His current Channel Five series (Secrets of Great British Castles, Fridays, 20:00) is quite informative in parts. However, as a Starkey protege, Jones relies on fairly simplistic views and with his pre-selected one-dimensional heroes and villains, the latter including John (from the opener on Dover) as well as Edward II (mentioned in at least three…

Stirling

Susan Calman’s Secret Scotland

A guide to Britain’s battlefields: history and the best sites to visit….

Britain’s Most Historic Towns (2)

Does Richard II lie in an obscure grave in Stirling….?

THE ANGLO SCOTTISH WAR 1480-82

Dan Jones (again)