In 1767 it was announced in Edinburgh that the architect James Craig was to be ‘entitled to the primum for the best plan of a New Town’. This plan became the street and squares which are today bounded by St Andrews Square to the east,...
Not as architecturally distinguished as its sister at the opposite end of George Street, St Andrew Square is dominated by the fluted column of the Melville Monument, commemorating Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811), Dundas was the most powerful Scottish politician of his time, often...
The country’s historical roots are deeply embedded in the sandy soils of Central Scotland. Significant ruins and castles that chronicle the region’s charismatic history pepper the landscape. Key battlegrounds shaped the country’s fortunes around Stirling, and Perth is the former capital where kings were crowned...
The Isle Of Skye (an t-Eilean Sgiathanach in Gaelic) takes its name from the old Norse sky-a meaning “cloud island”, a Viking reference to the often missed-enshrouded Cuillin Hills. It’s the biggest of Scotland’s island, a 50 mile long smorgasbord of velvet moors, jagged mountains,...
As Edinburgh expanded in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many old tenements were demolished and new bridges were built to link the Old Town to the newly built areas to its North and South. South Bridge (built between 1785 and 1788) and George...
Glasgow is regenerating and evolving at a dizzying pace – style cats beware, this city is edgy, modish and downright ballsy. Its Victorian architectural legacy is now swamped with cutting-edge style bars, world-class venues to tickle your taste buds, and a hedonistic club culture that...
Edinburgh’s Old Town stretches along a ridge to the east of the Castle, and tumbles down Victoria Street to the broad expanse of the Grassmarket. It’s a jagged and jumbled maze of masonry riddled with close’s (alleys) and winds (narrow lanes), stairs and vaults, and...
Stirling is one of those regions central Scotland specialises in. it provides a taste of both lowlands and Highlands; has a staggering share of landmark battlegrounds; is peppered with castles and tales of legendary figures; and contains a slice of natural beauty that will literally...
The success of Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code and the subsequent Hollywood film has seen a flood of visitors descend on Scotland’s most beautiful and enigmatic church - Rosslyn Chapel. The chapel was built in the mid-15th century for William St Clair, third earl...
Edinburgh owes its existence to the Castle Rock, the glacier-worn stump of a long-extinct volcano that provided a near-perfect defensive position guarding the coastal route from North East England into central Scotland. Back in the 7th century the Castle Rock was called Dun Eiden (meaning ‘Fort...