Scottish National Portrait Gallery to reopen after major renovation

by Sean McLachlan on

After more than two years and £17.6 million ($27.4 million), the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh will reopen on December 1.

The remodel opens up more of the Victorian building to public view, adds more than 60% to the public space, and introduces several themed galleries, including Blazing with Crimson–a collection of full-length portraits of men in kilts.

The gallery’s massive collection of portraits includes those of great statesmen, royalty, scientists, engineers, soldiers, and athletes. Special galleries look at the new face of Scotland, with one exhibit highlighting Scotland’s large Pakistani community.

Another bonus to the revamped gallery is that entrance is now free.

The gallery opened in 1889 as the first purpose-built portrait gallery. While it has always featured paintings of Scotland’s great names, it now also includes a large space devoted to photography.

This is the second major museum reopening in Edinburgh this year. The National Museum of Scotland reopened this summer after a £47.4 million ($74 million) renovation.

Photo of Robert Burns portrait courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Historic stretch of Hadrian’s Wall repaired

by Sean McLachlan on


A stretch of Hadrian’s Wall, the famous fortification in northern England that for centuries marked the northernmost boundary of the Roman Empire, has been repaired.

After 2,000 years, parts of the fortification meant to keep out northern barbarians are in pretty bad shape. People have stolen stones over the past several centuries and you can see parts of the wall in local farmhouses and churches. Weathering and animals have done damage too.

Now Natural England has stepped in and reconstructed a stretch of the wall between Great Chesters and Housesteads Roman forts. Natural England is a government organization that protects and improves England’s natural environment and encourages people to enjoy and get involved in it.

Hiking along the wall is certainly a good way to do that. You can hike the entire length, 84 miles from sea to sea. Many of the forts along the way are open as museums, and you pass through some amazing countryside on the border of England and Scotland. I did this a couple of years ago and it’s a fun hike. Read more about hiking Hadrian’s Wall here.

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New exhibit sheds light on Antonine Wall, the Roman Empire’s northernmost border

by Sean McLachlan on

There’s not much left of it now, just a deep swale in the earth and a few stones jutting out of the grass. Almost two thousand years ago, though, it was the northernmost boundary of the Roman Empire.

The Antonine Wall protected a narrow part of Scotland between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde, from the 140s to 160s AD. After the Emperor Hadrian built Hadrian’s Wall across what is now the border of England and Scotland, his successor Antoninus Pius decided to move 100 miles further north to gain a military and propaganda victory and add more land to the empire. The wall was built of turf on a stone foundation and stretched 39 miles, as opposed to the stone Hadrian’s Wall that ran 73 miles. Forts placed at regular intervals strengthened the both walls.

Now a new permanent exhibit at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow brings together numerous artifacts from the wall to show what life was like for the soldiers living up there. Included are several elaborate sculptures commissions by Antoninus Pius to show off his great victory.

The Antonine Wall was only used from 142 to 162, and briefly again around 208. Later emperors decided it wasn’t worth the expense and effort and instead used Hadrian’s Wall as the northernmost boundary. Despite this short lifespan, several communities sprang up around it and there were at least two Roman baths. Excavations have yielded some interesting artifacts such as preserved sandals and a gravestone that shows someone from the Middle East lived there.

I’ve walked the length of Hadrian’s Wall along the Hadrian’s Wall Path and would love to do the same with the Antonine Wall, but sadly there is not yet a trail going along this important remnant of the glory of Rome.

[Wall photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Photo of coin of Antoninus Pius also courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Fish farmer snaps photo of Nessie

by Sean McLachlan on

Loch Ness has been getting into the news a lot lately. There’s been a rise in sightings this year, Nessie was photographed in July, and a UFO was spotted over Loch Ness last month.

Now a new photo of Nessie has emerged. You’ll have to go to the link to see it because we don’t get a photo budget here at Gadling and Nessie photos don’t come cheap. Instead you get to marvel at this fine Lego Nessie photographed by David R. Tribble. At least it’s exactly what it looks like.

The “real” monster was snapped by commercial fish farmer Jon Rowe when he got out his camera to take a picture of a rainbow over Loch Ness. Rowe says he, “noticed this really large dark shape in the loch with two humps that were barely out of the water. . .Almost as soon as I took the shot the shape disappeared under the water and out of sight.”

Personally I’m skeptical, and so are the experts. The leading cryptozoology website Cryptomundo opines that the image shows a pair of water birds diving for prey. Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness Project says the same thing.

Rowe insists that they weren’t birds, however, so the mystery continues.

At least all this activity is putting to rest the idea that Nessie is extinct.

Brochs: the prehistoric castles of Scotland

by Sean McLachlan on


In Scotland, the past is still very much present. In rural areas you can hear people speaking Scots Gaelic or Lowland Scots like their forefathers did. There are castles and stone circles all over the region. The most enigmatic remains from the past are the brochs.

Brochs are mysterious drystone towers dating to around two thousand years ago. Built without mortar or nails, they’re architectural wonders, yet nobody is sure what they were for.

The best example surviving today is the broch of Mousa, pictured above in this photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Built around 100 B.C., it still stands to its original height of 13 meters (43 ft). A stairway cleverly constructed inside the thick wall spirals up to the top, where a walkway offers a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside.

Archaeologists used to think brochs were fortresses, a sort of prehistoric castle. This idea has given way to theories that they were homes of the elite or even simple farmhouses. This former archaeologist thinks the original theory is more likely. To me they feel like forts, and are far more imposing than the standard homes of the day. Plus in Lowland Scots the word brough means fort. In Old Norse, the language of the Vikings, borg also means fort. The Vikings reused some brochs as fortified bases from which the ransack the countryside. Many brochs have earthen ramparts around them, or are located on easily defensible spots such as beside a cliff or on an island in a loch.

%Gallery-130017%It’s hard to say how many brochs there are in Scotland because archaeologists argue over which sites are brochs and which aren’t. Estimates vary from barely a hundred to almost six hundred. Most are clustered in the far north, especially on the windswept Shetland and Orkney islands. Researchers can’t agree on when they were built either. Most agree it was from about 500 BC to 200 AD, but they can’t get more precise than that. This was the Iron Age, when competing tribes fought over land and crafted elaborate weapons and jewelry.

Perhaps the oldest known broch is being excavated right now. A broch at Nybster in Caithness may date back to 500 or even 700 BC, although it’s unclear if these early walls constituted a broch or if the broch was built on top of it. Prince Charles visited the excavation this week. Charles studied archaeology at university and has even gotten the royal hands dirty on several excavations.

All this academic debate just adds to the mystery. Located in the rugged far north of Scotland, often in remote areas, they can’t fail to impress. The sheer effort and skill required to build them in such a hostile environment commands respect.

They have more mysteries to offer up too. Inside there’s often evidence for rooms, floors, or other structures, but none have survived in good enough shape to show what they were used for.

To learn more about brochs and ancient Scotland, check out the BBC’s Mysterious Ancestors website.