On 21st June 1870, Alexander Duncan, 29, was digging potatoes at Middlerigg outside Falkirk. Neighbours heard two shots and an hour later, Duncan was found dead with two shots to the chest. An inquiry ruled his horse had shot him by nudging the trigger. Twice.
The folk of Loans were *notorious* for “relieving” ships of their cargo when they were beached on North Sands. They had special cellars called ‘brandy holes’ and the Laird of Fullarton faked reports about pirate ships to the exciseman to protect his tenants.
Before the 19th Century, Lanark was so poor the butcher wouldn’t kill a beast until every cut of meat was bought ahead of time. The town crier of Lanark, known there as the Skellyman would advertise when a beast was up for sale.
Here is one of their advertisements:
I love the predilection the OldWeirdScotland had for “monster” vegetables. Burns’ Night at Major Cumming’s!
The Kirknewton Gala once had a race where women chased a pig around the fields. The prize was the pig. In 1922, after the pigs were too small to chase, organizers “solemnly agreed to forgo the Pig Race” and swapped in a normal foot race for future galas.
Kirknewton Gala also held an event called “Cutting the Goose” which men played across West and East Lothian, It did not involve a goose and the rules are yet unclear to me, but this is how R. Ross won in 1896…
An ancient plough that took twelve full-grown oxen to pull.
This was one of the last “twal owsen ploos” used (by Mr. Stephen, tenant at Millden, Belhelvie). Look at the scale bar and you can see why it took twelve oxen to pull!
GELL-WIVES. n. Women who collected leeches from marshes using their bare legs. Using a stick called a GELL-RUNG they stirred up the GELLS from deep pools. Frequently heard singing “Mally Messlin”, the Gell-wive’s song.
In 1948, 7 ex-servicemen seized land from Conservative MP and Nazi spy, Lord Brocket, and started farms. The “Seven Men of Knoydart” were public heroes, but ultimately removed from the land by court order. Brocket sold up a year later and left for Ireland.
Fishermen in the Moray Firth hated getting their feet wet. Their wives would carry them out to the boats at low tide, would carry the catch to the shore, then go back out and carry the men back to shore. Burt, in 1726 commented on “their remarkable Laziness”.
Edward Burt was scathing of Highland life in the 1720s and quick to criticize what he didn’t fully understand. In Inverness men also spent a bodle to cross the Ness by bridge whereas women were made to wade through to save the household money. Wives were treated v. poorly in general.
