In 1839 a windstorm swept across Ireland that went down in legend. Sunday January 6 1839 dawned as a typical clouding winter morning and became warm enough to start to melt some of the heavy snow that had fallen the night before. Rain began to fall around midday, and the wind began to blow hard […]
Author: Groomporter
Blogger for The Celtic Croft and owner of MacGregor Historic Games http://historicgames.com
Blast from the Past: Highland Games
Originally published June 2011 The early origins of the Highland Games are subject to debate. Some people have claimed they were held as a way for clan chiefs and lairds to select bodyguards and from the strongest of their followers. A number of sources claim that King Malcolm III of Scotland (1058-1093) summoned contestants to […]
Blast from the Past: Symbols of the Picts
Originally published May 2011 The Pictish people of early Scotland have long been a subject of debate. A reference to the “Picti” first appears in 297 and is speculated to be a Roman nickname meaning “the painted ones,” but it could also be a Latinized version of what the Picts called themselves. They are often […]
Newsletter Blast from the past: Black Watch Mutiny
Originally Published February 2011 After the 1715 Jacobite Rising the “Disarming Act” was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, and went into effect November 1, 1716. It outlawed anyone in certain parts of Scotland from having “in his or their custody, use, or bear, broad sword or target, poignard, whinger, or durk, side pistol, […]
Scottish “Gypsy” Kingdom
Town Yetholm is a small village in the Scottish Borders to the south east of Edinburgh (map) and has a fairly long history as a ceremonial location for the Scottish Roma people, or “Gypsies”. In fact, Kirk Yetholm has long been known as the the largest Roma colony in Scotland. Some claim it goes back […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: Hochdorf Chieftain
The new Celtic Croft Fall Catalog is now available! Request one here Originally Published January 2011 An amateur archeologist noticed a low earthen mound in 1977 located east of Hochdorf in the Baden-Wurtemberg area of German. When professionals examined the location they found evidence of a circle of stone surrounding the mound, and excavations began […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: Scotland’s Frankenstein
Originally published April 2011 In 1818 in the anatomy room of the University of Scotland was host to and audience about to watch an extraordinary experiment. The body of the freshly executed “murderer himself was then lifted and placed in a sitting posture in an easy chair directly looking in front of the audience“ When […]
Celtic Newsletter Blast from the Past: Col. Alexander Gardener
The new Celtic Croft Fall Catalog is now available! Request one here Originally Published December 2010 I admit I may be stretching the “Celtic” connection pretty thin for this month, but it is about the son of a Scottish immigrant, and he is such an interesting character I couldn’t resist Another American-born adventurer, Josiah Harlan […]
Newsletter Blast from the Past: Escorts to the Afterlife
Originally published October 2008 With Halloween or Samhain coming I thought I would touch on something spooky this month. In the old Disney movie “Darby O’Gill and the Little People” there is a scary scene (at least it was scary when I first saw it as a child) when the Banshee and and the Death […]
In the News
I’ve got a short week, bouncing MacGregor Games from the Renaissance Festival in Minnesota to 18th century Indiana this weekend, so just a quick look at Celtic related archeology news this week. Look for The Celtic Croft at Stone Mountain Highland Games later this month. Heat wave reveals Ancient Sites through Crop Marks in Wales […]