Scotland – Tracing the Family History

Leaving the Lake District was difficult, but made a lot easier by the fact that we were heading to Scotland. We met the family (all the way from NZ) in Edinburgh, and spent the next 5 days looking around Scotland whilst tracing the family roots.

Clan Mackintosh was (and still is) one of the most powerful Scottish clans. Since the 12th century, the Mackintoshes have been involved with every major battle in Scotland, and have some very interesting stories of their own! If anyone is interested in hearing more about the crazy things that went on during the days of the Scottish clans, it’s really worth looking into. Some of the stories sound a lot like Game of Thrones.

In the North of Scotland, just outside of Inverness is the Moy Estate which has been the home of the Mackintoshes since the beginning. First, they built a castle on an island in the middle of Loch Moy, but since then they have lived in a series of castles and halls on the edge of the lake. The current chief of clan Mackintosh is actually a teacher in Singapore, but his mother lives in Moy hall and was kind enough to let us visit the small ‘Mackintosh museum’ that is there. The museum is filled with the history of the clan, including swords that were used in major battles and even the bed which Prince Charles slept in when he stayed in 1746.

We also visited the site of the Battle of Culloden, which was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising in 1746. Clan Mackintosh suffered heavy losses in this battle. You can see a photo below of the large mass grave on the battle site.

As well as exploring the family history, it was also amazing just driving around Scotland. The weather played in our favour for the entire week, and the new born lambs were bounding around everywhere. I also managed to snap a photo of the Loch Ness monster, see if you can spot it below.

Edinburgh Edinburgh Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Edinburgh Scotland Scotland castle Scotland Scotland Scotland hills Loch Moy Mackintosh clan Mackintosh clan bell Scotland Scotland Scotland sheep Scotland mill house Scotland Scotland Scotland flag Scotland battle of Culloden Scotland battle of Culloden Inverness castle

Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness Scotland cow Scotland Mill house Scotland mountains Scotland mountains Edinburgh Jedburgh Scotland Scotland Scotland

Until next time,

Henry

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