Articles about ancient structures in Ireland and Scotland, including stone circles, dolmens, brochs, forts, ruins, archaeology, heritage travel, and ancestral landscapes.
Cahir is a historic town in County Tipperary. It offers a 5-day itinerary for travelers seeking a short-stay inland base. This itinerary is built around castles, medieval sites, scenic valleys, and smaller heritage towns. Cahir Castle stands in the center…
The Knights Templar in Scotland and Ireland were medieval religious warriors. They were also estate managers and landholders. Their houses helped support the wider crusading world. In Scotland, their best-known center stood at Balantrodoch, now Temple in Midlothian. In Ireland,…
Clifden Castle is a ruined Gothic Revival manor house. It is castellated and located on the outskirts of Clifden in the Connemara region of County Galway, Ireland. It was built for local landowner John D’Arcy, who is widely credited as…
Clan Sinclair is a Scottish clan strongly associated with Rosslyn (Roslin) in Midlothian near Edinburgh. It is also associated with the far north of Scotland in Caithness. The clan has historical links that reach into Orkney. The most visited Sinclair…
Buchanan Castle is a roofless, ruined Scottish baronial mansion near Drymen in Stirlingshire (Stirling council area), close to Loch Lomond. For a different layer of local history, see Loch Lomond’s hidden boating history. Built in the 1850s, it served as…
Brian Boru was a medieval Irish king who became High King of Ireland in 1002 and died in 1014. His power base lay in Munster and along the River Shannon around Killaloe, on the Clare and Tipperary border. His most…
Clan MacLeod of Lewis is the Sìol Torcail (Seed of Torquil) branch of the wider Clan MacLeod. It is a Highland clan tradition rooted in the Hebrides. The tradition is strongly associated with the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer…
Duckett’s Grove Carlow is a ruined Gothic Revival “big house” and estate courtyard. It is located in County Carlow, Ireland, near Carlow town and the village of Palatine. The site is best known for its dramatic towers and the shell…
This article explains where the Fraser surname can be anchored in early surviving records in Fife, Scotland, with special attention to St Andrews and Cupar. Fife matters for Fraser research because it has major church institutions. These institutions produced paperwork…