Browse Irish Scottish Roots articles on heritage travel, genealogy, castles, clans, festivals, mining history, rail routes, and ancestral places.
Americans getting married in Scotland have various options for their legal marriage. The country offers unusual flexibility in wedding ceremonies. These range from registrar-led civil weddings to religious and belief ceremonies. Couples can choose to marry in castles, gardens, and…
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,…
Easter Ross everyday life explains how ordinary families lived in the eastern coastal region of historic Ross-shire between 1650 and 1745. For family historians, this article gives context for ancestors who appear in Scottish records as tenants, cottars, servants, laborers,…
A 7 day Isle of Skye itinerary 2026 is a travel plan for one week. It covers the Isle of Skye in the Highlands of western Scotland. The island is linked to the mainland by the Skye Bridge. It is…
This isn’t abstract history for me. In 1925 and 1926, both of my grandfathers were Scottish immigrants in Pennsylvania’s anthracite region. My dad and several uncles were with them. They came over from Scotland and went straight into the anthracite…
Mount Falcon Estate is a historic estate property in County Mayo, Ireland, near Ballina and Foxford in the Moy Valley. This article uses Mount Falcon Estate as a real case study in Irish genealogy method. It begins with one verified…
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…