Scotland Holiday Continued...

Helloo, a few blogs ago I talked about my holiday to Scotland this summer. I said I would blog about the second half of it and I only just remembered so here goes.

So as I said in the first week we were next to the Moray Firth next to Inverness (which on a historical note may be the furthest point north that the Romans managed to reach. --I am doing my coursework question on Agricola at the moment who was governor or Britain from around 77AD to 84AD). Anyways in the second week we went further north to a tiny village called Scourie. It was right on the coast and in the middle of nowhere, so I loved it. The only thing was the midges were insane in the evening, it felt like you were being eaten alive.

So we visited loads of little ruins in the second week, they weren't well-known tourist attractions really, literally just an abandoned ruin in the middle of the countryside with a little sign. However I noticed that this guy called the Brahan Seer popped up in both locations. There was a little sign about him near the Moray Firth and then in the second week we happened to visit the ruin of a house which was associated with him. Apparently many of his prophecies were fulfilled and tradition holds that his untimely death by burning in tar (Tar???) followed his final prophecy of the the doom of the House of Seaforth. Spooky....

So he apparently worked for the MacKenzies and was put to death (TAR???) by the countess of Seaforth because she asked him to foresee what how her husband was doing in France (as he was there at the time) and he said the Earl was being unfaithful to her. So she had him burnt in tar near Fortrose on the Black Isle (which is where I stayed in the first week, which explains why there was a sign commemorating him there!). So the ruined house and castle (which were within sight of each other) apparently belonged to this countess and her husband. I remember the sign said that the Earl had had the house built for his wife specially. However the Brahan seer supposedly correctly predicted that this family would become extinct, which came true in 1815 when Francis MacKenzie died. However there is apparently no conclusive evidence that such a man existed at the time, and some think it's just a legend. Having said this, there is evidence of a man called Coinneach Odhar (which was supposedly the Seer's name) being accuses of Witchcraft 100 years before the time period he is mainly associated with. And this information fits with the location at which he is said to have died in the 17th century. Hmm. Tis a mystery.

Anyways here are the pictures I took. So these building definitely had something to do with the Seer, but I can't remember the name of the house. I assume it was a house of the MacKenzies as I remember the male bloodline becoming extinct being on the little information sign. (I'm helpful I know!)

On a completely unrelated note, we also visited a museum of childhood near Scourie. It was this lady's great personal collection of dolls, toys and most especially dollhouses! They were genuinely amazing and she had things from as early as around 1850! It was great if you like that kind of thing, I hate baby dolls so wasn't a fan of them but I loved the dollhouses. She has a full on castle one! It's great. My dad and brothers however weren't as fussed =P. I took loads of pictures but the lady asked me not to put them online. Sorry!

Thanks for reading. Will try to blog again soon, but I have a ton of work at the moment. Both English Lit and History Coursework. Fantastisch.