Love Scotland: Stories of Scotland's History and Nature

The idea of Scotland being caught up in the story of the Spanish Armada may seem bizarre, and yet wrecked off Fair Isle is one of the Spanish fleet’s flagship vessels. How did this 650-ton ship come to end up in the North Sea? And how do the activities of the Armada relate to, among others, Mary, Queen of Scots? Jackie Bird is on a mission to find out. 

This year marks 70 years since the National Trust for Scotland acquired Fair Isle, the most remote inhabited island in the UK. While now perhaps best known as a seabird paradise and the home to world-renowned knitwear, Fair Isle is also the site of Iron Age settlements, a Second World War German plane, a Stevenson lighthouse… and not far offshore, the remains of El Gran Grifón.

Joining Jackie to discuss the Spanish ship and how it came to be so far north is Dr Colin Martin, a marine archaeologist who, with his colleague Sydney Wignall, excavated the wreck in 1970. 

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

For more information on Fair Isle, click here.

You might enjoy some of our past episodes on island history. Simply scroll back through the Love Scotland feed to hear instalments on Canna House’s archive and the evacuation of St Kilda.

If you would like to support our work helping others through education, access and outreach activities, please click here.

Actor: Scarlett Mack

The Wicker Man is widely regarded as one of the best British horror films of all time. The strange tale of Sergeant Neil Howie’s doomed trip to Summerisle has cemented itself in popular culture since the film’s 1973 release, and with it, immortalised several of the National Trust for Scotland’s places on screen.

Joining Jackie Bird to dissect this cult classic’s enduring popularity are film critic Siobhan Synnot and actor Lesley Mackie, who appeared in the original cast as Daisy. Together, they explore the production and legacy of The Wicker Man.

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

You might enjoy some of our past episodes on Scottish filmmaking. Simply scroll back through the Love Scotland feed to hear instalments about Scotland on Screen, and interviews with Outlander’s Diana Gabaldon and Sam Heughan.

If you would like to support the National Trust for Scotland’s work in caring for, protecting and telling the stories of all that is in our care, please click here.

Sculptor Andy Scott, the creator of the iconic Kelpies, joins Jackie Bird to discuss his incredible work, Scotland’s position in the art world, and his aspirations for the future. 

Together, they talk about the physical demands of working on such large pieces of metalwork, the catharsis of sculpting, and how his Scottish identity influences his creations and his process.

The Glasgow School of Art-graduate also speaks about his long-time affection for Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, leading figures in Glasgow’s historic art scene.

For more information on Mackintosh at the Willow, click here.

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

You might enjoy some of our past episodes on Mackintosh and Macdonald Mackintosh. Simply scroll back through the Love Scotland feed to hear instalments on Mackintosh at the Willow and the life of Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh.

If, like Andy, you are based in the US, you might be interested in the work of the National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA. Click here to read more about what they do. 

This week, host Jackie Bird is at Robert Smail’s Print Works in the Scottish Borders to see the oldest working commercial letterpress printers in the UK. She meets the team that keeps the printing works running today and hears about the history of the press and its eponymous owner.

Jackie also discovers secrets of the ever-changing publishing industry of the Victorian era, unpicks the mechanisms behind the presses, and takes us on a tour right into the heart of the machinery. 

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

For more information on the Robert Smail’s Print Works, click here.

We all know the songs and poems written by one of Scotland’s most famous sons – but who were the people that most influenced his life and his writing? Host Jackie Bird is on a mission to find out. This week, she’s joined by Christoper Waddell, learning manager at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, and Professor Gerard Carruthers, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Francis Hutcheson Chair of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow.

Together, they look at poets, family members, friends and educators who made their mark on the Bard. 

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

For more information on the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, click here.

Explore the National Trust for Scotland’s Robert Burns Collection online here.

You might enjoy some of our past episodes on Robert Burns. Simply scroll back through the Love Scotland feed to hear instalments on Auld Lang Syne and Burns’ death.

Use of Green Grow The Rashes, O by Bill Adair, courtesy of University of Glasgow.

How do you restore a 200-year-old church on one of Scotland’s most remote islands? Jackie Bird sits down with Susan Bain, property manager of St Kilda, to find out. 

 A dual UNESCO World Heritage Site that sits on the edge of the Atlantic, St Kilda is vital to Scottish history but a big challenge for the Trust to care for properly. Once inhabited year-round by a civilian population, the island now hosts annual maintenance, archaeology, conservation and bird monitoring projects. This year, that included the restoration of a building that used to be at the very heart of the community.

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

For more information on St Kilda, click here.

The work on St Kilda’s Kirk was made possible thanks to supporters of our Caring for St Kilda campaign. Thank you to all of them. 

As a charity, we can only undertake work such as this with your support. Please, if you can, donate today and help us continue to carry out conservation work across St Kilda. Find out more about the second phase of the campaign, which will restore the kirk’s interiors, here.

Meet Hugh Miller: the man regarded as the David Attenborough of his day. Though often overlooked in the history books, this self-taught geologist helped to popularise natural history to his Victorian audience.

 What did he help to discover about prehistoric Scotland? How were his scientific findings viewed by his peers? And why has he not remained better known?

 Joining Jackie Bird this week is James Ryan, visitor services assistant at Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage and Museum in Cromarty.

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

For more on Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage and Museum, click here.

As the Edinburgh Festival Fringe gets into full swing, Jackie Bird takes a walk from Gladstone’s Land along the Royal Mile to discover the dark side of this city centre street.

 Guiding Jackie through the murky past is Eric Melvin, veteran tour guide and author of A Walk Down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Expect tales of body-snatching, the exploits of Deacon Brodie, and rumoured Jacobite-era cannonball scars. 

 To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

For more information on Gladstone’s Land, click here.

 Or listen to our previous episode set at Gladstone’s Land, all about 300 years of the plague. Just scroll back through your podcast feed. 

 Additional music courtesy of the Edinburgh Renaissance Band.

Whether you’re out every week hitting the links, or consider golf a good walk spoiled, the sport is undeniably a key ingredient in Scotland’s social tapestry. 

At Kingarrock Hickory Golf Course, the only remaining course of its kind in the UK, Jackie meets Dave Allan, visitor services assistant at the Hill of Tarvit venue. She also meets Hannah Fleming, learning and access curator at The R&A World Golf Museum, to find out how and why golf became so popular.

From its royal roots onwards, Jackie charts a centenary of play at Kingarrock and considers the wider history of Scottish golf, which stretches back as far as 500 years ago. 

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

For more information on Kingarrock Hickory Golf Course, click here.

Recorded in Falkland Palace’s chapel royal, host Jackie Bird and her guest Steven Veerapen discuss the adult life and legacy of James VI of Scotland and I of England. During his reign, the king faced a host of challenges, from religious tensions to anti-Scottish sentiment in his London court, not to mention Guy Fawkes’ gunpowder plot.

 Veerapen’s book, The Wisest Fool, challenges the varied perceptions of James as an ineffective or short-sighted monarch. What really motivated the first king to reign over Scotland, England and Ireland? How did his adult relationships – with men and women – influence his decision-making? And which is more accurate: was the king a wise man, or a fool?

 To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

For more information on Falkland Palace, click here.