May 25th Photograph Barmkin Scotland

May 25th photograph of a Barmkin at Dowhill near Kinross, Scotland. Barmkin, also spelled barmekin or barnekin, is a Scots word which refers to a form of medieval and later defensive enclosure, typically found around smaller castles, tower houses, pele towers, and castle houses in Scotland, and the north of England. It has been suggested that etymologically the word may be a corruption of the word barbican. The barmkin would have contained ancillary buildings, and could be used to protect cattle during raids.


May 25th photograph of a Barmkin at Dowhill near Kinross, Scotland.


May 25th photograph of a Barmkin at Dowhill near Kinross, Scotland.


May 25th photograph of a Barmkin at Dowhill near Kinross, Scotland.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Scotland's traditionally built environment is one of its most unique and cherished features. It is something which both draws visitors from around the world and gives Scotland's inhabitants a sense of place and identity. This volume celebrates for the first time the raw materials which have been employed in forming Scotland's traditional buildings. In total 14 different materials are examined, including stone, timber, iron, clay and slate, with each being discussed by an expert in the material, reflecting regional variations, the socio-economic stories behind the materials, and how they have shaped Scotland's traditionally built environment. Each chapter covers aspects of the material such as how it has been utilised over time, geographical variations throughout the country, the properties of the material and examples of its use. Building Scotland.

Medieval Scotland. Of all the Celtic peoples once dominant across the whole of Europe north of the Alps, the Scots were the only ones who established a kingdom that lasted. Wales and Brittany, subject to the same sort of pressure from a powerful neighbour, retained linguistic distinctiveness but lost political nationhood; Ireland became a patchwork of petty kingdoms, unable to throw off the domination of the English. What made Scotland's history so different from theirs? Alan Macquarrie's powerful account of medieval Scotland explores the reasons for Scotland's distinctiveness and its unceasing search for freedom and a national identity. The picture of medieval Scotland that emerges is a surprisingly 'modern' one, with its rich racial mix, the Scots were not a pure Celtic people but a mixture of Celtic races, Gaels, Picts and Britons, with strong non-Celtic elements such as Norse and English, and its strong regional identities making it almost egalitarian. From the situation in Scotland at the end of Roman Britain until the political and religious revolutions of the sixteenth century, including Scotland's achievements in the creative sphere, the social life of the people. Medieval Scotland.