CUSTOMARY  (OLD) WEIGHTS & MEASURES Apples, Bushel lb 40 & up Almonds, seron cwt 1.1/4 to 2s       basket cwt 1.1/4 to 1.1/2       Jordan, box lb 25 Anchovies, barrel lb 30 Beef (Irish), tierce of 38 pieces lb 304 Brandy, hogshead imp.gals 45 to 60 Puncheon imp. gals 100 to 110     1/4 cask […]

Scotland in the 16th century. It is relevant to understanding what was happening in Scotland in the years leading up to the Reformation, to have an idea of the environment in which the common people lived, and eked out a precarious existence. Of particular importance was the change taking place in the towns or burghs […]

Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540). Thomas Cromwell was from a modest background , born in Putney, the son of a smith. A ready wit, a nimble tongue and a diligent worker he qualified as a lawyer and became an agent for whomsoever needed one abroad in Europe. In this role he liked to travel and familiarised himself […]

Freemen and Burgesses – merchants versus craftsmen. Scotland was slow to distinguish craft-men from merchants, and possibly garnered the idea of trade societies (unions) from Germany where the craftsmen had been pursuing representation on Town Councils since the thirteenth century. But in Scotland the merchant burgess were a class apart with wealth, privileges and life […]

The execution of Jan Hus 6 July 1415. Extract from The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, , Ed  Rev Geo. Townsend, 1844 , vol iii. p 493-4). The place appointed for the execution was before the Gottlieben Gate, between the gardens and the gates of the suburbs. When John Hus was come thither, kneeling […]

Wolsey`s perception of the reforms needed in the catholic church. [ A summary from Cardinal Wolsey by Mandell Creighton, Bishop of Peterborough Pub. 1895 ] Wolsey saw how precarious a condition the church was in. He knew that in many things the church was wrong and that it would have to give way, but he […]

Scottish Emigration For nearly 400 years there has been a stream of emigrants leaving Glasgow and other ports in the west of Scotland for destinations overseas. In the early seventeenth century the majority were headed for the Plantation of Ulster, while a few were sailing to the continent, and a handful to the Nova Scotia […]

Edinburgh  Castle –  a  Legacy  and  a  Memorial St Michael, carving suspended from the roof. Most  people  of  Scottish  origin  will  have  seen  the  towering  edifice  of  Edinburgh  Castle  either in  photographs, travel  magazines  when  planning  the  trip  to  the  ancestral  home  or on  film  or  television  when  the  Edinburgh  Tattoo  is  taking  place.  But  […]

Execution Property, which was sometimes substantial, was usually forfeit to the Crown when a Covenanter was executed, and if they had a coat of arms it would be rent and thrown down by the Lyon King of Arms. A consequence was that families would be cast out of their home to spend their life in […]

Medicine and the Industrial Revolution . A force for change in 18th and 19th century Scottish medicine. The establishment of good medical practice in Scotland is as much part of the Industrial Revolution as the ingenuity that went into developing mighty pieces of machinery. A more widespread medical treatment for the common man began its […]

Rev  William  Guthrie  of  Fenwick.  Fenwick  is  a  small  village to the  north of  Kilmarnock  in  Ayrshire  but  it sits large  in  the  annals  of  the  Covenanters.  A  centre  for  resistance despite  the  close  proximity  of  military  garrisons  at  Kilmarnock  and  Newmilns. It  was  an  area  subject  to  repeated  raids  by  the  dragoons  which is […]

Bibliography and Sources Many of the Scottish resources are to be found in the National Archives, the Public Library and the National Library of Scotland, all in Edinburgh. The on line catalogue of the National Library is especially helpful in identifying sources and may be accessed on the Internet at www. nls.uk . Major libraries […]

Act of the Six Articles 1539 Extract from Foxes Monuments, Ed Rev  Geo Townsend (1846) Vol 5 p 262). In this parliament, synod, or convocation, certain articles, matters, and questions, touching religion, were decreed by certain prelates, to the number especially of six, commonly called ‘The Six Articles’ (or, ‘The Whip with Six Strings’), to […]

Suffer little Children … At every turn of the newspaper page and in every newscast on television there seems to be something about the suffering of little children. Whether they are the refugees from war or ethnic cleansing, or floods or famine, the innocents of this world are subject of the most gross neglect and […]