b3rn Posted 6 March , 2019 Share Posted 6 March , 2019 Hi all, we're visiting Scotland at Christmas. My partner has Scapa Flow on the itinerary, but do you have any suggestions or recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 6 March , 2019 Share Posted 6 March , 2019 Scapa in December could be interesting. You would probably get the feel of what it was like! Also remember the days will be very short. There is also much else worth seeing in Orkney itself. I will think about WW1 things to see. To some extent it depends on which route you will be following in Scotland. To begin with here are some of the museums: Fort George well worth a visit in general, but also contains the Highlanders Museum: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/fort-george/ Gordon Highlanders Museum (Aberdeen): http://www.gordonhighlanders.com/ Black Watch Museum (Perth): https://www.theblackwatch.co.uk/ Stirling Castle: https://www.stirlingcastle.scot/ Again well worth a look on its own, but contains the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Museum. Edinburgh Castle: https://www.edinburghcastle.scot/ Well worth a look on its own but contains two military museums and the Scottish National War Memorial. There are more museums which I will add later (if someone else doesn't). I have tried to concentrate on those potentially on a route north. Always check opening times and days. In winter and especially around Christmas and New Year a number of things will have restricted opening. (A Historic Scotland building near me closes altogether for the winter and many Pictish standing stones in the open are boxed in for the winter to preserve them.) I hope this gives you a start. RM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 6 March , 2019 Share Posted 6 March , 2019 Royal Naval cemeteries at Lyness and Osmundwall on Hoy, also the RN visitor centre at Lyness at the top of the jetty. GW memorial gateway to the cemetery by St Magnus' Cathedral Kirkwall (more CWGC graves there I think) and Royal Oak memorial inside the cathedral (Jutland survivor sunk WW2). Two of the GW blockships can just be made out near the Churchill Barriers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heid the Ba Posted 8 March , 2019 Share Posted 8 March , 2019 How long are you in Scotland for? And how long up Orkney way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 8 March , 2019 Share Posted 8 March , 2019 'Scotland's First World War' by Kevin Munro has some modern photographs with some period maps, it is perhaps a bit glossy rather than detailed, but you might consider it in preparation. Perhaps others have better suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulgranger Posted 8 March , 2019 Share Posted 8 March , 2019 The Scottish National War Memorial within Edinburgh Castle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woodland Posted 8 March , 2019 Share Posted 8 March , 2019 Leith Cemetery with the memorial to the dead of the Quintishill Disaster is well worth a visit if you are near Edinburgh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanCurragh Posted 8 March , 2019 Share Posted 8 March , 2019 If by any chance you're going as far as Lewis, the memorial to HMY iolaire, and the site of its sinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 9 March , 2019 Share Posted 9 March , 2019 Beware with the Aryll's museum in Stirling: it's closed for refurbishment and I'm not sure when it re-opens. As the steady run of pictures from Forum member mbriscoe on this Forum shows, there are many, many splendid war memorials to see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 9 March , 2019 Share Posted 9 March , 2019 https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/speanbridge/commando/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b3rn Posted 10 March , 2019 Author Share Posted 10 March , 2019 Many thanks, much appreciated. Heid the Ba: 3 weeks. Itinerary is still a work in progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf mcm Posted 10 March , 2019 Share Posted 10 March , 2019 You probably wouldn't have time to see it, but Bangour War Hospital is still standing and can be visited at any time. Most of the original Great War period buildings are stll there, though a bit derelict and closed. Other buildings are from WW2 and later. There were a number of Australian patients at Bangour. This video gives a good idea of the site. Regards, Alf McM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 11 March , 2019 Share Posted 11 March , 2019 I bought this when we were in Orkney (2016). It's only just made it to the top of the pile but I'm enjoying it so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heid the Ba Posted 13 March , 2019 Share Posted 13 March , 2019 On 08/03/2019 at 20:56, Keith Woodland said: Leith Cemetery with the memorial to the dead of the Quintishill Disaster is well worth a visit if you are near Edinburgh. It is actually in Rosebank Cemetery in Pilrig, I'm being pedantic as there are also North and South Leith Cemeteries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 13 March , 2019 Share Posted 13 March , 2019 Trevor Royle is an all-round Good Egg. Written some excellent books about a raft of Scottish military (and other) history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 13 March , 2019 Share Posted 13 March , 2019 2 hours ago, Steven Broomfield said: Trevor Royle is an all-round Good Egg. Written some excellent books about a raft of Scottish military (and other) history Good to know! I'm reading a few pieces every evening and am making notes of other books to track down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 13 March , 2019 Share Posted 13 March , 2019 1 hour ago, seaJane said: Good to know! I'm reading a few pieces every evening and am making notes of other books to track down. Flowers of the Forest is an excellent Scottish history of the GW; A Time of Tyrants is a 2nd WW companion, which I have not yet read. His book on Culloden is also very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 13 March , 2019 Share Posted 13 March , 2019 In the (not A) Time of Tyrants is the title of a William Soutar poem; I wonder if there's any mention... Soutar served with the RN during the GW, was invalided out with the beginnings of ankylosing spondylitis which left him paralysed for the last 14 years of his life after a failed operation, and died in 1947. https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/time-tyrants/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKC Posted 14 March , 2019 Share Posted 14 March , 2019 Kitchener/HMS Hampshire Memorial on Orkney - well worth the walk, (and the sea birds nesting in the cliffs below are amazing, too!) The 6-inch shore battery on Orkney is mostly WW2, but there are still some remnants of the original WW1 construction. The guided tour is ... interesting. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 14 March , 2019 Share Posted 14 March , 2019 If by chance you don't feel up to the Marwick Head walk, you can get a good view of it in the distance from the car-park on the landward side of the Brough of Birsay (access to which is wheelchair-unfriendly in the extreme). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKC Posted 14 March , 2019 Share Posted 14 March , 2019 If you have an interest in visiting cemeteries, there are also Australians from WW1 buried in Scotland, for example, war worker Robert Brown is buried at Inveresk, near Edinburgh. I paid him a visit around this time last year. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 14 March , 2019 Share Posted 14 March , 2019 Also four Royal Australian Navy men buried in the RN Cemetery Lyness on Hoy: click here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdparker Posted 15 March , 2019 Share Posted 15 March , 2019 East Fortune aerodrome near Haddington houses the Museum of Flight. This site was a RNAS air station in WW1, and has material from that era including original footage of aeroplanes practising torpedo attacks against ship targets. The intention was to launch a torpedo strike against the German High Seas Fleet. The war ended before this could be achieved. Also packed with aircraft from WW2 and if I remember correctly Concorde and a Vulcan? Regards Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIFFO Posted 15 March , 2019 Share Posted 15 March , 2019 Black watch museum Perth, recommended Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotsmac Posted 15 March , 2019 Share Posted 15 March , 2019 Stobs WW1 POW camp is worth a visit. But wrap up well if you go in December! The museum in Hawick has some nice items from the Camp. And if you take a drive up the Spey Valley your find some nice WW1 memorials and excellent warming drinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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