Heart o' Scotland Links

These links to wonderful Scottish web sites are organized by topic. Click on the topic to pop down to the links for that category or scroll down through all the links.

• Art, Literature and Music
• Celtic Mythology and Christianity
• Cooking, Crafts and Customs (includes weddings)
• Famous Scots
• Scottish Genealogy (includes clan societies and organizations)
• Golf in Scotland
• History of Scotland
• Scotch Whisky
• Tartans and Clans (includes fabric/clothing)
• Travel to Scotland
• Miscellaneous (general or comprehensive sites and directories)

Art, Literature and Music

Free Scottish Stickers: REAL MEN WEAR KILTS http://www.thebards.net/nagians/free_sticker/ Celebrate your Celtic & Scottish cultural heritage while helping to promote the Brobdingnagian Bards with Free Stickers that read 'Real Men Wear Kilts'! Just send a SASE for your free sticker and promote The Bards today!
Simply Scottish.com This is a marvelous and extremely popular web site, created by talented young Scots expatriate Andrew McDiarmid, and featuring his articles, reviews, and interviews. Lots to read and buy.
Hilt and Brand Ink Beautiful limited edition giclee art prints portraying Scottish historical themes from original pen and ink art by Harve Hildebrand.

Celtic Mythology and Christianity Links

Society of Celtic Shamans. Wonderful site for those who are seriously interested in Celtic animism. Well-designed, well-written, tons of fascinating information, and great links to ancient Celtic documents and religious sites.
Fairgrove Conjureworks. Rowan Fairgrove has created a marvelous portal to sites of interest to the spiritual seeker. It is rare to find an ecumenical compendium displaying such respect and openness toward seekers of all faiths. An excellent resource.
Celtic Trails. Jackie Queally provides visitors to Edinburgh with unique walking tours of local ancient and sacred sites, steeped in centuries of old traditions, both pagan and Christian.
The Medievalist. New book site with short articles and resources on Celtic Britain, the Vikings in Scotland, the Celts and their history, and other topics related to medieval Scotland.

Cooking, Crafts and Customs Links

Culture of Scotland - recommended by the students in Mrs. Rawlins history class in Cleary Mt. School District.
http://www.smart.net/~tak/haggis.html. Several haggis recipes, recipes for a complete "Burns Night" meal, plus links to other haggis sites. Haggis containing meat cannot be imported into the US, so you have to make your own, if you want it.
http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/europe/scottish/. Sixty-one recipes, weighted toward baked goods.
www.scotstitching.com. Heaven for the cross stitcher. Scotland maps, clan crests, thistle and Scottish wildlife, Celtic knot and crosses, and more. Most items are offered as full kits or chartpaks. The Mearnscraft company is located in Scotland; they have secure shopping cart and currency converter.
scarlettrose.com. Scarlett Rose offers her own quilt designs, as well as Celtic designs by other quilters, plus a wide range of Celtic quilting books. Most of the designs were sized as wall hangings rather than bed quilts.
http://members.tripod.com/~highxpress/index.html. Highland X Press is a Kansas City company that sells clothing and accessories related to Scottish dance, including kilt patterns and a book on kiltmaking. Worth a look.
CelticOneDesign Offers a shareware computer program for designing your own celtic knots for use in all kinds of art work, as well as other information on Celtic knotwork and Celtic wallpaper for your computer.
http://www.islayquilters.homestead.com The women of Islay create beautiful celtic quilts (and show one in progress step-by-step). The site also features the intricately carved sheepherders' crooks of craftsman and shepherd John Woodrow. Authentic Island crafts; site is very slow to load, patience required.
www.scottishbasketmakerscircle.org - The Scottish Basketmakers Circle is dedicated to promoting basketmaking and related crafts in Scotland, offering courses from beginner to expert. If you live elsewhere, check out the beautiful Scottish baskets in their galleries.
http://www.lindsayfleming.com. Grace Lindsay and Julie Fleming, based in Scotland, design and sell gorgeous Celtic wedding dresses. Browse their site for "oohs and aahs".

Famous Scots Links

http://www.rampantscotland.com/famous/famous.htm Rampant Scotland has a great list of famous scots which includes short biographies and pictures where available.
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/ The Gazetteer for Scotland has an extensive famous people search with biographies. This site has a lot of Scottish geographical information as well.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~crumey/walter_scott.html British novelist Andrew Crumey has written a good, fairly brief bio of Sir Walter Scott that includes a complete list of works. Mr. Crumey's novels can be found on amazon.co.uk
www.robertburns.org Website devoted to Robert Burns, Scotland's National Poet.
http://www.unibg.it/rls/rls.htm Great site about Robert Louis Stevenson and his writings
http://www.inveraray-castle.com Home of the Duke of Argyll, chief of clan Campbell, open to the public, gorgeous.
Robert Burns - Scotland's National Bard - Robert Burns, his life, loves and mostly his poetry and songs. Scotland's National Bard is loved and quoted all the world over.

Scottish Genealogy Links

Scots Heritage Society. Serving the Scottish diaspora, this site features genealogy forums, extensive links, guides to Scottish games and festivals around the world, and more.
The Capital Scot. Jim MacGregor's site includes topics of interest for Scots in the Washington DC area, interesting links, and an events calendar.
Cyndi's List. The biggest and best of the genealogy links directories - everything is there.
Clan Duncan Society - Visit the Clan Duncan Society to meet others of the clan, exchange genealogy information, and discuss the history and heritage of Scotland.
Clan Scott Scotland - a revival of the Clan Scott Society is underway. Click through to get more info.

Golf in Scotland Links

www.scottishgolf.com - mostly news about professional and amateur golfing in Scotland. They have a webcam at St. Andrews - you are there!
Half Price Golf - play half price golf at over half of Scotlands golf courses with Scotlands largest green fee discount scheme.

History of Scotland Links

History of Scotland - recommended by the students in Mrs. Rawlins history class in Cleary Mt. School District.
Scotland's Wars of Independence - recommended by the students in Mrs. Rawlins history class in Cleary Mt. School District.
www.orkneyjar.com - a great resource for everything related to Orkney culture and history, including a terrific section on the stone age excavations at Skara Brae.
www.snp.org - offical website of the Scottish National Party.
www.scotland.gov.uk - the Scottish government's website.

Scotch Whisky Links

The Scotch Whisky Association. This is the trade organization; their web site is chockful of interesting information.

Tartans and Clans Links

www.house-of-tartan.scotland.net. This is a terrific company, located in Scotland, offering a full range of tartan products, from fabric to kilts, skirts to cummerbunds, placemats and napkins, even children's clothing. You can choose your tartan or make your own tartan with their online software. Prices were listed in both pounds and dollars, and considering the high quality of the products, seemed very reasonable. They have a lovely section on planning a traditional Scottish/Celtic wedding.
www.tartans.scotland.net. This site has everything you could want to know about tartans - history, types, how they are made, how to wear them, etc.; plus a database of 2800 tartans - the largest I've seen - offerred in conjunction with the Scottish Heritage World Register. They have a shop, too. Their site was slow to load the day I was there, patience required.
Kilts. Wide variety of celtic goods, including kilts, tartan fabric, highland accessories and footwear, more.

Travel to Scotland Links

Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board. All you need to know to plan and book your trip.
Kyle Madden Holidays. Much needed service for family travelers to Edinburgh: Family friendly accommodation, reliable child-care, activities organized for the age of your children, trips for all the family in and around the city, and more.
Wondras. A free resource providing videos and photographs of Scotland for visitors, tourists, travel operators, businesses and outdoor enthusiasts.
Rooms in Scotland. One of the largest databases of accommodation in Scotland on the internet with over 1,000 Hotels, B&Bs and Hostels online as well as loads of general travel information on Scotland.

Miscellaneous (General)

Rampant Scotland - Rampant Scotland is the largest Scottish links directory on the internet. Rather than just a list of links, they provide descriptions of what you will find at each site, as well as enumerable articles on topics of interest. A terrific site.