Page 9 - What's In A Name - The Barry Pipes Canon

WHAT’S IN A NAME? The Barry Pipes Canon • 2005 - 2018 The Minister on the Loch 017-2008-May-Set&Link
The next time you are in Edinburgh, the National Gallery of Scotland is always worth a Visit. There, you will find a number of the works of Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), a well- known Scottish artist. Sir Henry was accomplished in the field of portraiture and in this
From Set&Link, newsletter of RSCDS Toronto
I’m not sure whether SCD devisor Roy Goldring owned a print of this work, as many of us do. However, it seemed to give him the inspiration to craft a beautiful strathspey entitled The Minister on the Loch, a very lovely dance that will be on the programme of the West Toronto Ball on May 10. ◼︎
period of the Scottish Enlightenment painted a host of Edinburgh notables, including Sir Walter Scott.
Possibly his most famous oil painting (an attribution controversy exists!*) is said to be that of The Reverend Robert Walker, Skating Upon Duddingston Loch. The Rev’d. Walker ministered over Canongate Kirk (no Cadger he!). Also a member of the Edinburgh Skating Society, he had learned to skate on Holland’s frozen canals while his father was the minister of the Scots Kirk in Rotterdam.
Last month, my outline about The Duke of Atholl’s Reel suggested I did not know to which Duke the dance referred. I’ve since learned the 9th Duke was President of the Scottish Country Dance Society (not quite Royal at that time) from 1924 to 1957.
Duddingston Loch is a bird sanctuary near Holyrood Park, Edinburgh. Besides being a popular skating place,
it is also the cradle of curling.
The Bridge of Nairn
He’s probably the man!
...B.P.
The Rev’d. Robert Walker Skating . . .
* Recently, a controversy has arisen suggesting
that this famous canvas was actually painted by a Frenchman, Henri-Pierre Danloux, who happened to be visiting Edinburgh in the 1790s. Perish the thought!
018-2008-June-Set&Link
It was King James VI of Scotland who boasted around the year 1603 that Nairn was a town in his kingdom whose only street was so long that people living at one end could not understand the language of the people at the other end. Gaelic to the east and the local Scots dialect to the west.
As an ancient fishing port on the Moray Firth, just a short distance east of Inverness, Nairn also became a Victorian seaside resort in the 1860s. This was due supposedly to its relatively mild climate! Moreover, Nairn’s
But the bridge?
Nairn High Street
While there are one or two town bridges over the River Nairn, seemingly not of historical consequence, there is a well-known bridge in Nairnshire just south of the town that might well be significant enough to justify becoming the name of a dance. It is the picturesque Dulsie Bridge that carries an old 18th century military road over the River Findhorn. This is most likely the Bridge of Nairn that we know as an RSCDS strathspey, a dance that first surfaced in 1945 (Book 13 – The Victory Book).
We enjoyed it at Dancing in the Park, June 3. ◼︎
proximity to both the Culloden battlefield and Cawdor Castle of Shakespeare’s Macbeth fame, likely helps its standing as a tourist centre. One famous visitor was said to be the Duke of Cumberland (the “Butcher” of Culloden), who commanded the English troops in Scotland in 1746. He stayed at Nairn just prior to the unpleasantness at Culloden and was responsible for the brutal treatment of Jacobite survivors.
Dulsie Bridge, spans the Findhorn River
near the seaside town of Nairn. It’s 60 ft from the bridge wall to the water — and
adventurous folk like to jump off (for fun!). If you’re not queasy about heights, go to YouTube and search for “Dulsie Bridge”.