Chief prosecutor looks smug and proud that 2,450 people have been arrested as terrorists, many of which are pensioners. This is the epitome of the banality of evil.

Jarlshof (/ˈjɑːrlzhɒf/ YARLZ-hof)[1] is the best-known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland, Scotland.

It contains remains dating from 2500 BC up to the 17th century AD.

The remains at Jarlshof represent thousands of years of human occupation and can be seen as a microcosm of Shetland history. Other than the Old House of Sumburgh (see below), the site remained largely hidden until a storm in the late 19th century washed away part of the shore, and revealed evidence of these ancient buildings. Formal archaeological excavation started in 1925, and Bronze Age relics were soon discovered.[13] Jarlshof was one of first two broch sites to be excavated using modern scientific techniques between 1949 and 1952.[9] Although the deposits within the broch had been badly disturbed by earlier attempts, this work revealed a complex sequence of construction from different periods.[14] Buildings on the site include the remains of a Bronze Age smithy, an Iron Age broch, an roundhouses, a complex of Pictish wheelhouses, a Viking longhouse[10][15] and a mediaeval farmhouse. No further excavations have been undertaken since the early 1950s, and no radiocarbon dating has been attempted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarlshof

Broch of Mousa (or Mousa Broch) is a preserved Iron Age broch or round tower. It is on the island of Mousa in Shetland, Scotland. It is the tallest broch still standing and amongst the best-preserved prehistoric buildings in Europe. It is thought to have been constructed c. 300 BC,[1] and is one of more than 500 brochs built in Scotland

Mousa is a small, treeless island of open grassland and heath typical of the Shetland landscape. Its rocky coastline includes small natural inlets that provide landing places for boats.[5] Immediately beside the broch lies the sheltered tidal basin known as the Loch of Mousa, which connects to the sea through a narrow channel.[3]

It is built of dry stone with no mortar.[11]

Mousa Broch continued to be used over the centuries and is mentioned in two Norse Sagas. Egil's Saga tells of a couple eloping from Norway to Iceland who were shipwrecked and used the broch as a temporary refuge.[14] The Orkneyinga Saga gives an account of a siege of the broch by Earl Harald Maddadsson in 1153 following the abduction of his mother, who was held inside the broch.[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broch_of_Mousa

Most history is about people in power. Kings, Queens, lords, bishops, etc. Here's a piece about the common folk.

The Colony was a squatters' community on commonty, or common land, on one side of Bennachie, a range of hills near Aberdeen, Scotland.[1]

From the beginning of the nineteenth century common land in the parishes of Chapel of Garioch and Oyne on the east side of Bennachie became home to a community of squatters. This settlement was known locally as the Colony. Various estimates have been made of when the colony began with some citing 1825 but according to Fagen the first documentary evidence is from 1831.[2] A small number of families led a crofting life supplementing it by doing skilled work, such as dyking, quarrying and knitting.[3][4][5]

In 1859, eight neighbouring landlords took possession of sections of Bennachie as part of their estates. This action, recognised in law from 5 March 1859, has become known as the Division of the Commonty. As a result, the population on the side of the hill began to decline. Most of the crofts were built on land claimed by Col. Charles Leslie of Balquhain and Fetternear. His son, Charles Stephen Leslie, was responsible for evicting some of the residents in 1878.

The last of the colonists, George Esson, lived on the hill until his death in May 1939. Esson was a drystone dyker. While working on the Dunecht Estate, repairing old dykes and creating new ones, he would lodge with a Mrs Cooper at Dunecht, then walk the twenty miles back to the colony at weekends.[6]

Visitors to Bennachie can explore the Colony, including the remains of a croft which was excavated as part of the Fetternear Research Project in 1999.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colony_(Bennachie)

https://bailiesofbennachie.co.uk/landscapes-project/the-bennachie-colony

Edit: fun fact! Bennachie means "hill of the breast" in Scottish Gaelic and is also the only known source of Macaulayite.

Macaulayite is a red, earthy, monoclinic mineral, with the chemical formula (Fe3+,Al)24Si4O43(OH)2.[3] It was discovered in the 1970s by Jeff Wilson and named after the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland. The only known source of macaulayite in the world is a quarry at the foot of Bennachie, Aberdeenshire,[4] and it is formed by granite which has been weathered by tropical climates from before the last ice age. The substance is currently being studied by NASA, as it is speculated that this is the substance which gives the planet Mars its colour and it could prove that life on Mars can be sustained.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaulayite

There's a lot of history at Huntly, so strap yourself in, this is a long one!

The castle was originally built by Duncan II, Earl of Fife, on the Strathbogie estate sometime around 1180 and 1190.[2][1] The castle became known as the Peel of Strathbogie.[3]

In 1506, the castle was officially renamed Huntly Castle.[2]

Although the castle was burned to the ground, a grander castle was built in its place.

James IV came to Huntly in October 1501 and gave gifts of money to the stonemasons working on the castle.

James IV played cards at the castle on 10 October 1505 and gave a tip to masons working on the building.

Areas of the original ornate facade and interior stonework remain.

The English diplomat Thomas Randolph stayed two nights in September 1562,[15] and wrote that the castle was "fayer, beste furnishede of anye howse that I have seen in thys countrie."[16] Mary, Queen of Scots decided to take the castle, giving as a cause that the Earl withheld from her a royal cannon lent to him by Regent Arran.[17] She sent her half-brother John Stewart, Commendator of Coldingham to arrest the George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly at Huntly Castle in October 1562. On the day William Kirkcaldy of Grange and the Tutor of Pitcur arrived first and surrounded the house. While Kirkcaldy was talking to the castle porter, the castle watchman on the tower spotted Coldingham and the Master of Lindsay and their troops a mile off. He alerted the Earl, who ran without "boot or sword" and hopped over a low wall at the back of the castle and found a horse before Pitcur could stop him. Elizabeth Keith, Countess of Huntly then welcomed the queen's men and gave them a meal and showed them around the place. She still had her chapel furnished for Roman Catholic worship.[18][19]

The king arrived at Huntly on 26 April 1589 after spending a night at Kintore. The Earl of Huntly had fled to the mountains, stripping the countryside and emptying the house of furniture. James brought 100 workmen to demolish the castle. Huntly sent the king an offer to spare the house and surrendered.[37]

In May 1593 the Earl captured a man called Pedder in the lands of Atholl. Pedder was hanged and dismembered and his body parts displayed on poles at Huntly.[39]

In April 1594 a Flemish ship came to Montrose and it was suspected that a messenger rode to Huntly Castle with a bag of Spanish gold.[40] In July, the Earl was overseeing the building of a new hall and gallery.[41] Following the battle of Glenlivet, James VI came with workmen again and his master of works William Schaw, and planned to blow up the "gret old tower" which had been "fourteen years in building" on 29 October 1594.[42] The kirk minister Andrew Melville was with the king and a vocal advocate for demolition.[43] Aberdeen town council bought twenty stones in weight of gunpowder for the demolition of Huntly and other places,[44] and sent the stonemason John Fraser and other workmen to the demolition work at Huntly and Old Slains Castle, equipped with new shovels.[45]

The royal council met at Terrisoule to discuss the planned demolition on 28 October. Some Lords wanted the fortress kept to hold a loyal garrison. James VI still wished the whole castle, the new and old work, to be slighted.[46] It was decided not to completely demolish Huntly and Slains Castle and other houses, but preserve them for the convenience of the royal garrisons. It was also said that the pleas of the Countesses of Huntly and Erroll to save the houses were successful.[47]

Huntly spent large sums restoring and enlarging the castle in April 1597.[52] The restored facade of the main block was carved with the names and titles of the marquess, "George Gordon" and his wife, "Henrietta Stewart" who was a favourite of the queen, Anne of Denmark.[53] In February 1603 James VI made plans to resolve the Marquess's feuds including a royal visit to Huntly with Anne of Denmark and the Earl of Moray later in the year. The visit did not take place because of the death of Elizabeth I and the subsequent Union of the Crowns.[54]

Captured in October 1644, the castle was briefly held by James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose against the Duke of Argyll. In 1647 it was gallantly defended against General David Leslie by Lord Charles Gordon, but its 'Irish' garrison was starved into surrender. Savage treatment was meted out, for the men were hanged and their officers beheaded. In December of the same year the Marquess of Huntly himself was captured and on his way to execution at Edinburgh was detained, by a refinement of cruelty, in his own mansion. His escort was shot against its walls.

An ammunition house contained 81 muskets, match cord, and ten cannon.[56] In 1650 Charles II visited briefly on his way to the Battle of Worcester, defeat and exile. The Civil War brought an end to the Gordon of Huntly family's long occupation of the castle.

In 1689, during the first Jacobite rising, the castle was briefly the headquarters for Viscount Dundee and his Jacobite army, at the end of April, just after the start of the revolt. However, by the early eighteenth century the castle was already in decay and providing material for predatory house builders in the village. In 1746, during a later Jacobite rising, it was occupied by British government troops. Thereafter, it became a common quarry until a groundswell of antiquarian sentiment in the 19th century came to the rescue of the noble pile.

Huntly Castle remained under the ownership of the Clan Gordon until 1923. Today, the remains of the castle are cared for by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.[57]

Pure Strength I, a major international strongman competition, was held on the grounds of Huntly Castle in 1987. The winner of the contest was Jón Páll Sigmarsson of Iceland.[58]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntly_Castle

The house was commissioned by the 4th Duke of Montrose and built in 1852–1858 as a home for the Montrose family, serving as such until 1925. It was built as a replacement for Buchanan Auld House

In December 1852, while the family were away for Christmas, the housekeeper was reputed to have drunk too much and awakened to find the entire house in flames. Many valuable items were lost in the blaze. Buchanan Auld House was destroyed in the fire and the 4th duke commissioned William Burn to design Buchanan Castle to replace it.[3]

The dukes remained at Buchanan until 1925, when it was sold. In the 1930s the house opened as a hotel and the golf course was established in the grounds. Plans for residential development on the estate were delayed by the outbreak of the Second World War, during which the house was requisitioned. It was used as a hospital during the war, with patients including Rudolf Hess, who was brought here after his flight to Scotland in 1941.[3] After the war the building served briefly as the Army School of Education. The roof was removed from the house in 1954 to avoid paying tax on the property and outlying parts of the building were demolished.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchanan_Castle

The site dates from the late 13th century; the earliest charter for the lands dating from 1256, but the remains of the building are of 15th- and 16th-century origin.[1]

In 1570, a dispute arose between Gilbert Kennedy, 4th Earl of Cassillis, and Allan Stewart, the succeeding lay Commendator of Crossraguel Abbey, over the ownership of some of the abbey lands and their rental income.... ...Gilbert, with sixteen men,[11] caught Allan Stewart unexpectedly in Crossraguel Woods whilst a guest of the Laird of Bargany,[2] and tricked him [12] into journeying to Dunure. At the castle, he was deprived of his horse and weapons and guarded by six of the Earl's men.[13]

For two days, Gilbert left the commendator to consider his fate and because he was obstinate and refused to sign over the lands and rentals, Gilbert tortured him twice, roasting and basting his feet and body over a brazier in the Black Vault[14] of the castle,[15] aided by his cook, baker and pantrymen.[16] As a result of the torture sessions of the first and seventh days of September 1570,[17] the lands were signed over to Gilbert.

The Commendator was rescued from his confinement by the Laird of Bargany, Allan's brother in law, who arrived with a body of men; first hiding in the chapel and then storming the castle.[18] The rights to the abbey lands were settled, partly by the Earl providing Allen Stewart with sufficient funds to allow him to live 'comfortably' for the rest of his life.[1] In the meantime, he had been taken to the Cross of Ayr where he had denounced the Earl of Cassillis.[19] The Earl was never fully brought to book for his actions by the Privy Council. Allen Stewart never walked again.[20]

The castle's demise began in the mid-17th century. By 1694, the castle was described as "wholly ruined". It is not clear whether this can be linked to the Civil War period, although local tradition suggests that Dunure had been burnt and/or blown up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunure_Castle

The castle was probably built in the mid-13th century

Kildrummy Castle underwent siege numerous times in its history, first in defence of the family of Robert the Bruce in August–September 1306 (leading to the executions of Nigel Bruce and many other Scots),[4] and again in 1335 by David of Strathbogie. On this occasion Christina Bruce held off the attackers until her husband Sir Andrew Murray came to her rescue.[5]

The castle passed from the Clan Elphinstone to the Clan Erskine before being abandoned in 1716 following the failure of the Jacobite Rising of 1715.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kildrummy_Castle

Neil de Brus (c. 1279 – September 1306), also Niall or Nigel, was a younger brother of King Robert I of Scotland. He supported his older brother in the struggle for the crown of Scotland and fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence.

In 1306, he was captured by English forces at Kildrummy Castle, where he and his garrison held off Edward's forces who had been seeking Robert the Bruce's wife Elizabeth, daughter Marjorie, sisters Mary and Christina, and Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan.[1] Their actions enabled the women to escape, although the women were soon captured and betrayed to the English by William, 3rd Earl of Ross in the chapel of St Duthac at Tain in Ross.[2]

After his capture he was executed for high treason by being hanged, drawn, and quartered in September 1306 at Berwick-upon-Tweed.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_de_Brus

The Tap o' Noth is a hill and the name of a hillfort on its summit,[2] 8 miles south of Huntly in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

It is the second highest fort in Scotland and its main feature is its well-preserved vitrified wall which encloses an area of approximately 100 m by 30 m, 0.3 hectares. Archaeological finds from the site include a stone axe head dated to between c. 2000 BC– c.800 BC, and a decorated bronze rein-ring dated to the 1st–3rd century AD.[3]

The vitrified fort is the centre of a settlement within another rampart which encloses a much larger area of some 7 hectares. This outer rampart was constructed in the fifth to sixth centuries AD; large scale settlement within the area may date back as far as the third century AD, contemporary with the Pictish culture.[5]

Drone photographs and lidar surveys suggest that there may have been as many as 800 huts, many in groups with a larger hut at the centre of the group.[8] It has been described as the largest known settlement in early-Medieval (post-Roman) Britain.[8]

In the nearby valley, the Pictish image of Rhynie Man on a standing stone has been found on Barflat farm. A post-Roman settlement has been discovered in the valley, with evidence for the consumption of wine from the Mediterranean, the use of glass vessels from western France, and intensive metalwork production. This is interpreted as signs of high social status, possibly with royal connections.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tap_o'_Noth

Bonus Rhynie Man!

Believed to date from the fifth or sixth century, the Rhynie Man carries an axe upon his shoulder, has a large pointed nose and wears a headdress

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/8083/

Dunalastair (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Alastair, meaning "fort of Alexander") is an estate in the southern part of the Highlands, in Perthshire, Scotland.[1][2]

There is the ruin of an old baronial-style mansion in the grounds, built in 1862 by General Macdonald, the then-owner of Dunalastair. The original tower house was burnt down after the 1745 rebellion, as the great chieftain Alexander Robertson of Struan was a Jacobite supporter.

The estate is overlooked by the peak of Schiehallion, a conical mountain sometimes translated as "Fairy hill of the Caledonians".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunalastair

Schiehallion has a rich flora, interesting folklore and archaeology, and a unique place in scientific history for an 18th-century experiment in "weighing the Earth".

Schiehallion's isolated position and regular shape led it to be selected by the English astronomer Charles Mason (of Mason–Dixon line fame) for a ground-breaking experiment to estimate the mass of the Earth in 1774.[10] The deflection of a pendulum by the mass of the mountain provided an estimate of the mean density of the Earth, from which its mass and a value for Newton's gravitational constant G could be deduced. Mason turned down a commission to carry out the work, and it was instead coordinated by the Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne. He was assisted in the task by mathematician Charles Hutton, who devised a graphical system to represent large volumes of surveyed heights, later known as contour lines.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiehallion

Hartwood Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located in the village of Hartwood near the town of Shotts in Scotland.

The hospital was designed by John Lamb Murray to accommodate 500 patients and opened as the Lanark District Asylum in 1895.[1][2]: 38  The complex included staff-houses, gardens, a farm, a power-plant, a reservoir, a railway-line and a cemetery.[2]: 32  Two large separate blocks were added in 1898, a tuberculosis sanatorium was completed in 1906 and a nurses' home was opened in 1931.[1]

The Scottish Union of Mental Patients was set up by mental patients at Hartwood Hospital in July 1971.[2]: 38  At that time some 27 patients signed a petition to "redress of grievances and better conditions" at the hospital.[2]: 38  After the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in 1998.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartwood_Hospital

Lennox Castle is an abandoned castle in Lennoxtown, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, approximately 12 miles (19 kilometres) north of Glasgow.[1] It is infamous for previously hosting Lennox Castle Hospital, Scotland's "largest institution for people with learning disabilities".[2]

The castle was built between 1837 and 1841 by David Hamilton for John Lennox Kincaid, on the Lennox of Woodhead Estate, replacing Kincaid House.[3] In 1927, the castle and its land was purchased by the Glasgow Corporation, and converted into a hospital for people with learning disabilities; the hospital opened in 1936.[3][2] The castle itself was the nurses' home, whilst its grounds provided accommodation for about 1,200 patients.[2] The Scotsman reports that soon afterwards, the facilities were "vastly overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded".[1]

By 1982, 1360 patients between the ages of 10 and 80 years old were looked after by around 500 staff, with fewer than half of these being trained nurses. The Scottish Hospitals Advisory Service had visited the year before and recommended a further 100 staff.[4] The care provided by the hospital was reported to be poor, with patients being malnourished.[2]

There was also a separate maternity unit in operation between the 1940s and 1960s;[3][5] singer Lulu and footballer John Brown were among the babies born there.[6][7]

This hospital was closed in 2002,[8] as a reflection in changes to how society treated patients with learning disabilities with a view to keeping them in the community.[2][9] Further, it was noted that patients were treated poorly by staff.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennox_Castle