Skip to main content

A tale of Two Thimbles

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to Scotland and gave me this thimble.  I've never been to Scotland and this thimble has given me another place to add to my "what to visit in Scotland one day list".    

Although I have heard of Glencoe, I thought it was a skiing resort.  Well, it is but there is a lot more to it than that.  It is situated on the west side of Scotland, overlooking Loch Leven.  Fort William and Ben Nevis are to the North and Oban to the South. It's stunning scenery has led to it being used as the backdrop in a few movies - "The Highlander" "Rob Roy" and more recently the "Harry Potter" series.   

This thimble, also from Scotland, came in a bulk purchase of thimbles from Ebay a couple of years ago.
Old Leanach Cottage is on Culloden Moor which is near Inverness. Culloden is the location of a very famous battle from the Jacobite uprising.  The Jacobites were supporters of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the House of Stuart.  The House of Stuart lost the British throne when James VII of Scotland & II of England was exiled to France.  The Jacobites wanted the throne returned to the Stuarts.    

The Battle of Culloden took place in April 1746 and was where Jacobites came to blows with the supporters of the reigning House of Hanover in a fierce and gory battle.  The battle raged all around the cottage and yet when the fighting was over, it was left standing.  Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the Jacobites.  They lost close to 2,000 men and the Battle of Culloden was their last stand.  

The cottage is still there and is one of the places that I have on my list of things to see in Scotland.  Along with Glencoe, Ben Nevis, Loch Ness... I think I'm going to need a bit longer than a day!

Bye for now

Olly  


Facebook.com/olwenwhite/
instagram.com/olwenwhitewrites/
Twitter @OlwenWhite
Labels:

Comments

  1. Agnieszka31 March 2011 at 12:36

    Welcome to My Thimble Collection new site! Visit me at http://naparstek.com.pl :) Greetings from Poland!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Agnieszka14 April 2011 at 09:22

    I added your address to my website http://mythimblecollection.blogspot.com/ Welcome! :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thimbles Silver Hallmarks

  Did you know that before the 1880’s silver thimbles did not need to be hallmarked? No? Well, although the silver used was the correct grade to be classified as sterling, the amount used per thimble was too small making the duty payable for the hallmark more than the thimble was worth. This changed in 1884 when applying for a hallmark became mandatory. Hallmarks or any other kind of marking on a thimble helps to date it. Even the little dimples can help you tell how old it is.   This thimble is hallmarked. They are a bit tricky to read sometimes as they are incredibly small and sometimes are worn, especially when the thimble has been well used like this one. I inherited this one from my mother-in-law, who probably inherited it from her mother. This hallmark gives the makers mark, CH for Charles Horner; the Lion symbol, indicating that it is sterling silver, the mark for Chester Assay office and the date letter. The date letter is for 1897. I mentioned in an ear...
5 comments
Read more

A Passage of Time

Hi all, Time flies doesn't it? Seems like only yesterday when I last posted to this blog. Can't believe it was March 2015! I think I must have been asleep because I have no idea why it has taken so long to post. These thimbles show the passage of time. All of it a lot before mine, I hasten to add. These little ladies show the changes in fashion in the United States from 1900 through to 1947. Originally part of a collection from Avon in the1980s. The four above are from left to right, 1910, 1900, 1928 & 1927. These four are 1923, 1938, 1942 & 1947. The 1920s must have been a great decade for fashion in the US, with 3 examples from that era included in the collection. In fact the 20s were a time of great change and not just for clothes. It was the interim period between two world wars. People thought that with the end of the First World War, conflict was over and there was a new, vibrant, buzz for the future. It was the age of bobbed hair, the Char...
13 comments
Read more

A Thimble Trail

Hi all, Lots of places have souvenir thimbles which can be taken home as a small memento of a journey to a far away place, a visit to an historic building, a theme park, or even a popular tourist attraction.   Most of the souvenir thimbles in my collection have either been given to me by friends and relatives or purchased in charity shops or from ebay.    Rather than being a record of places that I have been they are more of a wish list - a thimble trail of places I would like to visit. One of my friends brought this back from a recent trip to Scotland. I picked the next couple up from Ebay. Both Scotland and the Lake District are places that I haven't been to yet but would like to. That isn't the only thing they have in common.  They are both a bit soggy and grey at the moment so maybe that's a trip I should save for summer months ☺. In the meantime, here are some thimbles with ...
5 comments
Read more