 |
PAGES: 1 2
Routes to your roots in Scotland and beyond
Grassy, rolling hills meet the well-worn peaks of the Grampies. Sheep dot these hills and cold, clear rivers crisscross them. In the fall, Perthshire’s rugged land brightens with the changing leaves and it’s the best time of year to enjoy blue skies—at least until the late afternoon. Seeing this idyllic countryside, I wonder how my Scottish ancestors felt leaving this land to immigrate to Ireland. My great-great grandfather was Scots-Irish in the truest sense. An Ulster Scot, he came from the contingent of Protestants who originally settled in Northern Ireland as part of James VI’s plan to colonize those other isles.
Typical of many Americans, my last name, like a raised flag, pins me to a particular place on the map. Yet, it only hints at one of many roots. Though a blend of German, Swiss, English and Irish, I have a deep connection with my Scottish heritage through my father, whose imagination has long been captured by the Highland culture. And despite having settled in Ireland a few centuries prior, his family preserved their heritage by retaining the tartans and crests of the Murrays—even as they settled in the U.S. in the 1820s.
See our slideshow of Top European Heritage Tours
A land's history comes alive when there's personal attachment, so I was excited to see the country through the eyes of a daughter of Scotland. Plenty of people travel to foreign countries in search of relatives, and even more people study their genealogy, but a trip to the ancestral home doesn’t always have to mean hours spent researching the family tree. Sometimes, seeing where and how your ancestors may have lived can be just as fulfilling an adventure. In fact, there are plenty of heritage tour operators in Europe who conduct specific and general genealogical research, then plan a vacation around the ancestral land.
With the clan name of Murray as inspiration, Lesley and Peter Gray of the Scottish Ancestral Trail created just such an adventure for me. Founded in 2003 after the couple became interested in their own ancestry, their company arranges custom vacations that explore your family’s Scottish history. They can plan a general trip around the clan territory or a more specific itinerary after careful research. Ancestral Trail will also put together a DNA tour for people whose DNA tests match those of Scottish ancestry within the bank of a genetic testing company. While Peter does much of the behind-the-scenes research, Lesley provides the personal touch by meeting groups at the airport, ensuring the accommodations meet your needs, or even arranging a chauffeured tour of your ancestral lands.
Foregoing the chauffeur, we decided instead to brave the road in a rental car. Navigation system? Yes, please. After touring Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile with guide Peter Chalmers, we drove north to Auchterarder where the famous Gleneagles Hotel rests on about 900 acres of land. Though styled after a French chateau, the hotel feels like a proper British manor. We had a wide-open view of the impeccably kept grounds from the balcony of our room in the Braid House, a wing that opened in 2002 where guests enjoy the latest amenities. Golf and tons of other activities abound there but we had family history to chase down. After an upscale take on the English fry-up, we rushed off in the morning to Huntingtower Castle, the first of four castles we would visit and the one where the Murray clan lore begins.
The Murrays took ownership of Huntingtower Castle in 1600, after the first owners held James VI prisoner there for 10 months during the Ruthven Raid. Its bizarre double towers and remarkable tempera-painted ceilings—featuring some of the country’s earliest Celtic and biblical designs—further cement Huntingtower’s significance. Another fortified castle that figures in the clan’s history is Balvaird Castle, a 20-minute drive away on the other side of the Firth of Tay. Because Perthshire is one of Scotland’s earliest centers of kingship, the area offers up many castles and even Pictish ruins, and its proximity to Edinburgh makes this gateway to the Highlands easy to explore.
A feature that most Scottish medieval castles share is their location atop a hill, affording telescopic views of the countryside. Though in ruins (and opened to us as a special privilege from Historic Scotland), Balvaird doesn’t disappoint on this account. The Murrays’ ownership of the property followed Andrew Murray of Tullibardine’s marriage to the daughter of the owner and marked another leg up for the clan during its meteoric rise in status during the 1600s. Our Historic Scotland guide, Gary Malcolm, pointed out some worn stonework on the outside of the castle. He explained that it was an oumbry, or shrine, that may have indicated religious allegiances in the tumultuous years leading up to the Reformation.
See our slideshow of Top European Heritage Tours
PAGES: 1 2
