text:
User talk:Johnstone

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snoyes 14:41, 13 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Poll
Talk:Atheism/Godvrs.god poll please come participate Sam Spade 03:49, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Catholic acceptance of evolution
I see you've added this to the main evolution article; can you do the same to evolutionary creationism? Maybe it only needs a smaller mention in the evolution article, hmmm... Dunc_Harris|☺ 14:37, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)

"Johnstone (Add: This article is about God (with a capitalized "G"). For the generic usage, see gods.)"
{Copied from Talk:God]

Johnstone wasan't right about there is no god,because if there is no God then whose controlling all the world?If johnstone now says there is no God,i prefer him to read the Holy Quran,he(johnstone) should read the Book i ask for...Read the Holy Quran full and then tell me what you'd got.Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 39.33.69.94 (talk) 19:53, 8 March 2015 (UTC) This strikes me as a POV hijacking of a definition. If you wish to have a separate "Christian God" or a "Monotheistic God", that'd be one thing, but unilaterally deciding that the page should only address one particular aspect of the definition smacks of agenda-pushing.

Since I'm sure that your intent was not to push a personal agenda, but to improve the objectively neutral Wikipedia, rather than revert, I invite you (Johnstone) to correct this yourself; please do so as soon as you reasonably can. -- orthogonal 10:00, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * It is not "POV hijacking" any more than having an article titled "Moon" be about one particular planet's natural satellite, or an article titled "evolution" be about only biological evolution, are "POV hijacking." All are simply instances of article titles corresponding to the most frequent usage of a term, as suggested in Wikipedia:naming conventions, which states,

 * "Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature."

 * Besides, there is (now) a separate article, deity, for the common noun.--Johnstone 23:02, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Hey, Johnstone, wherefore didst thou removest the Pope Quote from the Evolution page? I thought it was good there - not many people know the Pope said that. Also considering all the hard work you put in to make it perfect, don't you think it ought to stay? :P Graft 17:30, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * I moved the quote to evolutionary creationism, because I tended to agree with the suggestion by user:duncharris that it was a little bit out of place in the evolution article. Not that it wasn't on topic, just that it fits better in the other article, as it currently stands. However, an entire article devoted to "Evolution and religion" might be more appropriate still.--Johnstone 23:15, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Christmas
Thanks for moving all that wild stuff from the end. The article was otherwise near-ready for "feature" status. Sfahey 23:04, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * You're welcome.--Johnstone 22:52, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Stem cell
Thanks for the concise intro (and clarifications) to the stem cells article ;) --Nectarflowed 09:24, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * You're welcome.--Johnstone 00:47, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Image:Spacetime curvature.png
Hi, I just wanted to let you know I added an tag to that image. You may want to update it with information on its source and copyright status. ^_~ -- Schneelocke (cheeks clone)   12:49, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Done.--Johnstone 01:53, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Article Licensing
Hi, I've started a drive to get users to multi-license all of their contributions that they've made to either (1) all U.S. state, county, and city articles or (2) all articles, using the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC-by-sa) v1.0 and v2.0 Licenses or into the public domain if they prefer. The CC-by-sa license is a true free documentation license that is similar to Wikipedia's license, the GFDL, but it allows other projects, such as WikiTravel, to use our articles. Since you are among the top 2000 Wikipedians by edits, I was wondering if you would be willing to multi-license all of your contributions or at minimum those on the geographic articles. Over 90% of people asked have agreed. For More Information:
 * Multi-Licensing FAQ - Lots of questions answered
 * Multi-Licensing Guide
 * Free the Rambot Articles Project

To allow us to track those users who muli-license their contributions, many users copy and paste the " " template into their user page, but there are other options at Template messages/User namespace. The following examples could also copied and pasted into your user page:

 * Option 1
 * I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:

OR
 * Option 2
 * I agree to multi-license all my contributions to any U.S. state, county, or city article as described below:

Or if you wanted to place your work into the public domain, you could replace " " with "  ". If you only prefer using the GFDL, I would like to know that too. Please let me know what you think at my talk page. It's important to know either way so no one keeps asking. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk)

 * I'm looking into it, but it's an unfamiliar subject to me, and it will take some time to be able to make an informed decision.--Johnstone 13:48, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Existence of God merger
I'm attempting to develop a consensus in favor of merging the Arguments against the existence of God and the Arguments for the existence of God articles. A beta version of the resulting article is available at Existence of God. To date, there seems to be consensus in favor of this merger on the "for" talk page, I'm now trying to get a consensus together on the "against" talk page. Please visit Talk:Arguments against the existence of God to weigh in. I'm copy-and-pasting this message to everybody who has contributed to that talk page. crazyeddie 05:45, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The ID experience
I hate to be pessimistic, but I doubt that the other editors will stand for you removing the CSI criticisms... even if they are fallacious. I went through this exact same process in Archive 10 regarding the ludicrous pyramid analogy... pointing out how it was a false analogy and only useful for misinforming the reader. They got mad and basically just bulldozed me with non-sequitors and mob fever. I wish you the best, but until we can get a majority on our side, we can't win any of these games. The opponents are perpetual moving targets, they put words in your mouth, and then when you do make a good argument it's met with conspiracy-like accusations ("Well, that's what the Discovery Institute would want us to think ID is!"). And when you go to change even one word in what they perceive to be their section of the article it is automatically reverted without hesitation. They persist as though the day they first heard about ID they took an oath to ref use ID even one gram of legitimacy.

Based on my experience, tonight I have come to two conclusions. (1) If we are going to succeed in making an article free from misinformation, we need organized collaboration, and we need numbers. I started a wikiproject page for us to meet and discuss. Recruit anyone you know that might be interested. However, (2) in the end, this might not be worth the effort. What is a few paragraphs on a barely-recognized encyclopedic website really worth? Any changes we could make would likely get edited away by a thousand cuts down the road, anyway. I feel like I've torched the better part of a month just trying to get one measly paragraph into the intro... and I've already seen it eroded away like a sand castle in a hurricane.

In non-controversial articles, wikipedia's method evolves. They blossom, they flower, they sparkle with the insight of a thousand different points of view. But in controversial articles, wikipedia's method erodes. They're flat, they're ugly, they're unstable, and they are always obnoxious.

My hat's off to you if you continue to fight the good fight. As for me. I'm stepping away until we have at least 8 people volunteer their efforts at the project page. Until then, I'll just channel all my thoughts about ID into something useful, like a book.

Feel free to write. David Bergan 04:48, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

 * I agree with much of what you've said here. Also, I've been astounded by the quantity, and impressed with the quality of much of your writing in the ID discussion page.  One of my first impressions upon seeing your contributions was, "this guy should write a book," so I'm glad that you're considering writing one.  In my opinion, since you have a lot to say, you'll probably be spending your time more effectively doing that.  If you need a (pre-publication) reviewer...

 * Having been a contributor for a while, I'm well aware of the limitations of Wikipedia on controversial subjects. Perhaps the best thing that can happen is that this particular systemic deficiency of Wikipedia will become generally known to the public over time.  I, too, have occasionally felt like I've wasted time in contending points with closed-minded editors on articles.  But I've also always been keenly aware of it, and have subsequently tried to limit it as much as possible.

 * Unfortunately, some editors are more intent on skewing articles toward their own POV than in creating a general NPOV knowledge base, and even a relatively small number of them can harm the NPOV-ness any given article. Witness the evolution page, where its caretakers won't allow any criticism whatsoever to appear on it.  (And I'm not an anti-evolutionist.  It's just that no subject, but no subject, is beyond (sometime unjustified) reproach.)  When I discovered the following words from Dembski, I had already experienced it: "we are dealing with a naturalistic metaphysic that shapes and controls what theories of biological origins are permitted on the playing field in advance of any discussion or weighing of evidence.  This metaphysic is so pervasive and powerful that it not only rules alternative theories out of the court, but it cannot even permit itself to be criticized.  The fallibleness and tentativeness that are supposed to be a part of science find no place in the naturalistic metaphysic that undergirds Darwinism." (Intelligent Design, p. 114)  Empiricism, not naturalism, is the basis of science.  Science should and must go wherever the evidence leads.  If an extraterrestrial intelligence of any kind seeded the earth, we'd never realize it if all we do is insist that life must be explainable through the action of natural laws alone.

 * As for ID, it raises several questions that I find very intriguing: Is there a metric that only a designed object could possibly meet?  If so, do any (or many) natural objects—especially living things—meet that metric?  Is it impossible for algorithmic processes (such as nature is supposed to be limited to) to yield the type of complexity exhibited by life?--Johnstone 00:15, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

RfC for specified complexity
I noticed you put an RfC on specified complexity, with particular reference on my edit, which asserts:

 * When Dembski's mathematical claims on specific complexity are interpreted to make them meaningful and conform to minimal standards of mathematical usage, they usually turn out to be false.

Do you believe this to be false? Though this statement is not a direct quote, it is a fair assessment of professional physicists and mathematicians that have read Dembski's work (with the possible exception of Robert Hermmann). If you are looking for a dispute here, well go ahead. But if you are searching for truth, then perhaps you should pick another battle.

Thanks. --CSTAR 17:17, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

 * For the record, my full request for comment is as follows:

 * "* specified complexity. Much work was recently put into the article by User:CSTAR . This request if for statements such as "When Dembski's mathematical claims on specific complexity are interpreted to make them meaningful and conform to minimal standards of mathematical usage, they usually turn out to be false," and the math in general, to be reviewed by peers (although WP:PR isn't appropriate since I don't intend to submit it for WP:FA).10:17, 10 September 2005 (UTC)"

 * As implied by the posting, my intention was simply to get more mathematicians to review it—not to initiate a dispute or battle. But since no edits have been made to the article since September 4, it obviously hasn't helped.  Looking at it now, it seems to me that the reason I mentioned that particular statement is that it's not NPOV.  To be NPOV it should be reworded to something like:

 * "Most professional physicists and mathematicians who have read Dembski's work claim that when his mathematical claims on specific complexity are interpreted to make them meaningful and conform to minimal standards of mathematical usage, they usually turn out to be false."

 * A few of footnotes for the statement, pointing to appropriate examples would also make the article more useful to the reader.--Johnstone 00:07, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

Hi there
Thanks mightily for the copyedit you're in the midst of Planetary habitability. Just please, leave the mn|name|# as is. Thanks again, Marskell 11:57, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Prodigal Son
Hello - you absolutely made my life so very easy. My church has a magnificent copy of the Prodigal Son. We sent it out for restoration, and just got it back last night. I asked the restoration expert if she knew the origins of this painting, and she did not, but suggested I research this. I went to Wikipedia, and presto, there is your photograph and history of the painting. Wonderful!

We have only a copy, but it is an excellent piece, and made, we think, in the Victorian era.

I have one professional photograph of it now, and we have another professional photographer coming to take a picture of it soon. Would you like a copy?

Sarum blue 20:00, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Shroud of Turin nominated for FAR
Shroud of Turin has been nominated for a featured article review. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. Please leave your comments and help us to return the article to featured quality. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, articles are moved onto the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article from featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Reviewers' concerns are here. PeterSymonds | talk  19:32, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Argument from poor design
Hi Johnstone. I've added the prod (deletion) tag to Argument from poor design because it doesn't seem to be a concept that exists outside of Wikipedia (see WP:OR, WP:V and notability criterion). Perhaps I should have contacted you first since you started the article; sorry that didn't occur to me until after adding the tag. I did leave a note on the talk page a couple days ago. Gnixon (talk) 15:43, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:15, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of The Mind of God

The article The Mind of God has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern: "Does not appear to meet relevant notability standards. Unable to find any significant coverage; it's occasionally named in lists of Davies' books, but not discussed in its own right."

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. — Moriwen (talk) 17:49, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

title: User talk:Johnstone


text:
Crail

Crail (Cathair Aile) is a former royal burgh, parish and community council area (Royal Burgh of Crail and District) in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland.

The locality has an estimated population of 1,630 (2018).

Etymology
The name Crail was recorded in 1148 as Cherel and in 1153 as Karel. The first element is the Pictish *cair (c.f. Welsh caer) meaning "fort", though this word seems to have been borrowed into Gaelic. The second element may be either Gaelic ail, "rocks", or more problematically Pictish *al; no certain instance of this word exists in P-Celtic. However, if the generic element were Pictish, then this is likely of the specific.

History
The site on which the parish church is built appears to have religious associations that pre-date the parish church's foundation in early medieval times, as evidenced by an 8th-century cross-slab preserved in the church. The parish church was itself dedicated (in the 13th-century) to the early holy man St. Maelrubha of Applecross in Wester Ross.

Crail Castle was an occasional residence of David I of Scotland during the 12th century but subsequently fell into ruin.

Crail became a royal burgh in 1178 during the reign of King William the Lion. Robert the Bruce granted permission to hold markets on a Sunday.

Mary of Guise, afterward consort of James V, landed in Crail in June 1538 after a severe storm, and was hospitably entertained in the ancient mansion of Balcomie Castle, whence, accompanied by the king, she proceeded to St. Andrew's.

John Knox, visiting Crail on his way to St Andrews in 1559, was moved to deliver a sermon in Crail Parish Church. Afterwards, protesters went through the church and forcefully removed images which were put in place by previous generations but were now considered ideologically unsound. In August 1583, many of the inhabitants of Crail attacked nearby Wormiston House, which belonged to Sir John Anstruther. They filled up newly made ponds and ditches, and destroyed a plantation of ash trees. They were vexed at Anstruther because his new ditches had been built on land they claimed to belong to them as common land. The Privy Council of Scotland ordered them to rebuild the dykes.

In 2017, the Community Council was granted the Letters Patent to the Crail Shield and Coat of Arms. This was lost when the Royal Burgh of Crail Council was abolished in 1976.

Architecture
The most notable building in the town is the parish church, situated in the Marketgate – from the mid-13th century St Maelrubha's, in later medieval times St Mary's, but now, as part of the Church of Scotland's ministry, known just as Crail Parish Church. It was founded in the second half of the 12th century. From early in its history, it belonged to the Cistercian Nunnery of St Clare in Haddington, East Lothian, and remained the Nunnery's possession until the Reformation. The kirkyard also includes a war memorial gateway of 1921.

Crail Tolbooth is near the juncture of Tolbooth Wynd and the Marketgate. It stands on its own at the edge of the large marketplace with its Mercat cross in the centre of the town. This is where the Sunday markets were once held. (The former marketplace is now used as a car park.) The tolbooth has a characteristic tower dating from about 1600 and a European-style roof, similar to buildings in Holland. The weathervane on the spire is in the form of a smoked haddock (known locally as a Crail Capon) rather than the traditional cockerel form.

The Crail Museum and Heritage Centre, largely staffed by volunteers and open every day in summer, is sited in a neighbouring building, also of historical interest, at the top of Tolbooth Wynd. It houses temporary exhibitions and has a permanent exhibition on RNAS Crail.

The Golf Hotel, on High Street, is Category A listed, dating to the 18th century or earlier.

Harbour
In 1610, the eastern pier was described as "new foundit" (newly built); however, by 1707 it was called "old and ruinous", requiring rebuilding.

The west pier was rebuilt in 1828 by Robert Stevenson. This work incorporated the crane on the southwest corner which lifts timbers into slots to seal the inner harbour.

The structure of the inner walls of the harbour features a highly unusual vertical coursing of the stones.

Notable residents

 * Andrew Duncan, minister exiled for opposing the policies of James VI ( c.1560–1626)
 * James Sharp, became Archbishop of St Andrews (1618–1679)
 * James Oswald (1710–1769), composer
 * William Dickson, footballer (1866–1910)
 * Oswald Wynd, author (1913–1998)
 * Joan Clarke, cryptanalyst and former fiancée of Alan Turing (1917–1996)
 * King Creosote, singer-songwriter (1967–)

Carboniferous fossils
On the beach beside the harbour, there are fossilised trees related to Horsetails, dating back to the Carboniferous geological period.

Sport
The Crail Golfing Society, formed in 1766, is the seventh-oldest in the world. Their oldest course, Balcomie, was formally laid out by Tom Morris Sr. in 1894, but competitions had been played there since the 1850s.

Public transport
Stagecoach East Scotland's bus service 95 from Leven to St Andrews via Pittenweem and Anstruther is the only bus service which serves Crail. The hourly service runs every day.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Crail


text:
Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B♭ clarinet, it is usually pitched in B♭ (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B♭), but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B♭ clarinet. Bass clarinets in other keys, notably C and A, also exist, but are very rare (in contrast to the regular A clarinet, which is quite common in classical music). Bass clarinets regularly perform in orchestras, wind ensembles and concert bands, and occasionally in marching bands, and play an occasional solo role in contemporary music and jazz in particular.

Someone who plays a bass clarinet is called a bass clarinettist or a bass clarinetist.

Description
Most modern bass clarinets are straight-bodied, with a small upturned silver-colored metal bell and curved metal neck. Early examples varied in shape, some having a doubled body making them look similar to bassoons. The bass clarinet is fairly heavy and is supported either with a neck strap or an adjustable peg attached to its body. While Adolphe Sax imitated its upturned metal bell in his design of the larger saxophones, the two instruments are fundamentally different. Bass clarinet bodies are most often made of grenadilla (African Blackwood) or (more commonly for student-instruments) plastic resin, while saxophones are typically made of metal. (Metal bass clarinets exist, but are rare.) More significantly, all clarinets have a bore that is basically the same diameter along the body. This cylindrical bore differs from the saxophone's conical one and gives the clarinet its characteristic tone, causing it to overblow at the twelfth (octave + fifth) compared with the saxophone's octave.

A majority of modern bass clarinets, like other clarinets in the family, have the Boehm system of keys and fingering. However, bass clarinets are also manufactured in Germany with the Oehler system of keywork, which is most often known as the 'German" system in the US, because it is commonly used in Germany and Austria, as well as Eastern Europe and Turkey; bass clarinets produced with the Oehler system's predecessor, the Albert system, are still in use, particularly in these areas.

Most modern Boehm system bass clarinets have an "extension" key allowing them to play to the (written) E♭. This key was originally added to allow easy transposition of parts for the relatively rare bass clarinet pitched in A, but it now finds significant use in concert band and other literature. A significant difference between soprano and bass clarinet key work is a key pad played by the left-hand index finger with a vent that may be uncovered for certain high notes. This allows a form of "half-hole" fingering that allows notes in higher registers to be played on the instrument. In addition, older bass clarinets have two register keys, one for middle D♯ and below, the other for middle E and higher. Newer models typically have an automatic register key mechanism, where a single left thumb key commands the two vent holes. Depending on whether the right hand ring finger (used in fingerings for middle D♯ and below) is down or up, the lower or upper vent hole will open.

Many professional or advanced bass clarinet models extend down to a low C (sounding B♭, identical to the bassoon's lowest B♭), two octaves below written middle C. At concert pitch this note is the B♭ below the second ledger line below the bass staff or B♭1 in scientific pitch notation. These three lowermost half-steps are played via additional keys operated by the right thumb, some of them often duplicated in the left- or right-hand little-finger key clusters. Overall, the instrument sounds an octave lower than the B♭ soprano clarinet.

As with all wind instruments, the upper limit of the range depends on the quality of the instrument and skill of the clarinetist. According to Aber and Lerstad, who give fingerings up to written C7 (sounding B♭5), the highest note commonly encountered in modern solo literature is the E below that (sounding D5, the D above treble C). This gives the bass clarinet a usable range of up to four octaves, quite close to the range of the bassoon; indeed, many bass clarinetists perform works originally intended for bassoon or cello because of the plethora of literature for those two instruments and the scarcity of solo works for the bass clarinet.

Uses
The bass clarinet has been regularly used in scoring for orchestra and concert band since the mid-19th century, becoming more common during the middle and latter part of the 20th century. A bass clarinet is not always called for in orchestra music, but is almost always called for in concert band music. In recent years, the bass clarinet has also seen a growing repertoire of solo literature including compositions for the instrument alone, or accompanied by piano, orchestra, or other ensemble. It is also used in clarinet choirs, marching bands, and in film scoring, and has played a persistent role in jazz.

The bass clarinet has an appealing, rich, earthy and inky tone, quite distinct from other instruments in its range, drawing on and enhancing the qualities of the lower range of the soprano and alto instrument.

Musical compositions
Perhaps the earliest solo passages for bass clarinet—indeed, among the earliest parts for the instrument—occur in Mercadante's 1834 opera Emma d'Antiochia, in which a lengthy solo introduces Emma's scene in Act 2. (Mercadante actually specified a glicibarifono for this part.) Two years later, Giacomo Meyerbeer wrote an important solo for bass clarinet in Act 4 of his opera Les Huguenots.

French composer Hector Berlioz was one of the first of the Romantics to use the bass clarinet in his large-scale works such as the Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale, Op. 15 (1840), the Te Deum, Op. 22 (1849), and the opera Les Troyens, Op. 29 (1863). Later French composers to use the instrument included Maurice Ravel, who wrote virtuosic parts for the bass clarinet in his ballet Daphnis et Chloé (1912), La valse (1920), and his orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (1924).

The operas of Richard Wagner also make extensive use of the bass clarinet, beginning with Tannhäuser (1845). He incorporated the instrument fully into the wind section as both a solo and supporting instrument. Wagner pioneered in exploiting the instrument's dark, somber tone to represent sadness and melancholy. Wagner was almost completely responsible for making the instrument a permanent member of the opera orchestra. The instrument plays an extensive role in Tristan und Isolde (1859), the operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876), and Parsifal (1882).

Also around this time, Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt wrote important parts for the instrument in his symphonic poems Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne (What One Hears on the Mountain), Tasso, and his Dante Symphony. Giuseppe Verdi followed suit, using it in Ernani, Aida (1870), La forza del destino, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlo and Falstaff. Following in Verdi's footsteps, Giacomo Puccini, composer of La Bohème, Tosca and Madame Butterfly, used the bass clarinet in all of his operas, beginning with Edgar in 1889. The Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote some prominent solos for the instrument in his last ballet, The Nutcracker.

The later Romantics used the bass clarinet frequently in their works. All of Gustav Mahler's symphonies include the instrument prominently, and often contain lengthy solos for the instrument, especially in his Symphony No. 6 in A minor. Richard Strauss wrote for the instrument in all of his symphonic poems except for Don Juan, and the instrument shared the spotlight with the tenor tuba in his 1898 tone poem, Don Quixote, Op. 35. Strauss wrote for the instrument as he did for the smaller clarinets, and the parts often include playing in very high registers, such as in Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30.

Composers of the Second Viennese School, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg, often favored the instrument over the bassoon, the instrument's closest relative in terms of range. Russian composers Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev used the low concert C and B♭ (equivalent to the bassoon's lowest two notes) in many of their compositions and an instrument with the extended range is necessary for works such as Shostakovich's Symphonies Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8, and 11, and Leoš Janáček's Sinfonietta. All of these works exploit the instrument's dark, powerful lower range.

Prokofiev wrote parts for the instrument in his Symphonies Nos. 2–7 and in his ballet Romeo and Juliet. Sergei Rachmaninoff used the instrument to great effect in his Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 and in his symphonic poem, Isle of The Dead. Igor Stravinsky also wrote complex parts for the instrument throughout his career, most prominently in his ballets The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913).

The bass clarinet has a solo at the opening of the third movement of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite.

In the duet "A Boy Like That" from West Side Story (1957), Leonard Bernstein scored for "the inky sounds of three bass clarinets".

Early minimalist Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians (1976) calls for two bass clarinets, featured prominently in the lower register. Used almost percussively, the effect of deep, staccato repetitions, played beneath a static rhythmic drone, is to create a feeling of slowly fluctuating cycles.

One of the most performed works for Bass Clarinet is Marc Mellits's Black, with over 3,000 performances as of 2024.

Many modern composers employ the bass along with the contra-alto and contrabass clarinets, such as Esa-Pekka Salonen in his Piano Concerto. A great amount of literature can be found in the wind ensemble, in which there is always a part for the instrument.

There are many important solo pieces, duos, sonatas and concertos for bass clarinet, including:

 * Kalevi Aho Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra (2018)
 * Georges Aperghis – Façade-Trio (2 x bass clarinet, percussion)
 * Howard J. Buss "Lunar Vistas" for solo bass clarinet, "Three Euphonics for Solo Bass Clarinet," "Color'tudes" for bass clarinet and piano (2021)
 * Ann Callaway Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra (1985–1987)
 * Unsuk Chin: Advice from a Caterpillar (2007)
 * Peter Maxwell Davies: The Seas of Kirk Swarf for bass clarinet and strings (2007).
 * Daniel Dorff: Flowers of St. Francis five scenes for bass clarinet
 * Daniel Dorff: In A Deep Funk dance set for bass clarinet (or contrabass or contralto)
 * Anders Eliasson Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra (1996)
 * Michael Finnissy – Tussen Rede en Gevoel (2018) 2 x bass clarinet, cello, double bass
 * James Gardner: Rendering for solo bass clarinet
 * Osvaldo Golijov: Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind for Klezmer clarinetist (soprano clarinets, bass clarinet and/or basset horn) and string quartet, later arranged for solo clarinetist and string orchestra.
 * Ig Henneman – Featherlight monkeys (2016) 3 x bass clarinet
 * Rozalie Hirs: Article 7 (2012) bass clarinet & electronics
 * Guus Janssen: Met spoed (Urgent) for bass clarinet and piano
 * Rafael Leonardo Junchaya: Concerto Silvestre for bass clarinet and orchestra Op.14a. Premiered by Marco Antonio Mazzini and the GUSO Orchestra conducted by Steven Decraene in May 2009. First version for bass clarinet and string orchestra (Concertino Silvestre Op.14) premiered in Guatemala in July 2009.
 * Tobias Klein: Leichte Überlappungen (2018) 2 x bass clarinet
 * Jos Kunst (composer): Solo identity I (1972)
 * David Lang: Press Release for solo bass clarinet (1991) (For Evan Ziporyn)
 * Ivana Loudova: Aulos for solo bass clarinet (can also be played as a duo with Claude Debussy's Syrinx for flute
 * Donald Martino: Triple Concerto for clarinet, bass clarinet, and contrabass clarinet.
 * Marc Mellits: Black, for two Bass Clarinets
 * Thea Musgrave: Concerto for bass clarinet and orchestra.
 * Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell (the composers of Thomas & Friends) Toby the Tram Engine's Season 1 Theme features a Bass Clarinet which is use for the bass line in the song.
 * Jonathan Russell:
 * Bass clarinet concerto (2014)
 * Double bass-clarinet concerto.
 * Osmo Tapio Räihälä: Claroscuro for solo bass clarinet, strings and percussion (2019)
 * Rebecca Saunders: Aether (2014–2016) 2 bass clarinets
 * Jeroen Speak: Epiesodos in a version for solo bass clarinet
 * Benjamin Staern: Worried Souls: concerto for clarinet/bass clarinet and symphony orchestra (2012).
 * Johannes Maria Staud: Black Moon for solo bass clarinet
 * Karlheinz Stockhausen:
 * In Freundschaft for unaccompanied bass clarinet,
 * Libra for bass clarinet and electronic music (a separable component of Sirius)
 * Harmonien for unaccompanied bass clarinet.
 * Jörg Widmann: Kantate, bass clarinet solo in Praeludium
 * Nigel Westlake: Invocations for bass clarinet and chamber orchestra

There is a rich and diverse chamber repertoire for bass clarinet and other instruments, including Leoš Janáček's suite Mládí (Youth), Karlheinz Stockhausen's Kontra-Punkte, Theo Loevendie's Plus One for flute, bass clarinet & piano and Beat Furrer's Gaspra for ensemble incl. bass clarinet.

Soloists and ensembles

It was not until the 1950s that classical performers began to adopt the bass clarinet as their primary instrument. The pioneer was the Czech performer Josef Horák (1931–2005), who is credited as having performed the first ever solo bass clarinet recital on March 23, 1955. This marked a turning point when the instrument first became thought of as a soloist's instrument.

Because the repertoire of solo music for the bass clarinet was quite small, most bass clarinet soloists specialize in new music, while also arranging works composed for other instruments from earlier eras (such as the Bach Cello Suites). Beginning with Horák, many players have commissioned works for the instrument, and consequently there now exists a repertoire of hundreds of solo works, many by prominent international composers such as Brian Ferneyhough and David Lang. In addition to Horák, other specialist performers include Henri Bok (Netherlands), his student Luís Afonso (Brazil), Dennis Smylie (United States), Tommie Lundberg (Sweden), Harry Sparnaay (Netherlands, who has worked with important composers such as Luciano Berio, Iannis Xenakis, and Morton Feldman), Fie Schouten (artistic director Basklarinet Festijn; worked with o.a. Georges Aperghis, Michael Finnissy, Theo Loevendie, Louis Sclavis, Rozalie Hirs) Jason Alder, Evan Ziporyn (United States), and Michael Lowenstern (United States); the latter two are also composers.

In October 2005, the First World Bass Clarinet Convention was held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, at which Horák was the guest of honor and played in one of the many concerts given by the leading bass clarinetists from around the world (including all the aforementioned performers, as well as many others).

In April 2014, 70th birthday of Harry Sparnaay the first Basklarinet Festijn was held in the Netherlands. Initiators and artistic leaders are former students of Sparnaay and active in contemporary composed and improvised music: Fie Schouten and Tobias Klein.

At least two professional bass-clarinet quartets exist. Rocco Parisi's Bass Clarinet Quartet is an Italian group whose repertoire includes transcriptions of music by Rossini, Paganini, and Piazzolla. Edmund Welles is the name of a bass clarinet quartet based in San Francisco. Their repertoire includes original "heavy chamber music" and transcriptions of madrigals, boogie-woogie tunes, and heavy metal songs. Two of the members of Edmund Welles also perform as a bass clarinet duo, Sqwonk.

In jazz
While the bass clarinet was seldom heard in early jazz compositions, a bass clarinet solo by Wilbur Sweatman can be heard on his 1924 recording "Battleship Kate" and a bass clarinet solo by Omer Simeon can be heard in the 1926 recording "Someday Sweetheart" by Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers. Additionally, Benny Goodman recorded with the instrument a few times early in his career.

Harry Carney, Duke Ellington's baritone saxophonist for 47 years, played bass clarinet in some of Ellington's arrangements, first recording with it on "Saddest Tale" in 1934. He was featured soloist on many Ellington recordings, including 27 titles on bass clarinet.

The first jazz album on which the leader solely played bass clarinet was Great Ideas of Western Mann (1957) by Herbie Mann, better known as a flautist. However, avant-garde musician Eric Dolphy (1928–1964) was the first major jazz soloist on the instrument, and established much of the vocabulary and technique used by later performers. He used the entire range of the instrument in his solos. Bennie Maupin emerged in the late 1960s as a primary player of the instrument, playing on Miles Davis's seminal record Bitches Brew as well as several records with Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi group. His style resembles Dolphy's in its use of advanced harmonies.

While the bass clarinet has been used often since Dolphy, it is typically used by a saxophonist or clarinetist as a second or third instrument; such musicians include David Murray, Marcus Miller, John Surman, John Gilmore, Bob Mintzer, John Coltrane (to whom Dolphy's mother left some of Dolphy's instruments including his bass clarinet), Brian Landrus, James Carter, Steve Buckley, Andy Biskin, Don Byron, Julian Siegel, Gunter Hampel, Michel Portal, Myron Walden, Yusef Lateef, Paul McCandless, Gianluigi Trovesi, and Chris Potter. Very few performers have used the instrument exclusively, but such performers include American Michael Pinz, Berlin-based bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall, and French bass clarinetists Louis Sclavis and Denis Colin. Klezmer clarinetist Giora Feidman is known for idiosyncratic use of the bass clarinet on some klezmer and jazz tunes.

In rock
On The Beatles 1967 recording of George Harrison's "It's All Too Much", a prominent bass clarinet ostinato, scored and conducted by producer George Martin, is played by session musician Paul Harvey.

The Mascara Snake (Victor Hayden) was a member of Captain Beefheart's band in the late 1960s, playing bass clarinet on the 1969 album Trout Mask Replica.

On Steely Dan's 1980 song "Babylon Sisters", bass clarinets are played by George Marge and Walter Kane.

History
There are several instruments that can arguably be considered the first bass clarinet. Probably the earliest is a dulcian-shaped instrument in the Museum Carolino Augusteum in Salzburg. It is incomplete, lacking a crook or mouthpiece, and appears to date from the first half of the eighteenth century. Its wide cylindrical bore and its fingering suggest it was a chalumeau or clarinet in the bass range. Four anonymous bass chalumeaux or clarinets apparently dating from the eighteenth century and having from one to six keys also appear to be among the earliest examples, and one in particular has been suggested to date from before 1750. However, the authenticity of at least one of these instruments has been questioned.

In the Munich Stadtmuseum there is an instrument made c. 1770 by the Mayrhofers of Passau, who are often credited with the invention of the basset horn. It resembles early sickle-shaped basset horns, but has a larger bore and is longer, playing in low B♭. Whether this should be considered a low basset horn or a bass clarinet is a matter of opinion. In any case, no further work along this line is known to have been done.

A 1772 newspaper article describes an instrument called the "basse-tube", invented by G. Lott in Paris in 1772. This instrument has not survived and very little is known of it. The article has frequently been cited as the earliest record of a bass clarinet, but it has more recently been suggested that the basse-tube was in fact a basset horn.

The Klarinetten-Bass by Heinrich Grenser, c. 1793, had a folded, bassoon-like shape and an extended range, and was presumably intended to serve as a bassoon replacement in military bands. Desfontenelles of Lisieux built a bass clarinet in 1807 whose shape was similar to that of the later saxophone. It had thirteen keys, at a time when most soprano clarinets had fewer.

Additional designs were developed by many other makers, including Dumas of Sommières (who called his instrument a "Basse guerrière") in 1807; Nicola Papalini, c. 1810 (an odd design, in the form of a serpentine series of curves, carved out of wood); George Catlin of Hartford, Connecticut ("clarion") c. 1810; Sautermeister of Lyons ("Basse-orgue") in 1812; Gottlieb Streitwolf in 1828; and Catterino Catterini ("glicibarifono") in the 1830s. These last four, and several others of the same period, had bassoon-like folded shapes, and most had extended ranges. A straight-bodied instrument without extended range was produced in 1832 by Isaac Dacosta and Auguste Buffet.

Finally, Adolphe Sax, a Belgian manufacturer of musical instruments, designed a straight-bodied form of the bass clarinet in 1838. Sax's expertise in acoustics led him to include such features as accurately-placed, large tone holes and a second register hole. His instrument achieved great success and became the basis for all bass clarinet designs since.

The instrument on which Anton Stadler first played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's clarinet concerto was originally called a Bass-Klarinette, but was not a bass clarinet in the modern sense; since the late eighteenth century this instrument has been called a basset clarinet.

Notation
Orchestral music for bass clarinet is written using one of four systems:1. Conventional treble clef in B♭ (French notation). This sounds an octave and a major second lower than written and therefore uses the same fingerings as the soprano clarinet, and is the most common.

2. Bass clef in B♭ (German notation). This sounds a major second (tone, or whole step) lower than written. For music written in bass clef, higher passages may be written in treble clef to avoid the use of excessive ledger lines, but this should not be confused with system (a), in which notes sound an octave lower than in system (b). It is therefore necessary to play the treble clef one octave higher than it would be played in French notation, so that it continues to sound a major second lower. Unlike music for the bassoon, the tenor clef is not used for higher passages.

3. Bass clef in B♭ (Russian notation). This notation mixes the German and French systems. Music written in bass clef is played a major second lower than written (German), however when written in treble clef, it sounds a major ninth lower, so the player uses the fingerings they normally would when playing soprano clarinet (French).

4. Bass clef in B♭ (Italian notation). This notation is written a major ninth higher than sounding pitch, as the French notation, however also uses bass clef. This means that the bass clef part would be read an octave lower than if reading it in German notation. The treble clef remains the same as French notation.

Music is occasionally encountered written for the bass clarinet in A, e.g., in Wagner operas, and Mahler or Rachmaninov symphonies. This music tends to be written in bass clef, although not invariably (e.g. Ravel's La Valse). Probably the first bass clarinet in A was made by Johann Adam Henkel, around 1850, and a number of greater and lesser known makers continued to produce examples over the next 70 years: e.g., Stengel, Moritz, Kruspe, et al. Buffet made some instruments in the 1920s, but the bass in A was never produced in any great numbers, and after the 1920s very few instruments in A were made (although Fritz Wurlitzer experimented with one in the 1940s).

Despite its relative rarity, important works by some prominent composers featured the bass clarinet in A, and in the early 20th century makers began regularly offering B♭ bass clarinets equipped with an E♭ extension key, so that bass parts in A could be transposed onto the B♭ instrument.

In the 1970s there was a mild revival of interest in the instrument, and Selmer of Paris produced a few instruments pitched in A with Boehm system key work and keyed to low E♭ (even though the original parts seldom descend below written low E). However, these instruments were expensive and many players were reluctant to haul around two heavy bass clarinets to rehearsals and performances, so few of the modern bass clarinets in A were sold. Selmer ceased production of the bass clarinet in A in the late 1980s. Today, very few players own a bass clarinet in A and these parts are generally played on the B♭ instrument, transposing them down a semitone.

title: Bass clarinet


text:
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol

George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol (5 November 1612 – 20 March 1677) was an English politician and peer who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641, when he was raised to the House of Lords by a writ of acceleration. He supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, but his ambition and instability of character caused serious problems to himself and both Kings he served.

Early life
Digby was baptized in Madrid, the eldest known son of John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol, who for many years was the English Ambassador to Spain, and his wife Beatrice Walcott. He is presumed to have been born there shortly before. At the age of twelve, he appeared at the bar of the House of Commons and pleaded for his father who was then imprisoned in the Tower of London. His youth, graceful person and well-delivered speech made a great impression. He was admitted to Magdalen College, Oxford, on 15 August 1626, where he was a favourite pupil of Peter Heylin. He spent the following years in study and in travel, from which he returned, according to George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, "the most accomplished person of our nation or perhaps any other nation, and distinguished by a remarkably handsome person". In June 1634 Digby was committed to the Fleet Prison till July for striking Crofts, a gentleman of the court, in Spring Gardens, and possibly his severe treatment and the disfavour shown to his father were the causes of his hostility to the court. He became MA in 1636. In 1638 and 1639 were written the ''Letters between Lord George Digby and Sir Kenelm Digby, Knt. concerning Religion'' (published in 1651), in which Digby attacked Roman Catholicism.

Politics and the Civil War
In April 1640, Digby was elected member of parliament for Dorset in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Dorset for the Long Parliament in November 1640. In conjunction with John Pym and John Hampden he took an active part in the opposition to Charles I of England. He moved on 9 November for a committee to consider the deplorable state of the kingdom, and on 11 November was included in the committee for the impeachment of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, against whom he at first showed great zeal. However, after the failure of the impeachment, he opposed the attainder of Strafford, and made an eloquent speech on 21 April 1641, accentuating the weakness of Henry Vane's evidence against the prisoner, and showing the injustice of ex post facto legislation, in condemning a man for acts which were not treason when they were committed. He was regarded in consequence with great hostility by the parliamentary party, and was accused of having stolen from Pym's table Vane's notes on which the prosecution mainly depended. On 15 July his speech was burnt by the public hangman by the order of the House of Commons.

On 8 February he made an important speech in the Commons advocating the reformation and opposing the abolition of episcopacy. On 8 June, during the angry discussion on the army plot, he narrowly escaped assault in the House, and the following day, in order to save him from further attacks, Charles I of England called him up to the House of Lords by writ of acceleration in his father's Barony of Digby.

King Charles mistakenly followed Digby's advice in preference to such men as Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon and Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland. In November 1641 Digby was recorded as performing "singular good service", and "doing beyond admiration", in speaking in the Lords against the instruction concerning evil counsellors. He suggested to Charles the impeachment of the five members, and urged upon him the fatal attempt to arrest them on 4 January 1642. He failed to play his part in the Lords in securing the arrest of Lord Mandeville, to whom on the contrary he declared that the king was very mischievously advised, and according to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon his imprudence was responsible for the betrayal of the king's plan. On the next day, Digby advised the attempt to seize the five members in the city by force.

In the same month Digby was ordered to appear in the Lords to answer a charge of high treason for a supposed armed attempt at Hull, but fled to the Dutch Republic, where he joined Queen consort Henrietta Maria of France, and on 26 February was impeached.

Subsequently, he visited Charles at York disguised as a Frenchman, but on the return voyage to the Dutch Republic, he was captured and taken to Hull. For some time he escaped detection, but at last, after revealing his identity, he cajoled Sir John Hotham into letting him escape. Later on a second visit to Hull, he tried unsuccessfully to persuade Hotham to surrender York to the King. He was present at the Battle of Edgehill, and was wounded while leading the assault at Lichfield. After a quarrel with Prince Rupert of the Rhine, he threw down his commission and returned to the King at Oxford, over whom he obtained more influence as the prospect became more gloomy.

On 28 September 1643 he was appointed secretary of state and a privy councillor, and on 31 October high steward of Oxford University. He now supported Henrietta Maria's policy of foreign alliances and use of help from Ireland, and took part in several imprudent and ill-conducted negotiations which damaged the king's affairs. His fierce disputes with Prince Rupert and his party caused further embarrassment.

On 14 October 1645, he was made lieutenant general of the royal forces north of the River Trent. The intention was to push through to join James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, but he was defeated on 15 October at Sherburn, where his correspondence was captured. This correspondence revealed the king's expectations from abroad and from Ireland and his intrigues with the Scots. Digby reached Dumfries, but finding his way barred, escaped on 24 October to the Isle of Man. He then crossed to Ireland, where he caused Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester, who had been sent to negotiate with the Irish Confederacy, to be arrested. In Ireland, he believed he was going to achieve wonders. "Have I not carried my body swimmingly," he wrote to Hyde in irrepressible good spirits, "who being before so irreconcilably hated by the Puritan party, have thus seasonably made myself as odious to the Papists?"

Exile
Digby's plan was to bring over Charles, Prince of Wales, to head a royalist movement on the island. When he joined Charles at Jersey in April 1646, he intended to entrap him on board, but was dissuaded by Hyde. Digby then travelled to Paris to gain Henrietta Maria of France's consent to his scheme, but returned to persuade Charles to go to Paris, and accompanied him thither. He revisited Ireland on 29 June once more, and on the surrender of the island to Parliament escaped again to France.

At Paris, amongst the Royalists, he found himself in a nest of enemies eager to pay off old scores. Prince Rupert challenged him, and he fought a duel with Lord Wilmot. He continued his adventures by serving in Louis XIV of France's troops in the war of the Fronde, in which he greatly distinguished himself. He was appointed in 1651 lieutenant-general in the French army, and commander of the forces in Flanders. These new honours, however, were soon lost.

During Cardinal Mazarin's enforced absence from the court Digby aspired to become his successor. However, when the Cardinal was restored to power, he sent Digby away on an expedition in Italy, having penetrated his character and regarded him as a mere adventurer. When Digby returned to France he was told that he was included in the list of those expelled from France, in accordance with the new treaty with Oliver Cromwell.

In August 1656 he joined Charles II at Bruges, and wanting revenge on the cardinal, offered his services to John of Austria the Younger in the Southern Netherlands. He was instrumental in effecting the surrender of the garrison of St. Ghislain to Spain in 1657. On 1 January 1657, he was appointed by Charles II secretary of state, but shortly afterwards, he was compelled to resign office as he had become a Roman Catholic — probably with the view of adapting himself better to his new Spanish friends. Charles took him with him to Spain in 1659 on account of his "jollity " and Spanish experience.

Although unwelcome to the Spanish, he succeeded in ingratiating himself, and was later welcomed by Philip IV of Spain at Madrid. Digby succeeded to the peerage as 2nd Earl of Bristol on the death of his father in January 1653 and was made K.G. the same month.

Restoration
As Lord Bristol, he returned to the Kingdom of England at the English Restoration, when he found himself excluded from office on account of his religion, and relegated to only secondary importance. He tried to make an impression through restless and ambitious activity in parliament and he was violently hostile to Clarendon. In foreign affairs, he inclined strongly to the side of Spain, and opposed the king's marriage with Catherine of Braganza. He persuaded Charles to despatch him to Italy to view the Medici princesses, but the royal marriage and treaty with Portugal were settled in his absence.

In June 1663 Bristol tried to upset Clarendon's management of the House of Commons, but his intrigue was exposed to the parliament by Charles, and he had to attend the House of Lords to exonerate himself. When he confessed that he had "taken the liberty of enlarging", his "comedian-like" speech excited general amusement. In July, he broke out into fierce and disrespectful reproaches to the King, ending with a threat that unless Charles granted his requests within twenty-four hours "he would do somewhat that should awaken him out of his slumbers, and make him look better to his own business". Accordingly, on 10 July he impeached Clarendon in the Lords of high treason. When the charge was dismissed he renewed his accusation, was expelled from the court, and only avoided the warrant issued for his apprehension by hiding for two years.

In January 1664 Bristol appeared at his house at Wimbledon, and publicly renounced before witnesses his Roman Catholicism and declared himself a Protestant. His motive was probably to secure immunity from the charge of recusancy preferred against him. When, however, the fall of Clarendon was desired, Bristol was again welcomed at court. He took his seat in the Lords on 29 July 1667. "The king," wrote Samuel Pepys in November, "who not long ago did say of Bristol that he was a man able in three years to get himself a fortune in any kingdom in the world and lose all again in three months, do now hug him and commend his parts everywhere above all the world." He pressed eagerly for Clarendon's committal, and on the refusal of the Lords accused them of mutiny and rebellion, and entered his dissent with "great fury".

In March 1668, Bristol attended prayers in the Lords. On 15 March 1673 though still ostensibly a Roman Catholic, he spoke in favour of the Test Act, describing himself as "a Catholic of the Church of Rome, not a Catholic of the Court of Rome", and asserting the unfitness of Romanists for public office. In 1674, he acquired Buckingham House (later Beaufort House) in Chelsea. His adventurous and erratic career was closed by his death on 20 March 1677.

Character
Bristol was one of the most striking and conspicuous figures of his time, a man of brilliant abilities, a great orator, one who distinguished himself without effort in any sphere of activity he chose to enter, but whose natural gifts were marred by a restless ambition and instability of character fatal to real greatness.

Clarendon describes him as "the only man I ever knew of such incomparable parts that was none the wiser for any experience or misfortune that befell him", and records his extraordinary facility in making friends and making enemies. Horace Walpole characterized him in a series of his smartest antitheses as "a singular person whose life was one contradiction". "He wrote against popery and embraced it; he was a zealous opposer of the court and a sacrifice for it; was conscientiously converted in the midst of his prosecution of Lord Strafford and was most unconscientiously a persecutor of Lord Clarendon. With great parts, he always hurt himself and his friends; with romantic bravery, he was always an unsuccessful commander. He spoke for the Test Act, though a Roman Catholic; and addicted himself to astrology on the birthday of true philosophy." Samuel Pepys in 1668 records in the great Diary an outburst against Bristol from an elderly Cavalier, Mr Ball: "I said at the King's coming back that the nation could never be safe while that man was alive".

Besides his youthful correspondence with Sir Kenelm Digby on the subject of religion, already mentioned, he was the author of an Apology (1643) [Thomason Tracts, E. 34 (32)], justifying his support of the king's cause; of a comedy, Elvira (1667) [Printed in R. Dodsley's Select Collection of Old English Plays (Hazlitt, 1876), vol. xv], and of Worse and Worse, an adaptation from the Spanish, acted but not printed. Other writings are also ascribed to him, including the authorship with Sir Samuel Tuke of The Adventures of Five Hours (1663). His eloquent and pointed speeches, many of which were printed, are included in the article in the Biog. Brit. and among the Thomason Tracts; see also the general catalogue in the British Museum. The catalogue of his library was published in 1680.

Family
Bristol married Lady Anne Russell, a daughter of Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford and his wife Catherine Brydges. She died in 1697. They were parents to four children:

 * John Digby, 3rd Earl of Bristol (c. 1635 – 18 September 1698). He married twice, firstly Alice Bourne and secondly Rachel Wyndham, but died without issue, and the peerage became extinct.
 * Francis Digby (d. 1672), died unmarried.
 * Diana Digby, who married in 1658 Rene de Mol, Baron de Herent (died 1691), a nobleman of Flanders and had issue, including Jean-Baptiste, Baron de Herent, who was later styled "Comte de Bristole". Like her father, she was a convert to Catholicism.
 * Anne Digby (d. 26 April 1715), who married Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland. From her descended Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York (b. 1959) and Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997).

title: George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol


text:
Girvan

Girvan (Inbhir Gharbhain, "mouth of the River Girvan") is a burgh and harbour town in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Girvan is situated on the east coast of the Firth of Clyde, with a population of about 6,450. It lies 21 mi south of Ayr, and 29 mi north of Stranraer, the main ferry port from Scotland to Northern Ireland.

Deriving its name from the river which runs through the landscape the etymology of Girvan has possible Brythonic origins, related to the Welsh: Gearafon or Gwyrddafon, "river flowing through the green flourishing place, from afon or avon, a river, and Gwyrdd, green, flourishing".

Prehistory and archaeology
The earliest evidence of human habitation in the Girvan area dates to the Mesolithic.

Between 1996 and 1998, archaeological investigations were undertaken by GUARD archaeology (then part of the University of Glasgow) as part of an expansion of the William Grant & Sons distillery. This work discovered several burnt mounds that dated to the later third millennium/early second millennium BC and an Iron Age trackway. They also discovered a Medieval moated enclosure, which is a house or compound surrounded by a moat. These are usually the homes of minor aristocracy but are rare in Scotland (of the roughly 5400 known from mainland Britain, only ~120 are in Scotland). It is surmised that it might have belong to the Bruce family group, either a relative or a supporter and that it was likely that the house would have been known to Robert the Bruce, as he was born at Turnberry.

Two Roman camps lie half a mile (0.8 km) north of the estuary of the Water of Girvan in level fields of Girvan Mains Farm. The discovery of a fragment of a late first-century glass vessel in the primary ditch-fill of the second camp, combined with the almost square plan of the first, makes it entirely reasonable to assume that these were bases used by the forces of Agricola during the campaigns 78-84 AD mentioned by Tacitus in (de Vita Agricolae, cap xxiv) as relating to a possible descent upon Ireland. The provision of a beach head at either site would have allowed the camps to fulfill the function of a base for Agricolan combined army and naval operations around the Scottish coast.

History
Girvan was originally a fishing port. In 1668, it became a municipal burgh incorporated by charter.

The opening of the railways, initially with the Maybole and Girvan Railway at the end of the 1850s, encouraged the development of Girvan as a seaside resort with beaches and cliffs. Holidaying here from 1855 to 1941 were Robert and Elizabeth Gray and their children; particularly Alice and Edith Gray. The family, led principally by Elizabeth and Alice, created scientifically organised collections of fossils for several museums including the Natural History Museum.

Girvan Lifeboat Station was opened by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1865 with a boathouse was built on land donated by the Duchesse de Coigny. It moved to its present site in 1993. Since 2018 it has operated the Shannon-class lifeboat RNLB Elizabeth and Gertrude Allan.

Just north of the town is Grangestone Industrial Estate, which hosts a William Grant & Sons distillery which opened in 1964. There is a Nestlé factory that manufactures chocolate that is shipped down to York and used in Kit Kat and Yorkie bars.

Transport
Girvan railway station is served by ScotRail on the Glasgow Central to Stranraer line. All services call here, and several more start/terminate here.

Girvan is also served well by bus. Bus services are run by various providers.

By Stagecoach West Scotland:

 * 58/60: Ayr to Girvan
 * 358/360: Ayr/Girvan to Stranraer
 * 359: Girvan to Newton Stewart/Isle of Whithorn

By Shuttle Buses:

 * 362: Girvan to Colmonell
 * 363: Colmonell to Kilwinning

By South Ayrshire Community Transport:

 * CB8: Girvan to Barr

Places of interest
Knockcushan Gardens contains the old 'Hill of Justice' stone and a plaque records that King Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick held a court here in 1328.

The McKechnie Institute was endowed by local businessmen Robert and Thomas McKechnie, was opened in 1889. The Institute plays host to regular displays and sales of local artists, offers tours and historical information about Girvan and the surrounding area. And is free to access when open.

Culzean Castle is about 8 mi north of the town, and the volcanic island of Ailsa Craig is visible about 10 mi offshore. Turnberry golf course and hotel are located 5 mi north of Girvan. The coastline south of Girvan is famous for its geology, and also for the Sawney Bean Caves at Bennane Head or Balcreuchan Port, where the murderer and cannibal Sawney Bean supposedly lived until his arrest and execution in Edinburgh.

Local festivals

Girvan lifeboat harbour gala takes place each summer, usually in July, with music, stalls, fun fair, rescue displays and emergency services.

The Girvan Traditional Folk Festival takes place on the first weekend of May each year. Girvan also has a folk music club.

The Lowland Gathering takes place on the first Sunday of June each year in the Victory Park in the centre of the town.

The annual Festival of Light takes place in October with a six-week lantern project resulting in the river of light lantern procession and shorefront performance. The autumn lantern project is a celebration of the lanternmakers and the people of Carrick.

An additional new years event for families, involving lantern trails, lights and art aimed at families is run on new years Eve (Hogmanay), by Carrick Rural Arts.

Education and community
Girvan has its own secondary school, Girvan Academy, which the majority of local children attend. Roman Catholic families have the option of Queen Margaret Academy in Ayr. There are also two primary schools, Girvan Primary School (non-denominational) and Sacred Heart Primary School (denominational) and there is one non-denominational specialist school, Invergarven School.

The town's swimming pool was closed in 2009 by South Ayrshire Council, on the grounds that it had reached the end of its operational life. The building has since been demolished. A new leisure centre, named 'The Quay Zone' was officially opened on 26 April 2017. 'The Quay Zone' was built in a way to help redevelop Girvan. It is sited on the old swimming pool's location at the harbour.

Religion
The 2022 Scottish census found that 50% of Girvan's population identified as having no religion, while 42% identified with Christian denominations and 1% other religions. 7% of Girvan's population did not answer the optional question.

Christian Churches
The Roman Catholic church in the town, "Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary", built in 1860 in a plain gothic style. For many years the convent and the church were closely connected with Roman Catholic primary and secondary schools in Girvan. The secondary school closed in 1991.

Girvan has two Church of Scotland congregations: Girvan North Parish Church dating from 1883 in Montgomerie Street (with a spire over 100 ft tall) and Girvan South Parish Church dating from 1839.

Milestone Christian Fellowship, a local congregation which began meeting in Girvan's Community Centre in 2005, moved into a redeveloped nightclub on Bridge Street in 2016. Milestone is a member of the Baptist Union of Scotland.

The town's Episcopalian congregation of St John was closed in 2014: they had been using the town's Methodist church building for services after their building became unusable in 2009.

Twin town
🇫🇷 Torcy, Seine-et-Marne, France - in honour of a Scottish knight named Sir Thomas Huston originally from Girvan, who fought the English as part of the Auld Alliance during the Hundred Years War. Rewarding him for his bravery during the capture of Meaux in 1439, the King of France granted him the fiefdom of Torcy.

Notable people

 * Andrew Gallacher, racing driver
 * Peter McCloy, footballer
 * Rory Wilson, footballer
 * Greig Young, footballer

Climate
Girvan has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb).

title: Girvan


text:
Gourock

Gourock (Guireag ) is a town in the Inverclyde council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its main function today is as a residential area, extending contiguously from Greenock, with a railway terminus and ferry services across the Clyde.

History

The name Gourock comes from a Gaelic word for "pimple", in reference to the hill above the town. As far back as 1494 it is recorded that James IV sailed from the shore at Gourock to quell the rebellious Highland clans. Two hundred years later William and Mary granted a Charter in favour of Stewart of Castlemilk which raised Gourock to a Burgh of Barony. In 1784 the lands of Gourock were purchased by Duncan Darroch, a former merchant in Jamaica. He built Gourock House near the site of the castle in what the family eventually gifted to the town as Darroch Park, later renamed by the council as Gourock Park.

From a small fishing village in the traditional county of Renfrewshire, Gourock grew into a community involved in herring curing, copper mining, ropemaking, quarrying and latterly yacht-building and repairing. Within sight of Gourock, in the early hours of 21 October 1825, PS Comet (II) was run into by the steamer Ayr, some 62 people losing their lives.

When the competing railway companies extended their lines to provide fast connections to Clyde steamer services the Pierhead was built as a railway terminus. Nowadays a passenger ferry serves Kilcreggan and electric trains provide a service to Glasgow from Gourock railway station at the pierhead. The David MacBrayne Ltd headquarters is at the pier, and CalMac run a passenger ferry service to Dunoon. A car ferry service is run by Western Ferries from McInroy's Point on the west side of the town to Hunter's Quay to the north of Dunoon.

Like many Scottish seaside towns, Gourock's tourist heyday was in the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. Evidence of this part of its past is gradually disappearing - The Bay Hotel and Cragburn Pavilion and The Ashton, three local landmarks, disappeared towards the end of the last century. At the same time, Gourock has continued to expand along the coastline, with new estates above the medieval Castle Levan which has been restored and is in use as a bed and breakfast. Further development is taking place, though a short stretch of green belt still separates the town from the Cloch lighthouse which looks out over the firth to Innellan in Argyll.

Places of interest
Gourock has one of the three remaining public outdoor swimming pools in Scotland. Gourock Outdoor Pool was built in 1909 and reconstructed in 1969, it was once tidal and had a sandy floor, but is now a modern, heated facility, with cleaned sea water used in the saltwater pool. The pool was closed at the end of the 2010 summer season for a major improvement project, now completed. The existing changing accommodation was demolished and replaced with a more modern leisure centre, incorporating an enlarged gymnasium and lift access from the street level down to the new changing accommodation and the upgraded pool.

The megalithic Kempock Stone, popularly known as "Granny Kempock Stone", stands on a cliff behind Kempock Street. The superstition was that for sailors going on a long voyage or a couple about to be married, walking seven times around the stone would ensure good fortune. A flight of steps winds up from the street past the stone to Castle Mansions and St John's Church, whose crown steeple forms a landmark dominating Gourock.

Kempock Street is the main shopping street, and has a variety of shops including a small supermarket, art and gift shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs. At the north end of the street, a statue of a "Girl on a Suitcase" with bucket and spade at her side, popularly known as "Wee Annie", commemorates the town's past as a seaside resort and setting-off point. She looks out over the pier where Clyde steamers took holidaymakers "doon the watter". The statue was created by Angela Hunter as part of a public art project commissioned by Riverside Inverclyde in 2011.

Gourock also has a golf course, which stretches from behind Trumpethill to Levan estates. The Municipal Buildings in Shore Street, which are now used as a business centre, were completed in 1924.

Yacht club
Gourock has a large yacht club named the Royal Gourock Yacht Club. Situated on Ashton Road at the junction of Victoria Road, it was known as Gourock Sailing Club when it was founded in 1894. It became Gourock Yacht Club in 1900, and acquired Royal status in 1908.

Clan Darroch
Clan Darroch's links with Gourock began in the later half of the 18th century with Duncan Darroch, 1st of Gourock, who had returned to Scotland after making a fortune in the West Indies. There is a story that as a lad, before leaving for Jamaica, he climbed into the garden of Gourock House to get apples from the orchard, and when chased out by the gardener said he would return to buy the estate with its orchard. He acquired the Barony of Gourock from the Stewarts of Castlemilk in 1784. He was also granted arms by the Court of the Lord Lyon and designated Chief of McIireich.

The present head of the Scottish clan Darroch is titled Claire Darroch-Thompson, 8th of Gourock, Lady of the Barony of Gourock, following the death of her father, the late Duncan Darroch of Gourock on 1 February 2011.

Industry

Gourock's principal industry, apart from tourism and fishing, was small craft repair and chandlery. An eponymous ropework opened in the town but later moved to Port Glasgow. More recently Amazon.com opened a distribution centre at Faulds Park, an industrial estate to the south of the town. The Amazon building was originally occupied by Mimtec who manufactured PC products in high volumes for IBM which closed in 2023.

Ashton
The promenade at Ashton forms part of the Inverclyde Coastal Path.

McInroy's Point
McInroy's Point is a small peninsula to the west of the town. Around 1973, a pier was constructed here to form the departure point for Western Ferries. The port has since been expanded and now incorporates two floating ramps. The port is a terminus for the service to Hunters Quay, near Dunoon on the Cowal peninsula, on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde.

Midton
The area was the home of the Drumshantie Rifle Range in the late 19th century. It was developed in the mid-20th century as a series of prefabs (pre-fabricated houses) which were built on part of the "Tower Hill" as a temporary response to the post-war housing shortage.

Trumpethill
Trumpethill is a residential area situated between Midton and Levan and lies to the north of Gourock Golf Club, which stretches all the way behind to the back of Levan.

Notable residents

 * Iain Banks (1954–2013), author
 * Charlie Barr (1864–1911), yachtsman and three-time America's Cup winner
 * Nicky Low (1992– ) footballer
 * Neil Munro (1863–1930), author
 * Fiona Ritchie (1960– ), radio broadcaster
 * William Somerville Shanks (1864–1951), artist
 * Melissa Stribling (1926–1992), actress
 * Sir Ernest Woodroofe (1912-2002), chairman of Unilever
 * George Wyllie (1921–2012), artist

title: Gourock


text:
Grantown-on-Spey

Grantown-on-Spey (Baile nan Granndach) is a town in the Highland Council Area, historically within the county of Moray. It is located on a low plateau at Freuchie beside the river Spey at the northern edge of the Cairngorm mountains, about 20 mi south-east of Inverness (35 mi by road).

The town was founded in 1765 as a planned settlement, and was originally called simply Grantown after Sir James Grant. The addition 'on Spey' was added by the burgh council in 1898. The town has several listed 18th and 19th century buildings, including several large hotels, and serves as a regional centre for tourism and services in the Strathspey region.

The town is twinned with Notre-Dame-de-Monts in the Vendée, Pays de la Loire, France.

History
The burgh was founded in 1765 during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, to encourage both agricultural marketing and handicrafts, as well as to increase local land values and reduce unemployment and emigration. This was part of a wider effort at social and economic improvements brought about by some progressive landlords following the decades of peace after the Jacobite rising of 1745.

Under the direction and funds of the landowner Sir James Grant, the site chosen for the town was to be a mile from Castle Grant and designed with space for a marketplace (known as the Square), with the High Street leading southwestwards. Large plots of land, 200 yards long, were set at right angles to the road. Old Grantown, an earlier small village near the castle, was demolished; and Kylintra Burn, a local stream, was diverted to become the local water source. The new town was advertised in newspapers and elsewhere as a site conveniently close to farms, forests and quarries, with persons and businesses invited to apply for feus and leases.

The official opening ceremony for the new town took place on 12 June 1766, with a procession and celebration party. By 1768 the town was considered established, and the first buildings had been constructed. By 1787 it was reported that there were over 300 inhabitants. To assist manufacturing, Grant paid for the construction of several small factories, linen manufacturing houses, and a bleachfield. During this period, new side roads, bridges, a town-house and jail were also built.

By 1800, the town had grown enough to satisfy the demand for a new church, and in 1803 Inverallan Church was built (originally named Grantown Church), itself replacing several previous churches, including one said to have dated back to medieval times. The church was rebuilt in the 1880s. By 1841 th town had a population of 1,000. By the 1860s, linen manufacture had declined and Grantown was primarily functioning as a market town for the surrounding agricultural district; then during the late Victorian era tourism began to develop. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert stayed for a night at the Grant Arms on 4 September 1860, as recorded in her diary - an extract from which is on display in the Grant Arms Hotel. In 1863, it was reported that Grantown had 21 merchants, two banks, three inns (the Grant Arms, the Black Bull and the New Inn) and several shops, along with the newly opened Strathspey Railway. In 1898 the town was granted Burgh status, and 'on Spey' was added to the name by the Burgh council.

In 1900, the High Street consisted of numerous commercial shops, including a ironmonger, stationer, newsagent, photographer, art studio, and several clothes shops, selling tartan, tweeds and knitwear. By 1902, tourism to the town and region had grown significantly, and the same factor was responsible for much of its development and growth in the 20th century and into the 21st.

The town war memorial to the First World War was erected in 1921, and takes the form of a granite column, designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie; the names of casualties from the Second World War were added in 1945.

By 1965, the town had a population of just under 1,600, and could accommodate 800 visitors in tourist accommodation.

In 2015 the town celebrated its 250th anniversary, with celebrations and a picnic involving foods reminiscent of those typically eaten in the 18th century.

In 2016, a charity fundraising event was held to honour the linen manufacturing history of the town.

Economy
The primary industries in the area are agriculture, forestry, and tourist-related services, including guided wildlife watching tours operated from local hotels, notably the Grant Arms. Birdwatching, red squirrels and some other mammals, and sea life on the nearby coast are among the notable outdoor attractions, as well as the landscapes and geological & glacial history of the nearby Cairngorms and Moray coast.

Further afield, there are several whisky distilleries, including the new Cairn Distillery, by Gordon & MacPhail, in the south-west of the town at Craggan. Millers' of Speyside is a large abattoir on the edge of the town. There is a large smokehouse, currently operated by the Meatsnacks Group - prior to 2016 it was operated by Young's Seafood. The Cairngorms National Park Authority main office is located in the town.

Accommodation
There are various hotels and B&Bs, and self-catering accommodation. A large caravan park is managed by the Caravan and Motorhome Club.

Museum and other notable buildings
Grantown Museum is located in Burnfield Avenue, near one of the town's car parks. In 1861, the Grantown Female School (Burnfield House) was built with funds from Captain John Grant, a factor of Strathspey. The school closed in 1890 when its pupils transferred to Grantown Grammar School and Burnfield House is now the home of the Museum. Adjacent to the museum is a Bell tower that holds the old town bell.

The Speyside Orphanage (also known as the Speyside Charity/Free School) was established in 1795, with funds from Lady Grant of Monymusk. It was originally built by local builder John Russell, but was damaged by fire and rebuilt in 1824, it closed in 1975. The building was converted to a heritage centre, and then later to private flats in 1986. The building is Category A listed and has a small clock tower, with an electric public turret clock from 1975. (The earlier clock is in the town museum).

The High Street and Square contain several notable examples of Scottish baronial architecture and Georgian and Victorian-era buildings. At the corner of 1 High Street and 1 The Square is a Category B listed former bank, built by Matthews and Laurie. It was purpose-built in 1867, and originally housed the Caledonian Bank, then later the Bank of Scotland - which was the last remaining bank in Grantown, before finally closing in March 2021. A turreted building t nos. 3 & 5 High Street formerly contained the Town Post Office and the premises of A.C. Grant, formerly supplier of tweeds to HM King George V.

At 57 High Street is the Ben Mhor hotel, dating to the 1880s, formerly the Temperance Hotel. The former Strathspey Hotel (also called Dunbar's Hotel) is an early 19th century Category B listed building at 70/72 High Street, now converted into homes. Hastilow's Palace Hotel is another former hotel with multiple dormer windows (built in 1894 on the site of the previous Black Bull Inn) on the High Street, and is now a care home. The Grant Arms Hotel is a listed hotel on the Square which in its current form was primarily built in 1875, with substantial additions in the 1880s. The earlier hotel building was built in 1765, and on 4 September 1860 hosted Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The Garth Hotel, on the Square, dates back to 1769, when it was built for James Grant, clerk and factor to Sir James Grant, as a private residence, and was later converted to a hotel. Craiglynne Hotel is a late 19th century hotel on the western edge of the town, on Woodlands Terrace.

The Royal British Legion building on the Square is an Art Deco building that was formerly a cinema from the 1920s to the early 1960s, before becoming a hall for the legion.

Community Facilities
Ian Charles Community Hospital is an NHS Scotland community hospital.

Anagach Woods is located on the eastern edge of the town, and has numerous waymarked trails. It is home to a secretive capercaillie population (a species of bird whuch has suffered drastic declines in numbers in recent decades and is extremely susceptible to human disturbance, meanung that local guides may nowadays decline to direct enthusiasts to try to find them, either in this area or the wider region.

Churches
There are a number of churches in the town - none of which has a burial ground.

Inverallan Parish Church (Church of Scotland) is located on Mossie Road. The current Inverallan Church was rebuilt on the site of several earlier churches to a design by the architect Alexander Smith Cullen in 1886. The rebuilding was funded by Caroline Stuart, Countess of Seafield as a memorial to the death of her husband and son. The church is in Victorian Gothic in style and set out in a cruciform shape. The church incorporates details from the previous churches on the site, including carvings and woodwork from the 17th century.

The Baptist church is at the junction of High Street and Chapel Road. A church in the High Street (opposite Dunstaffnage Brae) is shared by two congregations: Scottish Episcopalian (St Columba), and Roman Catholic (St Anne), who advertise the location as Woodlands Crescent. (Postcode PH26 3EN).

Cemeteries
There are two local cemeteries, both of which are maintained by the Highland Council:
 * Inverallan, the original burial ground, is now only available for use by holders of existing vacant lairs. Most older inscriptions have been transcribed and published in book form; memorials with no events after 1855 are mostly unrecorded in published form. It is between the River Spey and Inverallan House at O.S. grid reference NJ 026 260, and is beside the car park at the end of a road leading from the B9102 road. Apart from the baptism font beside the entrance gate the original Inverallan parish church no longer remains. Official records for this burial ground were not started until the 1900s, when the gravedigger retired and it was realised that he was then the only source of information regarding burials not indicated on the memorials; the current burial register was founded upon the information supplied by him. Therefore, only burials recorded since that time have details supplied contemporaneously by relatives or undertakers.
 * Grantown Cemetery (also known as the New Cemetery) has been in use since the early 20th century. It is located between the B9102 and the A95 roads south of Grantown at O.S. grid reference NJ 027 267. The main entrance and car parking is on the B9102 with an alternative access to the lower end from the A95 Grantown bypass.

Road
The town was built on an easily accessible site along the existing military road from Boat of Garten to Inverness and Fort George (built between 1728 and 1730). These are now respectively the A95, the B9102 (the High Street and Square), and the A939 to the north.

The Old Spey Bridge lies on the south-eastern edge of Grantown, at the locality of Speybridge. It dates from 1754, and was built as part of the military road from Grantown eastwards to Corgaff by the 33rd Regiment of Foot under Lord Charles Hay. The bridge has three arches. It was damaged by large floods in 1829, leading to the smallest arch being rebuilt. By 1931, the old bridge was considered insufficient, and a modern concrete bridge replaced it, upstream to the west. (The current A95 crossing). The new bridge was built by engineers Blyth & Blyth, and consists of a single segmental concrete arch of 240 ft. The old bridge is now used only by pedestrians and cyclists.

Rail
There are now no rail services to Grantown. The closest main line stations are Aviemore and Carrbridge, from which trains travel north and south between Inverness and the Central Belt on the Highland Main Line. There is also a station at Forres, 22 miles to the north, from which trains run between Inverness and Aberdeen.

Grantown-on-Spey was connected by rail until the 1960s. The Inverness and Perth Junction Railway was completed in 1863, and increased the number of tourists and visitors to town. There were two stations, Grantown-on-Spey East and Grantown-on-Spey West. Grantown West station was rebuilt in 1887 to improve facilities for passengers. By October 1965, both stations were closed to passengers, and in 1968 freight services ended.

The Strathspey Railway is a heritage railway which currently runs between Aviemore and Broomhill (near Nethy Bridge), via Boat of Garten. The railway has been progressively reopening the line, and work is ongoing to extend the railway again to Grantown. This included the placement of a new bridge over the River Dulnain.

Buses
There are several local bus services, mainly concentrating on the route to and from Aviemore, but also serving surrounding places. Some services operate only on schooldays.

Occasional buses go to the Cairngorm Mountain Railway - especially in the winter, for skiers.

Various long distance bus services are available in Aviemore, Elgin and Keith. Current information for bus services of most of the operators is on the websites of Moray Council and the Stagecoach group.

Education
The first school in Grantown was planned from 1765 (on a middle lot to the south side of the Square), with two classrooms, but was not built until 1767 owing to insufficient children of school age in the town. The school was extended in 1879, and continued to expand, the senior years eventually becoming the current Grantown Grammar School - which in 1975 moved to a new large campus building at its present location. It provides education for children and young people between the ages of 11 and 18 years. Grantown Primary School remains on the site of the earlier school, in a newer building constructed following the 1872 Education Act. The Speyside Charity/Free School and the Grantown Female School were former schools of the town; their extant buildings have been repurposed.

Sport
Grantown-on-Spey golf course was created in 1890, with nine holes, on a partly woodland site, by golfer A.C. Brown. In 1911 it was extended to 18 holes, to a design by Open champion Willie Park Jr., and later altered by James Braid, US Open Champion. A prominent club member was Bobby Cruickshank, who won more than 20 tournaments in the US. The pavilion was built in the 1890s and refurnished in 1999.

The Craig MacLean Leisure Centre is a public leisure centre in the town, with a swimming pool and gym.

Notable people

 * Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician
 * Bobby Cruickshank, Golfer
 * Gregor Fraser, Pipe Major, 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot
 * John Kerr, Baron Kerr of Kinlochard, diplomat
 * Isabella Leitch, the nutritionist, was born here in 1890
 * Craig MacLean, Track Cyclist
 * Nikolai Orlov, Russian-born pianist
 * James Ogilvie-Grant, 11th Earl of Seafield, Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Elgin
 * W. N. T. Beckett, Captain, Royal Navy

title: Grantown-on-Spey


text:
Kinghorn

Kinghorn (Ceann Gronna) is a town and parish in Fife, Scotland. A seaside resort with two beaches, Kinghorn Beach and Pettycur Bay, plus a fishing port, it stands on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, opposite Edinburgh.

Known as the place where King Alexander III of Scotland died, it lies on the A921 road and the Fife Coastal Path. Kinghorn railway station is on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Fife Circle railway lines. Kinghorn only has a primary school, so high school pupils must travel by bus to Balwearie High School in Kirkcaldy.Burntisland was in the past referred to as Little Kinghorn or Wester Kinghorn.

The town's lifeboat station is one of Scotland's busiest – regularly getting called out to all sorts of emergencies in the Firth. Currently stationed at Kinghorn is an Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat, B-836 "Tommy Niven".

The civil parish has a population of 4,201 (in 2011). According to the 2008 population estimate, the town has a population of 2,930.

History
The meaning of the name Kinghorn (or Kingorn, with stress on the latter syllable, as it was pronounced locally until at least the early 20th century) comes.

The historic Royal Burgh of Kinghorn lies on the coast of Fife. The former royal castle at Kinghorn was frequently visited by the Scottish Court in the period of the House of Dunkeld. The King's castle, controlling the seaway, stood on the headland above Pettycur. King Alexander III was returning on horseback to Kinghorn Castle to see his new wife Yolande of Dreux, when he fell and was found dead on the beach of Pettycur Bay in March 1286, creating the succession crisis that led to the Wars of Scottish Independence.

A later structure, Glamis Tower (or Glamis Castle), stood just behind the High Street. When Sir John Lyon married Princess Johanna in 1373, the daughter of King Robert II, her dowry included Glamis Castle. Rebuilt in 1543, the castle was besieged by James Kirkcaldy of Grange in 1546 and fell. Both buildings have totally disappeared and the sites built over in modern times.

During the Scottish Reformation, French troops commanded by Henri Cleutin and Captain Sarlabous sailed from Leith and fought with the Lords of the Congregation at Pettycur Bay on 7 January 1560. Kinghorn Castle remained an important possession of the Scottish Crown, and this was recognised by the creation of the Earldom of Kinghorne in 1606.

In October 1589 the minister of Kinghorn parish, John Scrimgeour, was chosen by King James VI to accompany him on his voyage to meet his bride, Anne of Denmark, in Norway.

A burn, fed from the freshwater Kinghorn Loch above the town, once provided the town with its water and subsequently provided the source of power to drive the machinery of flax mills.

The old town was dramatically transformed in 1846 by the construction of the railway viaduct across the valley of the burn and the opening of Kinghorn Station by the Edinburgh and Northern Railway which had its terminus at Burntisland for ferries across the Forth to Granton. Much of the former horse ferry traffic from Pettycur Bay was lost to Burntisland. The huge viaduct (mainly solid) splits the original town in two and totally dominates the lower (southern) section.

Following the opening of the Forth Railway Bridge in 1890, the North British Railway started to promote Kinghorn's picturesque sheltered bay and beach as a resort, which led to considerable development of the town.

Buildings of Note

 * Kinghorn Town Hall by Thomas Hamilton 1830.
 * Kinghorn Parish Church (1774) with a dramatic tower added in 1895 by Sydney Mitchell
 * Kinghorn War memorial (1923) designed by William Williamson of Kirkcaldy and sculpted by Alexander Carrick

The town contains a number of 18th-century houses in the Scots vernacular style, but the integrity of the streetscapes are seriously compromised by the "town planning" of the 1960s and 70s, which failed to respect the original character and form.

Ministers

 * William Gardine Dobie VD, served 1887–1907
 * Alexander Hannay McIlwraith, served 1908–1926
 * John Heriot Ballingall, served the Free Church 1845 to 1879

Provosts

 * John Sim served 1899 to 1908 – manager of Kinghorn Gas Works

Notable people

 * William Barron Coutts FRSE, military scientist
 * John McAulay, recipient of the Victoria Cross
 * Jimmy Frew, footballer
 * George Sanders, Scottish portrait painter
 * Christina Robertson, portrait painter in the UK and Russia
 * John Scrimgeour, minister put under house arrest for not requiring his congregation to take the knee for Holy Communion
 * Sharon Small, actress
 * Professor Neil Campbell, chemist

Education
Kinghorn Primary School is the only school in Kinghorn. The school is housed in a building that was built in 1986. The school has currently achieved three of the four "green flags" available under the Eco-Schools scheme, with the third flag being achieved on 27 May 2009. The school has a long history. The original Parish School building of 1823 designed by Thomas Hamilton is now a library and community centre that retains the original octagonal Museum vestibule with replicas of the Elgin Marbles.

Culture and sport
An annual attraction is the Black Rock '5' Race, commonly referred to as the "Black Rock '5'" or the "Black Rock Race", is a road and beach running race of about 4.5 mi that has been held in Kinghorn each year since 1987. Its distinguishing feature is the loop around the Black Rocks, over a mile from the shore, and largely under water except at low tide. The race is held on a suitable Friday in May or June, when the tide is out and the water is no more than knee deep. Over the years it has changed from a simple race into a full-blown social night in Kinghorn's calendar.

The inaugural Black Rock '5', held in 1987, was won by Gifford Kerr, ahead of 66 other finishers; a very small field by today's standards - in 2005 there were over 600 participants, of a wide variety of abilities. The race has been staged every year since 1987, apart from 1991, and throughout the years the numbers have increased significantly, as did the quality of the top end of the field, with recent winners including Neil Renault and Ross Houston.

In the 21st century the race has been dominated by Edinburgh running club Hunters Bog Trotters (HBT) with both Phil Mowbray and Don Naylor having taken the spoils. The course record belongs to Ian Harkness, also of HBT, in a time of 22:03.

title: Kinghorn