The Great Tapestry Of Scotland Poem by Sheena Blackhall

The ice melts, Scotland rises from the sea
The wildwood and its fauna, first arrive
The Barn’s Ness house, East Lothian, is built
Broch, Cairn, and Roman ruins still survive

Pytheas, Greek explorer, circles Lewis
Ninian comes. Columba builds Iona
The Romans fight Calgacus in the North
The Irish warlords settle Dalriada

Cuthbert’s born. Monks scribe the Book of Kells
Picts beat the warlike Angles at Dunnichen
The coming of the Vikings brings despair
Constantine climbs the Hill of Faith in Scone

At Carham Scotsmen fight Northumbrians
Tweedbank and Galashiels become the border
Macbeth of Moray, sits on Duncan’s throne
Queen Margaret is Malcolm Canmore’s queen

Great Border Abbeys rise in veneration
King David founds new burghs round the land
Foremost of the schoolmen’s John Duns Scotus,
The Norseman, Somerled, reigns in the isles

King Haakon’s Vikings face defeat at Largs
King Alexander falls from a storm-bound cliff
Wallace and Moray fight at Stirling bridge
The Bruce at Bannockburn defeats the English

The Black Death leaves too many farms deserted
St Andrews University is founded
Orkney and Shetland cede to Scottish rule
Rosslyn Chapel’s built, with green men furnished

Chepman and Myllar run their printing press
Blind Harry writes the life story of Wallace
Waulking songs on Harris time the toil
King James IV is slain on Flodden field

Sir David Lyndsay writes the The Three Estates
The Court of Session’s founded, highest law court
Scottish Reformation invokes turmoil
An early aim: A School in Every Parish,

Mary Queen of Scots confronts John Knox
The wild Lowlands fosters Border Reivers,
A daring foray rescues Kinmont Willie
Robert Carey makes The great North Ride

King James’s Bible’s written down in English
Dawn of the Ulster Scots in Down and Antrim
National Covenant’s signed by Greyfriars Kirk
Drovers herd their cattle from the Highlands

At Philiphaugh the great Montrose is beaten
The Killing Times brings fear to the conventicles
The Glencoe Massacre appals the nation
The Bank of Scotland’s founded, issues money

The Darien Scheme brings ruin to investors
The Act of Union links the Rose and Thistle
Even though at Sheriffmuir, the war’s a draw
Dutch troops boost Hanover, the Fifteen’s lost

The modern kilt’s invented at Lochaber
The Fortyfive’s extinguished at Culloden
The military ensures Scotland’s surveyed
English suppresses Gaelic, customs too

St Andrews founds its world famed golfing club
In Edinburgh they teach the deaf and dumb
James Small invents the Swing Plough, aiding farmers
Encyclopaedia Britannica is established

Edinburgh enjoys its great Enlightenment
James Watt invents the power of the Steam Engine
Glasgow’s Tobacco Lords bring trading wealth
Adam Smith writes down The Wealth of Nations

David Hume examines human nature
The Clearances depopulate the country
Home weaving, reeling, spinning, skills continue
James Hutton’s writes his Theory of the Earth,

James Boswell praises Scotland’s fine smoked fish
The Forth and Clyde Canal brings ease of transport
Burke and Hare, two Irish navvies, grave rob
Scots stamp their influence across the Empire

Robert Owen builds his dream, New Lanark
Robert Burns composes Tam O’Shanter
Fear of Napoleon’s coming is unfounded
Sir Henry Raeburn paints the rich and famous

Sir Walter Scott promotes Romantic Scotland
Composers, poets, visit Fingal’s Cave
The Scotsman’s printing press brings news to all
George Smith sets up The Glenlivet Distillery

Harris tweed clothes workers on estates
Glasgow grows in industry and wealth
Sheep shearing piles up wool, but empties glens
The first Reform Act now extends the franchise

McMillan makes the first power pedal cycle
Queen Victoria enjoys Balmoral
Disruption splits the Kirk. Wee Frees in Scotland
India is a honeypot for Scots

Hill and Adamson, take stunning photos
The Forth Rail Bridge assists the Railway Boom
The Education Census checks our schools
It’s Orange versus Green in Scottish football

Irish flee to Glasgow from the Famine
James Clerk Maxwell studies speed of light
The Scots forge links and interests with Africa
The Highland Games enjoy a wide resurgence

The Scottish Rugby Union is first founded
Shinty and curling flourish, Scottish pastimes
Scots emigrants sail for America
Paisley gives its name to Peacock patterns

The Battle of the Braes takes place in Skye,
The Napier Commission champions rights
Robert Louis Stevenson writes marvels
Scots forge ahead in heavy engineering

The S.T.U.C’s formed, a Scots trade union
Keir Hardie speaks, Labour MP & firebrand
The herring girls gut fish around the coast
Captain Scott sets sail in the Discovery

Jute, jam and journalism …That’s Dundee!
Charles Rennie Mackintosh leads Scots designs
Sir Hugh Munro maps out Munros for climbing
The First World War drains Scotland of her sons

Elsie Inglis champions wartime nursing
The battle cruiser Hood is built for combat
The Iolaire sinks, just off Stornoway,
Eric Liddle runs for Christ and country

Scottish Women win the right to Vote
Whalers harvest oil for Scottish lamps
The General Strike is called by hungry miners
Fair Isle jerseys are a fashion statement

MacDiarmid’s Drunk Man looks upon the Thistle
Ramsay MacDonald heads the rise of Labour
The Great Depression strikes across the nation
Glasgow’s tenements fill with the poor



The Second World War heralds years of turmoil
The Clydebank Blitz rains death down from the skies
Concrete pill blocks safe-guard Scotland’s shores
Scots convoys, training, men, assist on D-Day

The Edinburgh Festival is launched
East Kilbride’s named for an Irish saint
The NHS makes medicine free for all
TV arrives, the 1950s marvel

The steamie is the place for dirty laundry
Cumbernauld takes Glasgow’s overspill
North Sea Oil is found off Aberdeen
(Aberdeen, an ancient North East city)

Linwood begins to make the Hillman Imp
Pop music booms, Scots teenagers love rhythm
Glenrothes new town is laid out in Fife,
Jimmy Reid leads work-ins on the Clyde

It’s on its own, our Scottish Comedy
The SNP upsurges in Elections
Scottish films and actors grace the movies
Football goes abroad with Ally’s Army

The Miners’ Strike sees industries decline
Gaelic resurgence flowers in the media
Glasgow is lauded as a town of Culture
Dolly the Sheep is cloned in Edinburgh

The Scottish Parliament now reconvenes
(Parliament facing Past and to the Future)
It oversees the map that is our country
Scotland ongoing story- tapestry