A SERIES OF EVENTS looking back on Elgin’s rich heritage is to kick off this week under the guidance of the Castle to Cathedral to Cashmere project.
Entertainment, talks, imagery and films will be used to carry people back in time in a series of free events as exhibitions and displays go on show at the Gallery in the Elgin Library from Wednesday until Thursday, January 21 that celebrate both Elgin and Moray through the ages.
Included will be an exhibition of old photographs and shop fronts gathered from the Elgin Museum and Heritage Centre, while the journey so far taken by the Castle to Cathedral to Cashmere project will also be on show.
Costumes and hairstyles through the eras will be exhibited courtesy of students from Moray College, while local schools get in on the act when Elgin Academy and Elgin High School students will put on a schools exhibition that features the results of their research into ‘Elgin’s Famous Sons’, local witches and the closes along Elgin High Street.
Challenges will also be laid on people’s local knowledge with a Mystery Objects Quiz and an Elgin shop front quiz.
Jim Royan, Chairman of the Castle to Cathedral to Cashmere project said: “Experience Elgin’s interesting and turbulent journey from Medieval Mayhem, via Victorian splendour to modern times. It is important to understand the history of our own town and it can also be fun.
“This outstanding programme allows people of all ages to see, hear and touch the remarkable story that spans one thousand years and reaches back to when Moray ruled Alba and Elgin Castle was the ‘Balmoral’ of its time.”
Specific events and times
Magic Lantern Show – Wednesday, January 13 from 1.30pm to 2.30pm, Saturday, January 16 from 11am to 12pm and Tuesday, January 19 from 2.30pm to 3.30pm
The Magic Lantern was an early form of projector originally using candlelight or oil lamp. Slides were either colour or black & white, hand painted photographic plates and were hand operated.
In the 1860s electric light was developed which made the projection much brighter and safer. Our Magic Lantern will be showing slides of Elgin Past which have been provided from the collection at Elgin Museum.
Elgin CARS drop in session – Wednesday, January 20 from 2pm to 4pm
Come along to find out about grants available for shop fronts and external repairs to traditional buildings in the Conservation Area.
Talk: The Wolf by Jim Royan, Thursday, January 14 – 6.30 pm for 7pm start
Hear about the son of King Robert II, Alexander Stewart the 1st Earl of Buchan, the Wolf of Badenoch – one of the most evil and memorable characters in Scotland’s history.
He waged a bitter war on the Church and Bishop of Moray and burned Forres and Elgin, plundered Pluscarden Abbey and destroyed Elgin Cathedral.
In June 1990, 600 years to the day that Elgin Cathedral was reduced to ashes, Jim Royan and fourteen other’s re-enacted the event marching from Lochindorb to Elgin and with flaming torches stormed the cathedral. In a humorous and vivid interpretation Jim recounts this iconic piece of the history of Moray.
Talk: The Real Macbeth’ by Cameron Taylor – Thursday, January 21, 6.30pm for 7pm start
In addition to his day job as Moray Speyside Tourism’s Operations Manager, Cameron Taylor has a double life as a Macbeth enthusiast and historian.
He is the co-author of On the Trail of the real Macbeth, now in its second edition, and presents Flying Mirror’s recently-released video documentary about the real Macbeth. Cameron will host a screening of the documentary and a discussion of Moray’s ‘lost’ Macbeth as well as giving the opportunity to handle some replica items from on thousand years ago.