Eight centuries of Scotland’s history – in a boat

The Aileach has a new home. And what, you might be thinking, is the Aileach? It is the only existing replica of a Birlinn, the vital Highland galley boat from which this company is proud to take its name. The birlinn was the transport of the clans, a war boat, a trade boat and worked the seas of the Highlands and Islands from the 13th century.

The Scotsman newspaper reported this week that the replica Birlinn, lovingly recreated in the 1990s in a project led by Ranald Macdonald, chief of the Macdonalds, descendant of Somerled, the Norse-Gaelic Lord of the Isles (and – it is claimed – original designer of the Birlinn) has moved to a new permanent home in a purpose built galley boat shed at the Kildonan Museum in South Uist.

To find out more about the power of the galley boat in Highland History you can read the article by Alison Campsie here.

And for those of you who have always wondered why the name Birlinn was chosen for a Scottish publisher – now you know!