On Saturday I presented at a knowledge exchange event for teachers of Scottish history at the national musuem of scotland.  My presentation focused around how Digimap for Schools can be used to bring historical events to life.  In addition to showing how our new historical maps are superb for highlighting the change in our landscape at then end of the 1890s (as in this illustration of Friockheim junction nr Forfar)

I also highlighted how contemporary maps show a wealth of historical knowledge.  To do this I set a quiz.  Having spent many wonderful family holidays in East Lothian with my young children I thought of a particular iconic place then gave the audience 8 interesting historical facts.  I want to share these facts with you so that you can impress your colleagues with some history trivia!  This place:

• Was settled by an early Christian hermit in the 6^th century
• In the early 15^th century King James I imprisoned his political enemies here
• By the 16^th century was the location of one of Scotland’s most important castles
• Mary Queen of Scots had a garrison of 100 men stationed here in early 16^th century (incl French troops)
• In 1546 the Lauder family rebuilt the small chapel above the castle
• After the Battle of Killiecrankie, it was the only Jacobite stronghold, until in 1690, 2 years after the battle, they were starved into submission
• Features in Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1893 sequel to Kidnapped
• In 2010 during his visit here David Attenborough  described this place as one of the wildlife wonders of the world

Contemporary mapping of this place shows some of these historic features.

With use of the annotation tools, the island’s history can come to life…….

We hope you enjoy this example of how your history colleagues could use the service.  If you don’t already have one of our staffroom posters, download one here: http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/Resources/flyers/staffroom_poster.pdf