Wonderful personal notepad. My great, great, great grandparents are buried in St. Serf’s Kirkyard at Dunning – watched over today by the Dupplin Cross. We are scattered like autumn leaves now around the world but its always good to know more about home.

As a Canadian whose great grandparents emigrated to Canada from the Isle of Arran, circa 1849, I’ve always been fascinated by our origins. I’ve traced my direct line on Arran back to 1780, when our name was MacMhurrigh, and there the written records ran out. I can only presume we are descended from Muireadach Albannach, otherwise known as Muireadach O’Daly, an Irish poet, and that he brought literacy to Scotland, according to historian Ian Grimble. The only link I could find was that Arran was given to one Muirdach (various spellings) by the King of Norway after the so-called Battle of Largs, and again, presume this man to be a son or grandson of Muireadach Albannach and also a poet/bard/warrior. So I conveniently accepted that the Scots were a tribe of Irish who gradually took over from the Picts, etc. Now the evidence doesn’t seem to support this, so I’m even more fascinated. While I now live in Thailand, I return to Canada to conduct orchestras and wind ensenbles, and I shall try to locate a copy of The Picts: A History, and be even more fascinated. Thanks.

This is just a note to say I have just finished reading your book ‘The Picts – A History’. I thoroughly enjoyed it – accessable and thought provoking. I have recommended it to several fellow students.

I look forward to your next published work.

Regards

Phil