We have our final save the date of 2019 for you! We will be at Oban Winter Bricks at St. Columba's Cathedral Hall on the 16th November!

Entry is just £3 and under fours go free! A great deal all round!

Find out more, here:

www.facebook.com/events/1188231158052499/

For the latest on all our shows, news and models, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! ​

Áed mac Cináeda, was a king of the Picts who reigned for around one year between 877 and 878. He was nicknamed Áed of the White Flowers, the wing-footed or the white-foot. Áed was the son of Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín), and succeeded his brother Constantine I (Causantín mac Cináeda). According to the national myth, his father was the first King of Scotland, and so Áed is Scotland’s fourth king according to most modern regal lists.

Little is known about Áed’s short reign, with the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba simply saying “The shortness of his reign has bequeathed nothing memorable to history. He was slain in the civitas of Nrurim.” The whereabouts of Nrurim is unknown, however Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland claims he was killed by one of his successors, Giric, in Strathallan, Perthshire. However, the 19th Century antiquarian George Chalmers believed that that the early-historic mound of the Cunninghillock by Inverurie, Aberdeenshire is the burial place of Áed. This is based on reading Nrurim as Inruriu. Other sources have Áed buried on Iona.

Áed was married, although his wife's name is unknown. They had two sons, Constantine, who would later be King of Scotland between 900 and 943 and Donald, who would become king of Strathclyde.

Áed was succeeded by two rulers, his nephew Eochaid and the mysterious Giric, who may have been his murderer. The relationship between these two kings is uncertain and probably complex and will be discussed in a later blogs.

​This scene was built by Dan Harris as part of a series of models on the Kings and Queens of Scotland. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

Constantine I, or rather Causantín or Constantín mac Cináeda (in Modern Gaelic: Còiseam mac Choinnich), was a king of the Picts who reigned between 862 and 877. He was the son of Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín), and succeeded his uncle Donald I (Domnall mac Ailpín) following the latter's death on 13th April 862. According to the national myth, his father was the first King of Scotland, and so Contantine is Scotland’s third king according to most modern regal lists.

Constantine’s reign fell during a period of increased Viking activity across the British Isles. In 865 the Great Heathen Army was moving across England, pillaging, looting and obtaining tribute. Viking armies were also active in Scotland and one of these was led by two brothers named Amlaíb and Auisle.  In 866 Amlaíb brought an army to Fortriu, the Pictish Kingdom around present day Morayshire, which is often referred to synonymously with Pictland in general, and obtained tribute and hostages. While Amlaíb and Auisle were in north Britain, the Annals of Ulster record that Áed Findliath, High King of Ireland, and husband of Constantine’s sister, Máel Muire, took advantage of their absence to destroy the longphorts along the northern coasts of Ireland.

Amlaíb disappears from Irish annals after his return to Ireland in 871. According to the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba he was killed by Constantine either in 871 or 872, when he returned to Pictland in an attempt to collect further tribute. Late sources of uncertain reliability state that Auisle was killed by Amlaíb in 867 in a dispute over Amlaíb's wife, the daughter of a Cináed (Kenneth). It is unclear whether, if accurate, this woman should be identified as a daughter of Kenneth MacAlpin, and thus Constantine’s sister, or as a daughter of Cináed mac Conaing, king of Brega, a petty Kingdom north of Dublin in Ireland.

In 875 a Viking army was once again present in Pictland and a battle, fought near Dollar in Clackmannanshire, resulted in a heavy defeat for the Picts. In 877, shortly after building a new church for Culdees monks at St Andrews, Constantine was captured and executed (or perhaps killed in battle) after defending against Viking raiders. According to some sources, his execution took place on a beach, though the exact loation is not known. He was buried on Iona and was succeeded by his brother Áed.

​These scenes were built by Dan Harris as part of a series of models on the Kings and Queens of Scotland. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

We are proud to announce the unveiling of another awesome Brick to the Past model – a minifigure scale LEGO model of Dun Deardail hillfort. The model, which was commissioned by the Nevis Partnership, is now on permanent display at the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre, overlooked by the real Dun Deardail on one side and Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, on the other.

Dun Deardail is thought to have been  built and occupied, perhaps over several periods, between 700 BC and AD 900 and is unusual because the stones that once made up its walls have been vitrified. Vitrification is the process by which stones are fused together at temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius. It is uncertain why vitrification took place, but current theories tend to see it as either an act of aggression following capture or as ‘ritual closure’ at the end of the site’s active life, akin to the destruction of many Neolithic ritual monuments.

Nevis Landscape Partnership have been running  an ambitious project to excavate the Dun Deardail. Working closely with Forestry Commission Scotland & AOC Archaeology, they aim to uncover the mysteries surrounding this ancient settlement and have got hundreds of ‘citizen archaeologists’ involved in the work. You can find out more about this on our previous blog on the project.

The LEGO version of Dun Deardail, which contains approximately 35,000 pieces, delved into this research to come up with a layout and appearance that reflects what the hillfort might have looked like early in the first millennium AD.

The model was built by our builder in the north, Dan Harris, who said:
 
“I've been visiting Glen Nevis and the surrounding area of years to walk and climb, so it's an absolute delight to have been able to build a model of one of its landmarks. It's great to be able to display at one of Scotland's most popular tourist destinations and I hope that the model will encourage people to get out and explore the real hill fort".

The funding to build the model of Dun Deardail was provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Highland Council Discretionary Fund.

You can find out first about all of our projects by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Hello everyone!

This weekend we’ll be at the totally awesome Awesome Bricks show at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune Air Field in East Lothian.

Our model will have a distinctly Scottish flavour – the internationally travelled LEGO Corgarff Castle, last seen in Norway’s beautiful city of Trondheim. The museum is a great place for a show, because not only do you get to gawp at lots of awesome LEGO models, you also get to gawp at lots of awesome retro aircraft. Right, that’s enough of the word ‘awesome’.

Tickets cost between £9 and £14, while under 5s and National Museums Scotland Members go free! Remember, for the price you get access to the whole museum too, so this is a great value event!

Find out more and book your tickets at:

www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-flight/whats-on/awesome-bricks/

We have another show for your diary! On June 16th and 17th we will be on display at Awesome Bricks at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune Air Field in East Lothian. Last year's inaugural show was great fun and the venue itself is one of the best we've displayed in - plenty of reasons to come along this year! 

Reduced price early bird tickets are available until 3rd June, but full price tickets cost between £9 and £14, while under 5s and National Museums Scotland Members go free!

We'll announce the model we're taking closer to the time.

Find out more and book your tickets at:

https://www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-flight/whats-on/awesome-bricks/

On this day in 1746 the Battle of Culloden was fought between the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stewart, also known as the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie, and a Government force under the command of William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. The battle resulted in total defeat for the Jacobites and the effective end of any efforts to place a Stuart on the British Throne.

Conflict had broken out in the summer of 1745 with the Jacobites achieving a number of unexpected successes. Having defeated a large government army at the Battle of Prestonpans in September, they effectively controlled the whole of Scotland and even penetrated England as far south as Derby before returning north. The withdrawal would lead them to their last stand on Culloden Moor, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.
 
On the night before the battle the government army, which was camped around 12 miles from the Jacobites to the west, celebrated Cumberland's twenty-fifth birthday by issuing two gallons of brandy to each regiment. In an attempt to take the initiative, and repeat the victory at Prestonpans, the Jacobites forced a night march with the aim of catching the Hanovarian’s by surprise. The trek however prorated arduous and having already left late, took much longer than expected.  In the dark, the right and left wings of the army became separated and by the time the leading troops had reached Culraick, still 2 miles from their objective, there was only one hour left before dawn. It was concluded that there was not enough time to mount a surprise attack and that the offensive should be aborted; the army returned in disarray.

Not long after the exhausted Jacobite forces had made it back to Culloden, reports came through of the advancing government troops. At about 11am the two armies were within sight of one another with about 2 miles (3.2 km) of open moorland between them. As the government forces steadily advanced across the moor, the driving rain and sleet blew from the north-east into the faces of the Jacobites.

The ensuing battle was brief. Unleashing their superior artillery, the government army opened by shelling the Jacobite lines. Charles, who had taken personal command of the army, left his men to endure the barrage for around 30 minutes, waiting for his opponents to move. Several clan leaders, worried about the resulting casualties, its effect on moral and angry at the lack of action, pressured Charles to issue the order to charge. Members of Clan Chattan were the first of the Jacobites to receive this order, but an area of boggy ground in front of them forced them to veer right so that they obstructed the following regiments and the attack was pushed towards the wall of the Culwhiniac enclosure. The Jacobites advanced on the left flank of the government troops, but were subjected to volleys of musket fire and the artillery which had switched from roundshot to grapeshot.

Despite taking heavy casualties the Jacobite charge met the government line, with two regiments, Barrell's 4th Foot and Dejean's 37th Foot, taking the brunt of the attack. The government’s second line was bought forward to plug any gaps and formed a five battalion strong horseshoe-shaped formation which trapped the Jacobite right wing on three sides.
 
The Jacobite left wing, which consisted of Macdonald regiments, had around 200m more to cover over much boggier ground and so engaged the government troops slightly later. As they took casualties the began to give way and sensing the advantage, Cumberland ordered his dragoons to ride them down. They too were impeded by the boggy ground and ended up engaging the French supplied Irish Picquets, who had been brought forward in an attempt to stabilise the deteriorating Jacobite left flank.

The Jacobite left collapsed and turned into a total rout. The Royal Écossais and Kilmarnock's Footguards, who had attempted an orderly retreat along the Culwhiniac enclosure were ambushed and forced into the centre of the field, where they were run down by Kerr's 11th Dragoons, though they put up a fierce fight and were able to retire. The rout would have become a massacre if it were not for the rear-guard action of the Irish Picquets who covered the Highlanders' retreat. This stand by the Royal Écossais may have given Charles Edward Stewart the time to make his escape.
 
From this point on the fleeing Jacobite forces were split into two groups: the Lowland regiments retired in order southwards, making their way to Ruthven Barracks; the Highland regiments however were cut off by the government cavalry, and forced to retreat down the road to Inverness. The result was that they were a perfect target for the government dragoons.
 
It is estimated that of the approximate 7,000 mend deployed at the outset of the battle, Jacobite casualties were around 1,500–2,000 killed or wounded. By contrast, the government only lost between 240-400 of their 8,000, while another 1,000 were wounded.

The 1,500 or so men who assembled at Ruthven Barracks in Badenoch received orders from Charles Edward Stewart to the effect that all was lost and to "shift for himself as best he could". Similar orders must have been received by the Highland units at Fort Augustus. By April 18th the Jacobite army haddisbanded. Officers and men of the units in the French service made for Inverness, where they surrendered as prisoners of war on 19 April. The rest of the army broke up, with men heading for home or attempting to escape abroad.
 
The morning following the Battle of Culloden, Cumberland issued a written order reminding his men that "the public orders of the rebels yesterday was to give us no quarter". Contemporary accounts report then that for the next two days Culloden Moor was searched and all those found wounded there were put to death. Charles Edward returned to France and so ended any realistic attempt to place him, or any other Stuart, on the British throne.

Culloden Battlefield is now owned by National Trust Scotland who have an excellent visitor centre at the site. You can find out more here:

www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/culloden

The scenes in this blog were part of our model The Jacobite Risings: The Fight for Britain's Throne which explored the history of the Risings and in particular that of the 'Forty-five'. This model was on display at Stirling Castle over the winter of 2017 and 2018 where it proved hugely popular and received considerable media attention. While the full model no longer exists, parts of it do and are often on display, so follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to find out where and when.

Kenneth MacAlpin, or rather Cináed mac Ailpin (Modern Gaelic: Coinneach mac Ailpein), was a king of the Picts who, according to national myth, was the first king of Scots. He is therefore known in most modern regal lists as Kenneth I and is said to have reigned from some point in 843 until his death on 13th February 858. The House of Alpin, which is an entirely modern construct, held the position of King of the Picts and subsequently King of Scotland or King of Scots for nearly 200 years. Describing Kenneth’s life is difficult because so much is wrapped up in myth and revision, however all subsequent Scottish monarchs claimed descent from him and as such, the current British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II is descended from him through Malcolm III, Robert the Bruce and James VI and I.

Kenneth's origins are uncertain as are his ties, if any, to previous kings of the Picts or the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata. Medieval genealogies are unreliable sources, but it is possible that he descended from Dál Riata’s Cenél nGabráin royal line, or at the very least from some unknown minor sept of the kingdom. According to myth, Kenneth gained the Pictish throne for the Scots through military conquest, however this is disputed, as evidence of this narrative only comes to fore during the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac Maíl Coluim), who was king from 971 to 995, when the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba was compiled. In fact, there is no firm evidence that he was even a Gael and could plausibly have been Pictish, or at least partly Pictish; there are after all four Pictish kings after him.

Perhaps a more likely scenario to Kenneth’s ascendancy is that the kingships of Gaels and Picts underwent a process of gradual fusion, perhaps starting with Kenneth, and rounded off in the reign of Constantine II, when in 906 he met Bishop Cellach at the Hill of Belief near the royal city of Scone and cemented the rights and duties of Picts on an equal basis with those of Gaels (pariter cum Scottis) and hence the change in styling from King of the Picts to King of Alba.

This does not mean that Kenneth did not have to fight for the throne, it is just that he is unlikely to have done so as an ‘outsider’. In 839 a succession crisis rose in the Pictish Kingdom of Fortriu, which is often referred to synonymously with Pictland in general, when King Uen son of Óengus, his brother Bran, Áed mac Boanta and other notable members of the dynasty were killed in battle against the Vikings. This situation resulted in at least four would-be kings warring for supreme power.

Kenneth's reign is dated from 843, but it was probably not until 848 that he defeated the last of his rivals for power. The Pictish Chronicle claims that he was king in Dál Riata for two years before becoming Pictish king in 843, but this is not generally accepted. Little detail is known of his reign, although a few sources offer some insight. In 849  he had the relics of Saint Columba, which may have included the Monymusk Reliquary, transferred from Iona to Dunkeld. Apparently he also invaded Anglo-Saxon lands six times, capturing Melrose and burning Dunbar.

His reign also saw an increased degree of Norse settlement in the outlying areas of modern Scotland. Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, the Western Isles, the Isle of Man, and part of Ross were settled. Vikings are also described as laying waste to Pictland, reaching far into the interior. This Norse activity weakened the links of the Pictish Kingdom with Ireland and effectively shut down those with southern England and the  continent. Consequently Kenneth and his successors were to consolidate their position in their kingdom and the union between the Picts and the Gaels, already progressing for several centuries, began to strengthen. 

Kenneth died on 13th February 858 at the palace of Cinnbelachoir, which is thought to have been near Scone. He left at least two sons, Constantine and Áed, who were later kings, and at least two daughters. One daughter married Rhun, king of Strathclyde, their son and future king Eochaid being the result of this marriage. His other daughter, Máel Muire married two important Irish kings of the Uí Néill. Her first husband was Aed Finliath of the Cenél nEógain, her second husband was Flann Sinna of Clann Cholmáin.

​These scenes were built by Dan Harris as part of a series of models on the Kings and Queens of Scotland. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

We are delighted to announce that Brick to the Past have been commissioned by Nevis Partnership to build a minifigure scale model of Dun Deardail hillfort for permanent display at Glen Nevis Visitor Centre.

Dun Deardail occupies a striking position on a rocky knoll above Glen Nevis and is surrounded by the often snow-capped peaks of the West Highlands. To its east it is overlooked by Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain and to its north, Glen Nevis unfolds, revealing the historic town of Fort William. The hillfort is thought to have been  built and occupied, perhaps over several periods, between 700 BC and AD 900 and is unusual because the stones that once made up its walls have been vitrified. Vitrification is the process by which stones are fused together at temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius. It is uncertain why vitrification took place, but current theories tend to see it as either an act of aggression following capture or as ‘ritual closure’ at the end of the site’s active life, akin to the destruction of many Neolithic ritual monuments.

Nevis Landscape Partnership have been running  an ambitious project to excavate the Dun Deardail. Working closely with Forestry Commission Scotland & AOC Archaeology, they aim to uncover the mysteries surrounding this ancient settlement and have got hundreds of ‘citizen archaeologists’ involved in the work. You can find out more in this video.

The funding to build LEGO Dun Deardail has been provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Highland Council Discretionary Fund.

We’ll be keeping you up-to-date as we build LEGO Dun Deardail. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter andInstagram for the scoop!

Last year we bought you a piece on how we built our Jacobite army, in this post we turn our attention to the government force.
 
It’s often a little too easy to view the government army of the ‘Forty-Five’ as being a homogeneous mass of redcoats occupied by men enlisted in England. For those unfamiliar with the term, ‘redcoat’ is in reference to the colour of the uniform worn widely by soldiers in the British Army from the 17th to the 20th centuries.  To some degree, there is truth in this; for example the vast majority of regiments present at Culloden were dressed in this way and indeed most soldiers were English. Within the army as a whole however, there was more diversity with plenty of Scots, and even Highlanders, serving on the government side; it is important to remember that it’s likely that most Scots at the time were not Jacobites and many were fiercely Unionist in outlook. The presence of Dutch and Hessian mercenaries provides further diversity, not just in terms of language and nationality, but also in dress. Lastly it is worth noting that even among the regular British army, not all soldiers wore redcoats; for example the artillery regiments of the time wore blue, while light cavalry often wore green.

Researching the appearance of our government army took much the same path as our Jacobite one. We have drawn from a variety of sources, but the most useful have been books published by Osprey and a visit to the Highland Folk Museum where we met members of Alan Breck's Prestonpans Volunteer Regiment.

Given the predominance of redcoats within the army, building up our infantry has been a relatively straightforward task as LEGO have produced redcoats in some form ever since their first Pirate sets were released in the 1980s. The quality of torsos has improved considerably since then and so we have been able to use minifigures from more recent LEGO Pirates and Pirates of the Caribbean sets. The only modifications we have had to make to these is to change the heads and hands around to give them a more natural ‘fleshy’ colour.

We have used a few different torsos to represent our officers, but these have been chosen solely to denote a difference in rank rather than coming from a historical source. The same could be said of our standard infantry torsos, since the infantry coats of the time were fronted with yellow lapels, which are conspicuously lacking on our LEGO ones. Such are the compromises that need to be made when building a LEGO army; the symbolic must often take precedent over perfect accuracy.
 
Attached to each infantry regiment were grenadiers; soldiers that represented the elite of the British army. Grenadiers did not wear the usual tri-corn hat of regular infantry, instead wearing a finely decorated mitre-style headpiece. While we cannot recreate the decoration, a mitre may be recreated using a headpiece found originally in Prince of Persia sets. To complete our grenadiers we have also equipped them with a satchel, which is supposed to represent the grenades they carried.

We thought it important that we should in some way show the Scottish, and more specifically, the Highland element of the government army and the obvious choice for this was to build a small company of the 43rd Highlanders (later the 42nd Royal Highlanders), better known as The Black Watch.
 
The Black Watch’s history goes back to the aftermath of the 1715 rising when the British Government found itself without the resources or manpower to keep a standing army in the Highlands. Instead they kept order by recruiting men from local clans that had remained loyal to the government. This arrangement proved unsatisfactory and in 1725 General George Wade raised six Independent Highland Companies as militia to keep "watch" for crime. These companies were commonly known in Gaelic as Am Freiceadan Dubh, or the Black Watch, probably due to the dark government issue plaids they wore. Four more companies were added in 1739 and in the same year all ten were formed into the 43rd Highland Regiment of Foot.
 
When the ‘Forty-five’ broke out, the Black Watch saw action at the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745 but then returned to England, partly to counter a feared French invasion and partly because they weren't really trusted not to join the Jacobites. However one of the regiment’s companies fought at the Battle of Culloden, where they suffered no casualties.
 
The key to creating a convincing LEGO Black Watch was to get the plaids right and fortunately there is a third-party company that makes kilts for minigiures in the Black Watch tartan. These, along with black bonnets rather than tri-corn hats, were placed on minifigures with the standard redcoat torso and the result is a reasonably accurate representation of the regiment’s dress during the ‘Forty-five’. Interestingly, accounts from the time appear to suggest that officers of the Black Watch could choose their own plaids and so our officer is dressed in a red tartan.

One of the key features of the government army was its cavalry. General Wade had favoured the use of dragoons, facilitated by his new roads, as a means of patrolling the Highlands and as such we see modifications, such as the addition of stables at Ruthven Barracks, made to the area’s military infrastructure. Dragoons have been relatively easy to create, because as far as LEGO goes the only meaningful distinction you can make is to put a redcoat on a horse. Other cavalry types take a bit more work.
 
The government army also deployed a company of hussars, which were a type of light cavalry commonly used in during the 18th and 19th centuries. The role of Hussars was to harass enemy skirmishers, overrun artillery positions, and pursue fleeing troops. The style of combat originated in Hungary and indeed, when Cumberland entered Scotland he had a personal escort of Hungarian cavalry. The Hussars of Cumberland’s army wore dark green and a tall fur hat and we have been able to recreate this appearance using parts from a number of minifigures. The torso has been the crucial aspect here, with the ideal part found as part of Collectable Minifigure Series 8’s Thespian.

Like the cavalry, artillery is another area where the government army had superiority over the Jacobites. At Culloden they were able to field 10 3-pounders and 6 coehorn mortars, which did significant damage to the Jacobite lines before they were able to engage. Creating soldiers for this artillery is reasonably straightforward as they wore dark blue jackets with black tri-corn hats. There are a range of dark blue torsos available from the Collectable Minifigure Series’, Pirates and Pirates of the Caribbean sets, so creating a hierarchy of troops has been relatively straightforward.

The final component of our Government army is the Germanic one – the Hessian mercenaries. Hesse-Kassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that for its size had a relatively large army, which it paid for by renting out to other warring countries. Great Britain’s Hanoverian monarchy were of course German themselves, in fact George II was born and bought up in Germany and remained Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire until his death. Britain and Hanover were already engaged in the War of the Austrian Succession and were able to draw on their allies and indeed familial ties, first the Dutch and then the Hessian’s, to provide troops to put down the Jacobite rising. The influence of the Hessian’s during the ‘Forty-Five’ is debatable; for example they refused to march through the Pass of Killiecranckie to relieve the besieged Blair Castle and did not take part in the Battle of Culloden.
 
The Hessian uniform of this period was dark blue with the headgear dependent on the type of soldier they were i.e. regular infantry, grenadiers or cavalry. Because our artillery were already in dark blue there are some similarities between the design of the two. Context offers a means of separation as the Hessian’s did not operate artillery, so our Hessians have muskets and the occasional sword. We have decided to only create Hessian infantry, since our army already has enough cavalry to fill its ranks.

With the army assembled, all that remains is to place them in the field; you can see how this was done on our blog on the Battle of Killiecranckie. Better yet, you could see our LEGO Hanoverians as well as our LEGO Jacobites for real, when they go on display as part of The Jacobite Risings: The Fight for Britain’s Throne at Stirling Castle until February 2nd. Find out more:

www.stirlingcastle.gov.uk/whatson/events/lego-jacobite-risings-at-stirling-castle

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up-to-date with all of our events and to see our work first.