Tomnahurich: the Fairy Hill of Inverness

Stories of Scotland

Annie and Jenny

History, Places & Travel, Society & Culture

4.8 • 728 Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jenny and Annie go away with the fairies to explore the mythology of Tomnahurich Cemetery in Inverness. This episode looks at folk legends of giants, fairy parties and fiddlers lost in the night. It also examines the curious relationship of Tomnahurich hill and Oliver Cromwell’s control of Scotland during the 17th Century. We go into detail on the life of Alexander Mackenzie, a Highland Historian who was involved in the Highland Land League and whose gravestone is missing from Tomnahurich Cemetery. This weird and wonderful episode weaves in and out of imaginative folklore and the genuine history of the Fairy Hill of Inverness, Tomnahurich. Get bonus content on Patreon

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Stories of Scotland, a podcast where we go to dark places in the night and search for ghosts.
0:14.6	We're looking for folklore in history, not ghosts, Jenny. Oh, well, this is going to be a long podcast, Annie.
0:22.4	Each week, I tirelessly dig through historic archives
0:25.9	to find first-hand accounts of people's lives in Scotland,
0:29.3	and Jenny tirelessly ruins them.
0:32.3	Hey, I bring em e life, my lady.
0:35.5	Oh, I'm Jenny.
0:37.2	And I'm Annie.
0:39.7	I'm just, you know, get it's character.
0:41.8	This episode, we're going away with the fairies to visit Tom the Hurick Hill in Inverness.
0:47.6	We're looking at one of the most mythical of all places in not only Inverness, but in the
0:53.1	whole of the Highlands of Scotland.
0:55.0	We're going to go into some history that includes a 17th century racetrack,
0:59.9	Oliver Cromwell's lumberjack phase.
1:02.8	Not his best phase.
1:04.6	Farries, giants, graves and eternal life of trees.
1:09.5	This is a hill of many stories, but also a hill of many names.
1:15.1	Yes, this hell has been revered throughout the centuries, with each generation drawn to it
1:19.1	by the stories of the last. Each myth brings new life to the steep-sided mound and new names too.
1:24.8	So what's your favourite name for this mysterious landmark in Invenous?
1:29.0	Well, the first name that I stumbled upon was Hill of the Hughes.
1:32.5	U's, user common trees found in graveyards throughout Britain, and this hill happens to also be just that.
	...

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