A WARM WELCOME TO THE WORLD

Select a SOURCE ....find a Supplier

Follow the IMAGES of SCOTLAND trail.

ALL ABOUT SCOTLAND'S places of Interest

LEISURE & TRAVEL Things to do...... ........Places to See

FAMOUS SCOTS who have shaped the world as we know it today

A little STORY... ...about SCOTLAND

Links to follow

Scotland's Source
Find It All Here
& Here...
& Here...
& Here...

Visit our new eBay Shop

SALTIRE FLAG  HERITAGE  CENTRE

IN

ATHELSTANEFORD ,

SCOTLAND.

Opened on Monday, May 19th 1997

When the SCOTTISH FLAG TRUST launched the 1992 appeal to restore the SALTIRE MEMORIAL at ATHELSTANEFORD, it was quite unprepared for the generosity of the response.

( You too can become a " Friend of the Scottish Flag Trust " )

Over £8,000 was raised, with contributions from hundreds of individuals from all parts of Scotland and abroad, as well  as from companies and local authorities. 
 Hopefully many who donated have since managed to visit the  village and are delighted with the restoration.

Many donors expressly asked that any surplus money should go towards the establishment of a
permanent interpretation centre in the village.
The Trustees have accordingly pursued this objective.

Initial efforts to purchase a derelict cottage in the Main Street were unsuccessful,
but they believe that with the HEPBURN  DOO ' COT an even better
opportunity has been found.

Doo'cot..dovecot, a pidgeon house.
The meat and eggs from the pidgeons kept in the doo'cot were a
reliable source of food throughtout the year.
Most large houses and kirk manses had a doo'cot, to provide fresh meat
in the years prior to the overwintering of cattle, 
which was brought about by agricultural improvement 
in the early 19th century .

Adjacent and to the north of the churchyard,
is a lecturn doo'cot built in 1583 by George Hepburn.

His son, Sir John Hepburn, was the founder and first Colonel of the the Royal Scots.
This famous regiment, the First of Foot, has used the Saltire as its emblem since the seventeenth century. B-listed, the doo'cot bears the arms of the Hepburn family on the door lintel.

The building is accessed on foot through the churchyard.
It commands spectacular views northwards over the East Lothian farmlands towards
the Law at North berwick, the Firth of Forth beyond,and over the general battle site.

Suggested links that you may wish to follow:-

The SALTIRE MEMORIAL

The LEGEND OF THE SALTIRE.

' FRIENDS ' of the SCOTTISH FLAG TRUST

The LION RAMPANT,  Scotland's other flag.

The THISTLE, SCOTLAND ' s  NATIONAL  EMBLEM.

ATHELSTANEFORD  its place in Scottish History.