Author: robinacrawford

Robin Crawford is an author and illustrator, with a particular interest in the culture and natural heritage of Scotland. His first book, ‘Into the Peatlands: A Journey Through the Moorland Year’, was published in 2018 and longlisted for the Highland Book Prize. ‘Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers’ (2020) is a treasury of Scottish Words. His third book ‘The Sound of Many Waters, A Jjourney along the River Tay’ is published in June 2023 by Birlinn. He lives in Auchtermuchty, in Fife.

Bogach- Scottish Gaelic source of the word ‘bog’. About 1500 AD

May 26, 2018 robinacrawfordLeave a comment

Bogach- Scottish Gaelic source of the word ‘bog’ c. 1500AD 32884C2C-91D0-4EC5-BACF-0BAA242FE196

with Donald S Murray: ‘The Dark Stuff.’ Waterstones, StAndrews

May 25, 2018May 25, 2018 robinacrawfordLeave a comment

Hearing some brilliant stories from the peatlands with Donald S Murray ‘The Dark Stuff’, Waterstones StAndrews. 4052FC98-7A4D-4BE6-A4B8-32191AFB20DC

Common lizard, Flanders Moss

May 24, 2018 robinacrawfordLeave a comment

Common lizard, Flanders Moss. fullsizeoutput_30c9

A post-apocalyptic peat novel

May 23, 2018May 24, 2018 robinacrawfordLeave a comment

Claire tells me of a post-apocalyptic novel she once read. It featured a community built on iron stilts in the middle of a bog. To keep ‘them’ at bay the people had to set the bog alight but as the peat was gradually consumed the evil came closer and closer. If you recognise this book do let me know (though I can’t promise I’ll read it).

Stone axe

May 22, 2018May 31, 2018 robinacrawfordLeave a comment

Stone axe found in now treeless Shuilishader, Lewis. Date c.3500- 3000 BC. When my father-in-law, a joiner by trade, was cutting his peat nearby he found a perfectly dressed piece of timber deep within his peatbank.

National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Shetland staffroom

May 21, 2018May 31, 2018 robinacrawfordLeave a comment

On the train to Edinburgh this morning I got chatting to Ian. He was telling me about his first job as a teacher in Unst, the most northerly inhabited of the Shetland Isles. The post came with a house- attached to the school- and a peat bank (and tusker for cutting it). Although the days when each pupil would bring a peat to school to warm the classroom were past, during the winter months Ian’s Raeburn stove would be on all day as his kitchen doubled as the staff room.