This film is about one of Scotland’s smallest islands: Eilean nam Faoileag, Loch Rannoch.
To play this film please click here or on the image above.
This film is dedicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh
On this island is a Folly. Almost nothing is known about this Folly other than it was built by Baron Grantley (Fletcher Norton).
The Honourable Fletcher Norton (1744 – 1820) officiated as a The Baron of Exchequer of Scotland for forty-four years. He was a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
The passage below was taken from “The Edinburgh Almanack and Scots Register for 1807” .
‘Fletcher Norton, Abbey Hill, Edinburgh’ as he signs himself in this book, was appointed one of the Barons of the Scottish Exchequer in 1776 and set up residence in the Scottish capital. According to James Grant’s book Old and New Edinburgh, Norton ‘stood high in the estimation of all’ as ‘husband, father, friend, and master’. A founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Norton was a supporter of Scottish culture, playing a key role in ensuring the publication of Albyn’s Anthology, an important collection of Scottish music.
This almanac, whose blank pages were used by Norton to keep a record of his expenditure, provide an interesting insight into the daily life of a member of Edinburgh’s social and cultural elite in the early 19th century, recording the 18 shillings spent on tooth powder, and the £2.9.0 spent on a chaise to London, among other notes. Our perception of movement between England and Scotland during this period is largely one of Scots emigrating – this book bears witness to an Englishman who successfully moved to Scotland and integrated himself with its cultural life.