The Royal Dornoch PhD Studentship: Introduction By Wade Cormack

Hello,

Thank you for reading the first instalment of my blog. My name is Wade Cormack. I am the post-holder of the Royal Dornoch PhD Studentship at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Centre for History. In my blog I will discuss my research as it unfolds as I investigate the history of early-modern sport and physical education in northern Scotland.

Specifically, I examine the coastal plain that stretches from Wick in the north, to Beauly in the south-west and to Aberdeen in the east. Geographically, it is a low-lying and largely fertile area flanked by the Highlands at its back and the North Sea to its front. Historically, writers have marvelled at how the north and the south shores of the firth share similar landscape features with corresponding rivers and rises and depressions in elevation. In the early-modern period there were a number of important royal burghs that dotted shoreline. They were centres of trade, civil and ecclesiastical administration and sport!

Culturally, this region was neither totally Highland nor Lowland in nature but a mixture of the two. Similar to other geo-cultural boundary areas in Scotland, the Highland and Lowland cultures and landscapes converge and ideas, customs and goods were exchanged. Take for example, sport. In the burghs of Dornoch and Elgin, both with their cathedrals and royal burgh status, golf was played by the inhabitants. Golf, was a largely Lowland sport thrived in this northern region, as the links were, and still are, a great quality. However, in Dornoch and Elgin golf was at times played alongside the Gaelic sport of shinty. Here, then, we have an overlap of sporting traditions and cultures. While golf was played out on the links by small-independent groups of people, shinty was a festive sport, played at least yearly, but especially around Yule, that involved large numbers of townsfolk who often battled until darkness to settle who would claim victory for the day.

From 1600 to 1800 sport in Scotland transformed, as it did elsewhere in Britain and in Europe. The early instances of improvised and festive sports slowly changed into what we would recognise today. Catalysts for this change were the codification of rules, the standardisation of equipment and the creation of sporting associations. These changes happened slowly at first, but rapidly increased with the dawn of the nineteenth century. From the 1830s onward, sport transformed at a gallop pace. It was institutionalised, massive spectator events became popular and there was a division between amateur and professional athletes. 

In the following blog entries I examine the early history of golf in the north, the rise of new sport related professions and how the informal game of golf was formalised. Next, I investigate the history of archery, bowls, football, horseracing and shinty in this region. Importantly, my blog explores who controlled sport, where and when it was to be played, and who the active participants were. The history of sport in early-modern Scotland is still largely unknown. My aim here is to slowly pull back veil of time and uncover what Scottish sport was like and how it was interwoven with cultural practices within this region.

Until next time, all the best,

Wade Cormack