The research upon which the outputs submitted as part of this thesis are based examines the socio-cultural environment of the Northeast of Scotland, from Aberdeen to Cabrach and from Portsoy to Laurencekirk. In total, five hundred and twenty hours of research data were collected as part of a project that began in 1987. This thesis investigates and visualises aspects of cultural identity representing the historical lifestyles of the "ordinary people" within rural Aberdeenshire circa 1890s-1950s. A unique feature of this research is the use of video as a tool for data gathering and presentation. The key themes are direct observations of the "ordinary people" and the author's rural ancestors. The use of the visual dynamic and the Doric dialect capture the ordinary person's testimony what a "past way of life" was like within Aberdeenshire. The research was initiated as a response to the author's cultural pride in his ancestors. It was not initially envisaged as a formal piece of academic research; the author conducted the research from a simplistic "desire to know". However, through reflective analysis of the research it can clearly demonstrate a rigorous research methodology, which has been replicated within the thesis. The procedures and methods engage with ordinary people in the real world, and help visualise and communicate material heritage. Through the identification of suitable topics, respondent selection, data capture, data analysis, critical review, post-production, archive management and research funding, aspects of the past are sustained. This new data has the potential to be future-proof and is unique in its content. The six topic videos, refereed conference papers, television features, and press articles have captured and sustained irreplaceable data. The research output has been utilised and subjected to critical peer review by diverse user groups locally, nationally and internationally. The work has credible and diverse endorsements and has also been accepted as authentic by the host community, going a long way to developing greater cultural pride. It captures a lost cultural identity in an innovative manner and presents output in a way which is both significant to user groups and also capable of furthering greater knowledge and understanding. This practitioner-based research has the potential to enhance future developments within the field of study through the embracing of modern visual technology in its widest sense.

This thesis argues that donations are relevant in different contexts of life in society. It examines the way that donations have been connected with the family and argues that a comprehensive law of donation must also necessarily pay attention to donations made in different contexts of life, such as the market. Focusing on donations made in a market context, the present thesis will critically review the suitability of existing (national) laws of donation to regulate these donations. Three jurisdictions have been selected for this study: Scotland, Portugal and France. The choice of these three jurisdictions is based on the different policy considerations towards donation that helped to shape each one of them. In France, the protection of the family is of primary relevance to the law of donation; in Portugal, the law of donation is often set aside, gifts being instead regulated by non-legal normative rules (such as moral rules); and in Scotland, the law of donation exists as a complement to juridical acts primarily regulated by other laws (such as the law of warrandice or the law of promise). These national laws of donation will be critically reviewed in order to assess if they are fit to the purpose of regulating donations in the market context, in particular, by testing the protection conferred to a) the parties in the donation, b) third parties, and c) the community as a whole.

This thesis analyses perceptions of ghosts in Scotland, with particular focus on the period from 1685 to c. 1830. According to traditional wisdom, this was a time when society was becoming progressively more rational, with magical beliefs melting away under the glare of Enlightenment scholarship. However, this thesis argues that ghosts actually rose to a new cultural prominence in this period, to the extent that Scotland came to be characterised as a haunted nation. The first chapter provides context, sketching attitudes towards ghosts from the Middle Ages to the late seventeenth century. It shows how ghosts were sidelined because of their questionable theological status, especially after the Reformation. The second chapter explores late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century attempts to reincorporate ghosts into Protestant society by converting them into religious propagandists. This endeavour was not only theologically problematic, but also came to be criticised on scientific grounds. Chapter three traces the evolution of sceptical and satirical depictions of ghosts, as well as discussing the debates that sprang up in the late eighteenth century as ghosts increasingly became an interesting object of enquiry. Under the pens of physicians and philosophers a medicalised vision of the ghost became widely influential. Literary works drew upon this interpretation, but also used gothic motifs to re-invest ghosts with horror. The fourth chapter discusses this theme, before exploring how romantic literature and folklore popularised a picturesque ghost that became entangled with conceptions of national identity. Finally, chapter five analyses the place of ghosts within popular culture. It uses ballads, cheap print and folklorists’ accounts to assess how and why ghosts remained important to the ordinary Scottish folk. The thesis as a whole shows how the ghost’s identity splintered in response to changing cultural contexts, allowing ghosts to take on new roles in Scottish society. This in turn reflects on broader questions of religious change, interactions between popular and elite culture, the formation of national identity and the legacy of the Enlightenment.

This investigation aims to assess issues of physical, sensory and intellectual access to museums and galleries in Scotland, with a particular relevance to people with sight difficulties. The research has been completed from the point of view of the visually impaired visitor, using original fieldwork comprising visits to museums accompanied by people with different types of sight difficulties. An examination of the facilities provided has been undertaken from the visitors' perspective alongside the current and forthcoming legislative requirements. The opinions of the museums' community have been taken into consideration primarily by discussions with the curators of the museums and galleries visited. An appreciation of the legislative stimulus for museums and galleries to consider people with disabilities, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, is also attempted, including reports from the MPs involved in the development and the introduction of this legislation and the MSPs with responsibilities for the representation of people with disabilities in the Scottish Parliament. A particular focus is applied to the introduction of Part 111 of the legislation which was enacted during the research period and used as a stimulus for the areas of questioning with the visually impaired people who assisted. This facilitates the presentation of a context against which to place the findings of the discussions with visually impaired people. Visitors are an essential requirement for the existence and future of museums and galleries and the potential audience of people with visual impairments is increasing and significant.

This thesis presents a contextual analysis of Neolithic art and architecture in Orkney. Focussing upon the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, it details the results of original fieldwork at three sites with in situ dressed and decorated stonework: Maeshowe, Skara Brae and the Ness of Brodgar. It combines the re-interpretation of known architecturally-situated carvings with primary data from new survey and excavation work, and reports the discovery of many previously unrecorded examples. This study reveals a diversity of stoneworking practices at these three sites which contradicts a broad catch-all term of 'art', demanding a more nuanced investigation. Previous studies have discussed the in situ decoration at Maeshowe and Skara Brae, but these have never been compared in detail, and the long histories of attention at these sites have led to questions over the authenticity of their carvings. The discovery of hundreds of comparable, in situ decorated stones from sealed Neolithic deposits during excavations at the Ness of Brodgar demolishes these doubts. The insight that this fieldwork has allowed is crucial. Excavation exposes aspects of the architecture which normally remain hidden, and allows the recording of decoration and stoneworking in situ, and as it is first revealed. This takes the discussion beyond the surface to allow an understanding of how stones were worked and decorated as part of the processes of construction and occupation. This challenges many narratives of Neolithic art and architecture, which have tended to focus upon superficial aspects of visual form, overlooking the ways in which buildings and stones came to be worked, carved, built and appreciated. It allows an exploration of how buildings and carvings emerge though process, and how the temporality of the working, decoration and appreciation of particular stones relates to the wider context of art and architecture in Neolithic Orkney.

No description available.

In Scotland the Revolution of 1688 - 1689 has received little academic attention - considered little more than an adjunct of events in England. Traditionally, the political elite have been seen as reluctant to rebel, the resulting Convention Parliament containing few committed protagonists - the reaction of most determined by inherent conservatism and the overwhelming desire to preserve their own interest and status. Motivated essentially by self-interest and personal gain, the predominance of noble faction crippled Parliament - a constitutionally underdeveloped institution - which became nothing more than a platform for the rivalry and ambition of the landed elite. However, this interpretation is based on the dated notion that Scottish history can be considered as simply a protracted power struggle between a dominant territorial nobility and a weak monarch, intent on centralising authority. Nonetheless, the aim of the thesis is not to rewrite the political history of the Revolution or to chart the constitutional development of Parliament - although both aspects form part of the general analysis. Instead, this is principally a thematic study of the membership of the Convention Parliament and what they achieved, in terms of legislation and procedure. Taking into account the European context, including a thorough membership analysis, and revising the practical aspects of the Revolution settlement, it is possible to offer a fresh account of contemporary politics. Introducing the extensive contest that characterised the general election of 1689, and the emergence and progress of court and country politics through 1698 - 1702, study reveals the continuing development of an inclusive party political system similar to that evident in England. In this respect, the objective of the thesis is to address the main themes associated with the Revolution and Convention Parliament, providing an alternative, more accurate interpretation of the Scottish Revolution experience.

Acidified catchments are known to hold significantly reduced dipper Cinclus cinclus populations throughout the year relative to circum-neutral rivers, although the processes leading to these declines remain unclear. This study considered the population ecology of dippers within the circumneutral River Devon catchment, Central Scotland, and focused primarily on determining the factors influencing survival, breeding probabilities and reproductive success. It aimed to examine the role of spatial variation in 'habitat quality' on the population (and meta-population) dynamics of dippers, based on measures of seasonal and lifetime reproductive success, and the balance between survival and reproduction; in particular, to assess if the reduced reproductive success of dippers on acid rivers is likely to lead to population declines. Within the Devon catchment, approximately 81% of all adults survived from spring (March/April) to autumn (September/October), with 65% of these birds surviving from autumn to the following breeding season. Overall, these estimates predicted annual adult survival rates of c.53%, with no significant differences between years. Population density had no detectable effect on adult mortality rates, although juvenile over-winter survival was significantly lower than the adult rate at between 40 and 58%, and negatively related to the total size of the autumn population. There was no evidence of sex differences in juvenile over-winter survival, or any significant influence of weather or river flows on the rates for adults or juveniles. The local post-fledging survival of females was significantly lower than for males, however, apparently reflecting sex differences in post-natal dispersal. On average, less than 6.5% of all eggs laid, or 10.4-14.5% of male and 6.3-9.2% of female fledglings raised within the Devon catchment survived locally to breeding age. Juvenile, although not adult, recapture rates in spring were significantly lower than for birds known to have bred previously and negatively related to spring river flows. This suggested that with recapture dependent on a breeding attempt that was successful at least until laying, either more first year birds failed during the initial stages of nesting or that full breeding was not achieved at age one. The birds fledging the most young, both within a season and over a lifetime, all bred at 'prime' lowland sites characterised by wide, shallow rivers of intermediate gradient, although with less than 10% of all birds attempting to raise a second brood each year, no significant habitat differences were identified in any component of reproductive output measured until fledging. River width, altitude and gradient were all significantly inter-correlated and related to laying date, however, and post-fledging survival was significantly reduced for late fledged young. On average, lowland birds laid earlier than upland breeders, and were significantly more likely to produce autumn 'recruits' due to the enhanced post-fledging survival prospects of their young. This suggested that broad measures of river structure can provide a biologically appropriate classification of habitat quality. The size of the breeding population of dippers within the Devon catchment appeared to be related to the availability of critical resources, most likely food, roost sites and ultimately breeding territories through density-dependent changes in over-winter mortality and recruitment. The relative importance of resource abundance and recruitment levels in determining autumn population densities on acid streams still remained unclear, although reference to published relationships between acidity and reproductive success suggested that with adult survival at the rate estimated for the Devon catchment, many dipper populations are unlikely to produce sufficient recruits to match all adult losses, and may only persist with continued immigration from more productive (circumneutral) catchments elsewhere.

The thesis identifies a lack of research in the general subject area of sports geography and in particular Scottish sports geography. A new conceptual framework for the analysis of the geography of sport is developed from an extensive review of the literature. This framework is then used to illustrate three case studies of the sports landscape in Scotland at three geographical scales. Case study one considers a national sport and traces curling, from its origin to the international Olympic sport it is today, through time and the geographical concepts of space, place, and environment. The sport of curling is shown to be a distinctively Scottish despite influences of modernisation and internationalisation. At the regional scale, case study two identifies two key sporting attributes. Recent survey data are used to highlight regional variations in sports club membership and volunteering in sport. For example the highest rate of sports volunteering in the population is found in the north of Scotland, while the biggest contribution to the sport volunteer workforce comes from large urban towns nearer the central belt. Finally case study three examines a local sportscape. Factors relating to the local population and to the individuals within the sportscape are combined to propose a model for the analysis of sports places. Each case study has added to the knowledge of sports geography in Scotland, however the real benefit of the thesis is to the overall understanding of sports geographical analysis. A new conceptual framework has been developed for the geographical analysis of sport and this has been applied to three case studies to illustrate its efficacy. This is a first Geography of Sport in Scotland.

This study aims to evaluate Rural Development Policy (RDP) and its ability to meet environmental objectives at European, national and regional levels. Policy evaluation is necessary to assess the processes and impact of policies and programmes to meet desired outcomes, to further ensure accountability of public funds. There a number of evaluation approaches that have varying abilities to examine the variety of interacting policy determinants. This study explores both quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate the Scottish RDP Rural Priorities scheme performance for the programme period 2007-2013. The Rural Priorities scheme is an important mechanism for achieving environmental objectives through regionalisation. Spatial econometrics, in-depth interviews, and stakeholder power mapping were used to assess policy determinants, such as; farming characteristics, land capability, designated sites status, and accessibility and population as well as less tangible policy aspects such as; policy design, stakeholder power balances, and governance structures. Furthermore these methods were assessed singularly and in collaboration in their abilities to identify strengths and weakness in RDP participatory and environmental performance. This diversity of information contributes to the European Commission funded research project, SPARD (Spatial Analysis of Rural Development), which aims to help policy-makers understand the causal relationships between rural development measures and their consequences in a spatial dimension.