p.152 Drumlithie … steeple. In Sunset Song Drumlithie church is said to have no steeple (p.76, Canongate Classics edn). But see the note on p.216 of Cloud Howe, Canongate Classics edn.

p.154 Glen Dye. A rocky glen in Strachan parish, Kincardineshire.
Drumtochty. A hill and (nineteenth-century) castle about two miles w of Auchinblae in Kincardineshire.
Finella. See Cloud Ηowe, note on p.213, Canongate Classics edn.
Garrold Wood. Just s of Strathfinella and the Glen of Drumtochty.
Luther water. ‘A troutful rivulet of Kincardineshire’ (Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland).
Dunnottar Castle. See Sunset Song, pp.125–6, Canongate Classics edn.

p.155 Drumelzie woods. About one mile w of Auchinblae.

p.161 walls … cleared space. Chris is climbing the Barmekin, which is ‘crowned by remains of a prehistoric fortress, about six acres in extent, with concentric ramparts’ (Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland).

p.163 Εwan, Long Rob, Robert. The men in her life, for whom see Sunset Song and Cloud Howe.
Not Ake alone … ‘She was’ is understood—i.e., she was beyond not Ake alone, but beyond them all.

p.182 Connolly. James Connolly (1870–1916), Irish Labour Leader, organized socialist ‘armies’ and took part in the Easter rebellion of 1916. He was executed on 12 May.

p.193 Cairn o’ Mount. In the words of the Ordnance Gazetteer, ‘a mountain on the mutual border of Strachan and Fordoun parishes, Kincardineshire … it culminates about seven miles ESE of Mount Battock’ (see Gibbon’s map). There is a road from Forfarshire to Deeside over its eastern shoulder.

p.196 Invergordon. The Atlantic Fleet mutinied over a reduction in pay scales and resentment over harsh discipline from 16 to 21 September 1931. As a result, the Navy’s cuts were reduced from an extreme upper limit of twenty-five per cent to ten per cent.

p.201 that day that Robert had died. See Cloud Howe, p.210, Canongate Classics edn.

Glossary

SND stands for The Scottish National Dictionary. Scots words which are generally known throughout the English-speaking world are not defined.

ahint, behind

alow, below

a-lowe, alight

antrin, strange, eerie

bade, stayed

bap, soft bread roll

bar (n), joke

basses, mats, rugs

ben, inside, towards the inner part of house

bide, dwell, stay

bigging, building

billy, fellow

birl, twist, rattle

birn, heap, pile, crowd

birring, whirring

blate, bashful

body, person

bourouch -och, crowd, heap, huddle; (v) mass together

bout, spell of work

braws, fine clothes

breeks, trousers

breenge, rush forward

brink, provide

broch, large round tower with hollow walls of stone

Broo men, the unemployed

brose, oat or pease meal mixed with boiling water

buirdly, burly, vigorous

byke, nest (of insects)

cadger, pedlar

calsay stones, cobble stones

cantrips, antics

canty, lively

chapp, knock, chime (of clock)

chave, toil, struggle

childe, fellow

chinter, chop, hack

claik, chatter, gossip

clorted, soiled

clour, strike

clype, inform

corp, corpse

creash, fat person

cry, call, shout

dander, saunter

darg, work

dight, wipe

dirl, shake, rattle

douce, quiet, respectable

dowp, posterior

dreich, dry, insipid

drouthy, thirsty

eident, busy, conscientious

eidently, carefully

fairely (ferlie), marvel, wonder

fash, bother, rush; (v) trouble yourself, worry