https://www.sciencealert.com/codebreakers-have-deciphered-the-lost-letters-of-mary-queen-of-scots
Wow, How exciting finding this treasure trove of 57 letters and cracking the code. Oddly enough I was thinking of Mary queen of Scots yesterday and the Babbington plot as there was a children’s tv show made roughly on the subject of Mary queen of Scots back in the mud 70’s.
This historical moment is still fresh in the minds of many Scots today. In the big scheme of things Scottish history is very much alive today as it was back then and it’s still discussed because people have strong feelings on the subject one way or the other. Where I come from was right in the heart of much of Scotland’s history and Mary was known to be in this area as she was in hiding amongst Catholic noble families to avoid capture. Dalziel house, once the home of the Lords Hamilton; in Motherwell, Lanarkshire which comes under the region of Strathclyde was one of those places offering protection and I used to play in the grounds of this beautiful house, which rumour has it, has secret underground tunnels that takes one out into the river Clyde which flows through the area.
I actually have an article on this blog that was published in a magazine in which I mention Dalziel house, titled Childhood in an historic town.
Every time I returned to Scotland I always made several visits to Dalziel house. Sadly I haven’t been back since 1986. I spent hours in the garden and walking around the outside of the house. It was boarded up through my childhood so I never got to see past the courtyard. The outside had plenty nooks and crannies to explore as did the garden. I recall seeing several people in spirit in the garden during the summer when I was around 7 or 8 years old. They looked like they were having a tea or lawn party in the garden and were dressed in clothes of the 17th century. I was with a couple of friends just exploring the garden on a summer afternoon as I often did, but I didn’t tell my friends what I saw as I assumed it was my imagination as I had no idea that I was clairvoyant, this was around the time that my maternal grandfather had died and I saw him in spirit and not realising what I was seeing.
I lived on a private housing estate at this time which just a five minutes walk down a country lane with chestnut trees and lots of Rhododendron bushes everywhere and horses in the fields next to the house which included a riding school. I loved picking the flowers to take home for my mum. I have loved rhododendrons ever since as they take me back to those wonderful days of childhood on the estate.
Dalziel house is a magnificent sight any time of year, in winter time when covered in snow it is ideal for a Christmas card image and in summer when the garden is at its best it is a delightful place to visit and in autumn when the leaves turn golden it is wonderful and time to pick chestnuts to play conkers.
The house is now private residential apartments so I am happy that the grand house has people to enjoy the delightful atmosphere of such an important and splendid piece of history. The local community are very proud of the old house and rightly so. It is over 600 years old and still looks magnificent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babington_Plot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalzell_House
Locals call the house Dalziel house which is pronounced like Dee L. It was also called Gresham house at one time and local people occasionally called it Gresham house when I was young.
I have a stack of photos of the house to share on here, I just have to find them. Some of which are taken by a close friend. In the winter so you can see how nice it looks in snow and taken from different angles.You will find some pictures on Google images too because it is very picturesque and popular with photographers.
