Last Saturday Mrs S indulged me by agreeing to a trip to Stirling Castle. Despite living in Scotland for over seven years and having made many trips to Stirling in that time, I had never visited the castle before.There was one thing in particular that I wanted to see in the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Museum that I first read about in the January 1969 edition of Miniature Warfare. It was a set of small blocks used to train infantry officers that dated from 1797.
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| Fast forward 55 years and the blocks are still there! What I wasn't expecting is just how bright the colours are - I want these... |
For some reason this really stuck in my mind and when I recently went through my old copies of the magazine (to make an index of interesting stuff) I was reminded of it and clocked the fact that they were housed just up the road. Here is the original article by John Tunstill, reproduced without permission but hopefully he won't mind.
Apart from the Regimental Museum (which is one of the best I've seen) the castle itself is well worth a visit. I had no idea before going that it was such a big site. If you want to make a day of it you could combine it with a visit to Bannockburn (nice visitor's centre and you can walk the dog over the battlefield) and the Wallace Monument (if you like Gothic and lots of stairs).
We will be going back but probably in the winter when it's not quite so busy.
14 comments:
There are so many interesting museums in the UK. Sounds like a great find here.
Matt, it's nice when something exceeds expectations!
I know what you mean, they are desirable. Paper soldiers have become more of a thing lately and it always surprised me that they were printed to paste onto blocks (or even better be adhesive backed to wrap around. All you need are images of the front back, sides and top and you're there. The underneath could feature a unit symbol, name, quality, etc. Blocks could be taller for cavalry (as could pikemen) - it would all be so easy to raise massive, robust (as opposed to just paper) armies.
Rob, yes not a bad idea!
Those block soldier are great, they look super and I like Rob's idea as well, blocks would be a lot more robust than the paper and would have more of a "feel" to them.
Donnie, looks like they new what they were doing back in 1797!
What a lovely surprise to see this piece because we went there last week as part of our holiday. It has been years since our last visit to Stirling and our friends first.
The blocks of troops are intriguing and make you wonder about the first owners.
All the best
Stephen
Stephen, the blocks are indeed intriguing and I can imagine some wet-behind-the-ears subaltern being put through his paces with them by the sergeant-major!
And every one with a heart of Oak, no doubt....
What a splendid post. You should be demanding a retainer from the Stirling Tourist Marketing Board!
Aye WM, I’m angling for free Historic Scotland membership for next year!
Ian. the sergeant major should mind his Ps and Qs when dealing with subs. They are, after all, officers, for all the damp in the ear department. And paper soldiers, eh? What next? How about 3D printing?
I agree with you Ian…
Stirling Castle is a great place… it’s been quite a while since my last visit though but it’s gook to see that the ‘paper’ soldiers are still there…
All the best. Aly
Nigel, 3D coloured printing, that’s what I’m waiting for!
Thanks Aly!
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