 FAMOUS SCOTS Scotland has invented so many things and discovered so many places that the country's achievements have been printed for posterity on tea towels. Scots invented the telephone and the television, penicillin and the steamboat, and we have produced several great explorers, chief among them David Livingstone of Blantyre. A Scotsman founded the world's first savings bank, and another was the first governor of the Bank of England. The scope of a second book would be needed to do merit to famous Scots. Here are the best known handful among the many whose portraits hang in the National Portrait Gallery. Burns, Scott and Buchan are household names. So are Bruce and Wallace. Once again whole holidays could revolve around visiting shrines to famous Scottish figures of the past. ABBOTSFORDLOCATION - A7, 2m SSE OF GALASHIELS, BORDERS
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The romantic mansion house of the great Sir Walter Scott,
Scotland's best known novelist, is an important example of
Scots Baronial architecture. It replaced Cartley Hole Farmhouse
on the right bank of the river Tweed, which Scott had bought
in 1812. Here the lawyer and author of the Waverley novels
entertained Wordsworth, Washington and Irving and Thomas Moore.
Scott was an enthusiastic collector of relics, and modern-day
visitors to this important tourist venue can view such items
as a model of the skull of Robert the Bruce, a clock belonging
to Marie Antoinette, a clasp worn by Napoleon, some of Rob
Roy's belongings, Montrose's sword, Prince Charles Edward
Stuart's quaich and over 9000 rare books. Abbotsford inhabited
by Scotts, great, great, great granddaughters, Dame Jean and
Mrs Patricia Maxwell-Scott. The novelist himself died here
in 1832, having written himself into the grave in an attempt
to pay off his debts. Facilities here include a tearoom and
a shop. Access for wheelchairs is difficult. 
Set
in charming Borders countryside on the tourist route from
Moffat to Edinburgh, the John Buchan centre tells the life
story of Buchan, the famous author of the crime thriller,
the Thirty Nine Steps. Buchan's links with the village in
Tweeddale began when his grandfather became a tenant of a
local farmhouse in 1851. Buchan's mother was born here, and
he himself spent his summers as a child on holiday here. He
became lord Tweedsmuir, having distinguished himself in many
fields. He was a lawyer, a politician, a soldier, a historian,
a biographer and Governor-General of Canada. Facilities include
sales area and full access for wheelchairs. 
Robert
Burns, our national poet, was born in this thatched cottage
on 25 January 1759, and he lived there until he was seven.
The adjoining museum contains many Burnsian relics, books
and manuscripts, and stands at the beginning of the Burns
Heritage Trail. There is a large reference library. Facilities
include a tearoom, gift shop and museum and gardens and information
is available on cassette. Full wheelchair access. Nearby the
Burns Monument and Gardens. The Grecian monument was erected
in 1823, and its museum has many relics associated with the
bard. Nearby is the river Doon; there is also a gift shop.
The Land O'Burns centre, an interpretation centre, stands
on Murdoch's Lone, Alloway. 
Thomas
Carlyle was born in the 'arched house' on 4 December 1795,
to become one of the most influential thinkers of his generation.
The house, built by Carlyle's father and uncle who were masons,
has been carefully restored as a modest shrine to the man
who was known reverently as 'the sage of Chelsea'. It was
handed over in 1936 by the Trustees of Carlyle's House Memorial
Fund, and completely refurbished in 1986. Carlyle asked to
be buried in the local cemetery, rather than in Westminster
Abbey along with the elite. Exhibits at Carlyle's birthplace
include a collection of Carlyle's belongings and manuscripts,
and his parents' clock still ticks away in the kitchen. Wheelchair
access is possible with assistance. 
This
farm, where our national bard, Robert Burns, lived from 1788
until 1791, stands on the right bank of the River Nith in
Dunscore parish. Burns built the farmhouse in 1785, and it
was here that he composed some of his masterpieces, including
Tam O'Shanter, Auld Lang Syne and John Anderson my Jo, as
he strolled along the river bank. The farmhouse parlour is
now a museum of the bard's relics, including his seal; letter's;
books; an initialled travelling case made out of tree trunk;
a shaving mirror and a fishing rod. The granary was refurbished
in 1979 as a museum of farming life, and contains a life size
model of the poet sowing oats from a sheet over his arm. There
is a plough in the corner. There is stepped access across
to the farmhouse. Many tourists visit Dumfries to trace the
life of Burns. Burns's House in Burns Street, the Burns Mausoleum
in St. Michael's churchyard, the Globe Inn in the High Street
and Robert Burns Centre on the right bank of the Nith are
interesting ports of call.
Number
45 High Street is an attractive looking house, and is reputed
to be the only 15th century house in Scotland. The Scottish
church reformer, John Knox, is associated with the house,
and is said to have died here in 1572. Knox, a former Roman
Catholic Priest, was a leading Protestant, and one of the
founding figures of the Church of Scotland. A ten-minute video
in the house tells the story of his life in Scotland and Switzerland.
There is also an exhibition of his life and times. Renovation
work revealed the original walls, fireplace and painted ceiling
and the original floor in the Oak Room. The house is also
associated with James Mossman, the goldsmith who was keeper
of the Royal Mint during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The house offers a puzzle trail for children and a sales area,
as well as partial access for wheelchairs.
Scotland's
most famous explorer and missionary, David Livingstone, was
born in 1813 in a single room house in Shuttle Row, an 18th
century block of mill tenements. The block-on a bank of the
river Clyde-is now the national memorial to Livingstone, and
houses a collection of interesting relics of his life and
work in Africa. There is a permanent exhibition of maps and
journals, and the adjacent social history museum deals with
agriculture, mining and cotton spinning in the local area.
The African Pavilion hosts temporary exhibitions on modern
Africa from April until September. There are eight acres of
woodland parkland, a tea-room, a picnic area, gardens, play
equipment and a paddling pool. The centre offers partial access
to disabled people.
Built
in memory of Scotland's greatest novelist in 1844, the Scott
monument is a landmark in the centre of the Scottish Capital.
It was based on the details and proportions of Melrose Abbey
and designed by George Meikle Kemp. The fantastic 200-feet
high canopy and Gothic Spire are decorated with statuettes
of 64 characters from his novels. Underneath the canopy there
is a statute of Scott and his dog, Maida, by Steele. The top
of this monument, reached by 287 steps, commands fine views
of the city. It was closed for two years in March 1990 for
renovation. Scott was born in 1771 in a house near what is
now Guthrie Street. He attended Edinburgh Royal High School
and studied law at Edinburgh University.
This 220-foot tower, a Scots totem pole, was designed by J.T.
Rochead in memory of the patriot Sir William Wallace who defeated
the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297. It was built between
1861 and 1869, and there is a statue of the famous Scot on
the side of the tower. Inside the monument, Wallace's double
handed sword is preserved. From the tower, seven battlefields
can be seen, and there are superb views of highland scenery.
Inside there is a Hall of Heroes display and an exhibition
on the life of Wallace, who was betrayed and suffered an agonising
death at the hands of the English. There is also a 'sound
and light' show on famous Scots. Facilities include a café
and woodland walks, but there is no access for wheelchairs.
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