Monument to Scottish Immigrants

Monument to Scottish Immigrants. . , This Monument to Scottish Immigrants seeks to provide a broad perspective on the rise and the movement of the Scots over many continents and centuries. On either side of this Monument you will find Standing Stones which will assist you in understanding this ancient and ongoing process., The Standing Stones are part of the landscape and history of all the Celtic lands. Many remain in Scotland today. While the original purpose of these stones is not known, it is believed they served a spiritual purpose, and may have had scientific astronomical significance as well. We have adopted them in this Monument as symbolic of Scotland's ancient past., The Scots are sometimes reckoned to be 'Celtic' because the languages spoken in Britain at the time of Christ were closely related to that of the Celtae, a people of central France (then called Gaul). Other related languages were spoken in Ireland, in parts of Spain and Italy, and even in modern Turkey, where the name of the Celtic-speaking 'Galatians' (to whom St Paul wrote) can be compared to Galicia in Spain, to Gaul and to the Irish 'Gaels'. Those who spoke these languages sometimes shared other cultural traits, for example in their arts and crafts, probably due to idea-sharing among political and trading partners rather than invasions and migrations., In Scotland the Gaelic language became dominant by AD 1000, but previously it co-existed with dialects of the Celtic language known today as Welsh. By then, the English language advancing northwards from as early as AD 400, was spoken across much of southern Scotland. This 'Scots' English language grew increasingly dominant, especially in modern times, but many aspects of Scottish culture date from the days when Gaelic was more commonly spoken, and some of these have historically played an important role in shaping modern Scottish identities., This plaque is dedicated, with appreciation, to , Glenfarclas Distilleries Ltd , in recognition of their generous support of this , Monument to Scottish Immigrants.