Published by the Edinburgh School of Poets, November 2025

Two of my poems appear in the debut poetry anthology from the Edinburgh School of Poets, a group I have been a member of since early 2025. My poems are both about the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney. Stramash is available at book shops in Edinburgh and from the Scottish Poetry Library.

Published by Hidden Scotland, 2024

Hidden Scotland’s guide to Edinburgh covers every aspect of what makes Scotland’s capital city an exceptional place to live in and visit. My contribution to it is two self-guided walking tour routes, one of Old Town and one of New Town.

Published by Arkbound, 2026

The Weight of Quiet Things brings together essays, stories, and poems which reflect on themes of place and nature in Scotland. Two of my poems are included: ‘Moss of time’, which imagines a timeless procession to the summit of the hill of Dunadd in Kilmartin Glen, and ‘Eòrasdail’, an evocation of an abandoned village established by the Vatersay Raiders in their fight against an oppressive, absentee landlord.

Published in The National, January 5th 2026

What motivated emperor after emperor to throw vast resources against the tribes of northern Britain? What is the truth behind the famed supposed disappearance of the Ninth Legion? And why did the Romans then abandon their grand plans to conquer the land they considered to be the edge of the world? A new three-month-long online course from Trimontium Museum in Melrose is set to grapple with Rome’s complex and often brutal legacy in the lands “beyond the wall”.

Published in The Scottish Banner, February 2025

The division between ‘Highlands’ and ‘Lowlands’ is so essential to most peoples’ understanding of Scotland that we rarely dwell on what those terms really mean. What really defines them, both in their own right and relative to the other, lay in the very land itself. A closer look leads to plenty of assumption-shattering surprises.

Published in The National, 27 February 2022 (2-page spread)

From fiercely independent tribes beyond a wall to faces in the trees and marauding sea wolves, Game of Thrones draws from a deep well of Scottish inspiration. There are many historic locations you can visit to bring Game of Thrones to life in your own proverbial backyard. These are some of the best…

Venue: The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Augustine United Church, Edinburgh
January 15th 2026

Studies of Scotland’s castles have been conducted for centuries, but it was only from the late 19th-century onwards that they received academic rather than military and aesthetic attention.

This talk for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland’s annual lecture series outlined the major debates and paradigms in Scottish castle studies, including where the discipline stands today.

Venue: Haddington’s History Society, Holy Trinity Church, Haddington
April 24th 2025

Castles are one of the most enduring and dramatic representations of power from the middle ages, and East Lothian has examples from every era. What came before them? What replaced them? What are the best ones to visit today?

Part of the Haddington History Society’s AGM, this talk summarised 2,000 years of the evolution of fortified sites in East Lothian, from hillforts and Roman forts to castles and country houses.

Venue: Gladstone’s Land, Edinburgh
March 3rd 2022

The idea for my book began as a talk for Gladstone’s Land in 2016 while I worked there as a guide. This talk brought things full circle, with a discussion of the historical inspirations and parallels between Scottish history and Game of Thrones derived from my 2019 book.

An Edinburgh focus covered the Black Dinner at Edinburgh Castle in 1440, Craigmillar Castle as Scotland’s closest match for Winterfell, and the remains of the Antonine Wall and other Roman-era sites in the Lothians.

Venue: Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh
May 17th 2019

I was honoured to hold the launch event for my debut book, ‘The History Behind Game of Thrones: The North Remembers’ at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh.

Attended in-person by over 50 people, it comprised an hour-long talk on Scotland’s historical parallels with Game of Thrones, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Venue: Dundonald Castle (online)
August 12th 2021

How did late medieval castle architecture respond to a shifting political landscape? Late medieval Scotland was a time when power was, broadly, centralising. Did this process have a tangible effect on castle design and function?

Ardrossan Castle, Ayrhshire, and Crookston Castle in south Glasgow were case studies for a talk blending politics, history, and architecture.

Venue: Online lecture for History Scotland
February 15th 2021

Scotland's medieval history has long been framed as a bloody balance of power between kings & nobles, with the latter winning the long game. But was it really so?

Drawn from by MRes in Historical Research dissertation for the University of Stirling, this talk challenged the conventional wisdom that power in medieval Scotland was a zero-sum game played between the institution of the crown and the nobility.

This lecture is no longer available online.