During my trip to Scotland, last week, I had the chance to visit the Black Watch museum in Perth, an incredible location on our way from Edinburgh to Inverness.
The Black Watch museum is inside Balhousie castle, a spectacular building with a wonderful park outside. Balhousie Castle sits on the edge of the North Inch in Perth. The origins of the Castle are to date back to the 12th century. The museum tells the story of the iconic Black Watch Regiment from 1725. It has a gift shop that sells a wide range of product from regimental memorabilia to handpicked Scottish gifts. Uniforms, fine paintings, medals, photographs, diaries, weapons and military equipment, together with film and reminiscences bring to life the proud military heritage of this family regiment. The collection contains significant items that have been gathered by the Regiment throughout its history, right up to the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. My travelling companions made me the favor to stop and spend some time there!
The friendly staff in the entrance (volunteers) were so excited to hear our origins. They welcome the young visitors from Crete and one of them explained the early years of the regiment’s history and the Galatian warriors’ traditions. I noticed a lot of similarities with other ancient warriors’ traditions like the Spartans. And also the perpetration for battle was a lot similar to the Maori Haka. Galatians used to shout their ancestors’ names and hitting their swords and shields before the battle in order to encourage themselves and prepare to die. The history of the regiment starts in the early 1700 and it was very interesting to hear about glorious battles of the past.
We left galleries 1, 2 and 3 behind and then we saw the WWI galleries.
The main hall
The Royal Highland Regiment badge 
Kilt of a dead soldier of the regiment form the battle of Somme 
And then we saw the Second World War exhibition
It was a very moving moment when I first stepped inside the chamber and the contend revealed. The Black Watch regiment took part in the battle of Crete and there were a lot of relics and signs to remind us this story…
And of course, there was a special exhibition about Field Marshal Wavell…
As we were walking closer to the exit there were some other exhibitions about the more recent history of the regiment and the remembrance room which was spectacular and moving! A huge catalog with all dead soldiers’ names in order to keep their memory alive and honor their services.
We also saw the original uniform of the regiment which was absolutely gorgeous!! The kilt, the black watch tartan and the red hackle…
The castle outside had a very nice park and families enjoyed the Sunday morning sun!!
I strongly recommend a visit to this museum if you ever be in Scotland! Not so far from Edinburgh following a worthwhile route! You can find all the information on the museum’s official website. It was a very nice experience and I hope to visit this place again in the future!!
My Grandfather was in the Black Watch Regiment and was killed in WW1 while fighting in France.
He is buried in Flanders Field. His name was Alexander Baird, born in Paisley, Scotland. I never got to meet my Grandfather but my Nana took her 3 children across the POND to live in Canada, where I was born.
I am fearfully in love with my Scottish Blood in me and I have many friends now on Face Book that we share so much…God bless you all…