[Tionndadh Gàidhlig]

As part of the Edinburgh 900 series of events to commemorate 900 years of Edinburgh’s history as a burgh, we held four events over March to June in a series: ‘Gaelic in Edinburgh: Past, Present and Future‘.

In these events, we wanted to explore Edinburgh’s Gaelic heritage through places, people, music and language – bringing an important Gaelic perspective to Edinburgh’s story. We aimed to let expert speakers explain the enduring impact of Gaelic in the city, and its current relevance, accompanied by music played by young Gaels from our community. We were delighted to have the support of the City of Edinburgh Council and the National Library of Scotland in this endeavour.

On Saturday 22 March Dr Jake King started the series with an expert assessment of the Gaelic placenames in Edinburgh. The audience got an overview of a wide range of Gaelic markers in the landscape, and an insight into the Gaelic background to names such as Corstorphine (Crois Toirfinn), Drumdryan (Druim Droighinn) and Craigentinny (Creag an t-Sionnaich).

The subject on Saturday 10 May was the history and demography of Gaelic in Edinburgh and Professor Rob Dunbar and Professor Wilson McLeod looked over several hundred years of history of Gaelic speakers in the city, and considered evidence on current rising levels of Gaelic ability in Edinburgh. We also enjoyed beautiful harp music from Laura Penman – Edinburgh Gaelic speaker, and recent Young Traditional Musician 2025 finalist.

We had a change in format Saturday 31 May and Mona Wilson, Donna Maciver and Karen Reid – and Professor Matthew Maciver in the chair – participated in a lively panel discussion about the past, present and future of Gaelic education in Edinburgh. We heard about the early days of the GME starting with 7 primary pupils in 1988, and the enormous steps forward which have produced a Gaelic primary and great growth in pupil numbers, although challenges still remain in expanding provision. We also heard fabulous music from young Edinburgh Gaelic musicians: Flynn Conroy, Mirabelle MacLeod and Alasdair Scott.

The series of events at the National Library was brought to a close on Saturday 14 June with a literary tour of Edinburgh as seen by Gaelic writers. Considering literature from the 1600s up to the present day, Dr Michel Byrne presented a unique Gaelic perspective on the city by writers who lived or still live here in his presentation on Gaelic writers and literature in Edinburgh. The picture was completed by talented young Edinburgh Gaelic singer, Tawana Maramba, and her sister Seren who sang two beautiful Gaelic songs set in Edinburgh.

To round out the Edinburgh 900 activities, we took to the streets, leading a bilingual walking tour of Gaelic Edinburgh, taking in the sites in the Old Town with some of the strongest links to Gaelic.

We would like to give an enormous thank you to everyone who came to the – extremely busy – events, to our experts and musicians, and also to:

National Library of Scotland for providing the venue and staffing support

City of Edinburgh Council for funding through the Edinburgh 900 Community Fund.

Gaelic Faculty at James Gillespie’s High School for their beautiful stands illustrating different aspects of Gaelic life in the city.

Comhairle nan Leabhraichean for providing translation equipment.