Today, (1st of March) is St. David’s Day, the patron saint of Wales so I got thinking about the connection between Scotland and Wales. It’s an ancient link made by seafaring Celtic people thousands of years ago, but it’s also a link people share today. Visitors from Wales come to Edinburgh quite frequently for our free walking tour and Scots similarly go to Wales to visit. In this article we’ll be looking at a few links.
This is part of a series of work where I intend to write about the connection between Scotland and every other nation. This was my first offering on Greece. It is likely an impossible task because there are at least 190 states to consider and then there are also peoples who are distinct enough that some countries will have multiple articles. It’s a good thing that here at Edinburgh Street Historians we are devoted to inclusion.
So let’s explore the connection between Scotland and Wales together.
The ancient connection between Scotland and Wales
Both Scotland and Wales are countries situated in the island of Great Britain. If you struggle to understand the difference between Great Britain, consult this famous CGP Grey video. This proximity is the key to the connection as the basic fact of gravity applies – more cultural and historical connection happens between closer countries than far apart ones.
The Linguistic Link
The language people speak is often a useful way to understand where they came from and how they interacted. The Welsh picture is very mixed, as is the Scottish, because there were several different distinct linguistic groups in the area. One of the most fascinating is that both Scotland and Wales shared a linguistic group which formed the basis for Old Welsh. Migrants from southern Scotland are said to have become a part of the Welsh.
Is there a Gaelic link?
In the sense that they are the same larger family of languages, there is a link. In terms of mutual intelligibility, though, they are too different for speakers to understand one another. For more on that thorny subject, here’s something more academic.
Modern connections between Scotland and Wales
In the modern day there are about 17 thousand Welsh people in Scotland. This is a relatively small number but it does put Scotland in the top 5 locations for Welsh people.
Wales is a small country and Scotland is a small country. But in the present day there’s a great similarity in food and drinking culture. And most important for what’s coming up – sports.
Sport Links
It used to be the case that we were both rubbish at football but Wales at least was good at rugby. Sadly due to massive mismanagement of the Welsh game, their team is not doing very well. Scotland meanwhile has some pretty amazing players at present.
On saying that, Scotland does not have history on its side. Wales managed a massive 9 game winning streak between 2008 and 2017. We’re playing them next weekend and I am concerned because Scotland hasn’t been able to close convincingly and Wales had a stronger performance against Ireland last weekend than expected. It really could go either way.
Still, one of my favourite things about rugby is the fans and I’m hoping to see a few coming up to watch. The best thing about writing about connection with other countries is imagining how to deepen them.
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