When the Spanish Armada came to Scotland

Love Scotland: Stories of Scotland's History and Nature

The idea of Scotland being caught up in the story of the Spanish Armada may seem bizarre, and yet wrecked off Fair Isle is one of the Spanish fleet’s flagship vessels. How did this 650-ton ship come to end up in the North Sea? And how do the activities of the Armada relate to, among others, Mary, Queen of Scots? Jackie Bird is on a mission to find out.

This year marks 70 years since the National Trust for Scotland acquired Fair Isle, the most remote inhabited island in the UK. While now perhaps best known as a seabird paradise and the home to world-renowned knitwear, Fair Isle is also the site of Iron Age settlements, a Second World War German plane, a Stevenson lighthouse… and not far offshore, the remains of El Gran Grifón.

Joining Jackie to discuss the Spanish ship and how it came to be so far north is Dr Colin Martin, a marine archaeologist who, with his colleague Sydney Wignall, excavated the wreck in 1970.

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For more information on Fair Isle, click here.

You might enjoy some of our past episodes on island history. Simply scroll back through the Love Scotland feed to hear instalments on Canna House’s archive and the evacuation of St Kilda.

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Actor: Scarlett Mack