Darren S. Layne
@funkyplaid.bsky.social
Historian of 18th-century Scotland focused on Jacobite Studies and Digital History. Curator of JDB1745. Chair, Jacobite Studies Trust. PhD via University of St Andrews. In love with a swan and two cats. Currently watching the leaves in Portland, OR.
Downtown Portland, Oregon in the morning. Lawless. Overrun. Completely aflame. And no stores at all anymore.
This is not AI. Nor is it fake news. This is my Portland and your Portland. It’s a wonderful place to be and we’re going to keep it that way.
This is not AI. Nor is it fake news. This is my Portland and your Portland. It’s a wonderful place to be and we’re going to keep it that way.
November 20, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Downtown Portland, Oregon in the morning. Lawless. Overrun. Completely aflame. And no stores at all anymore.
This is not AI. Nor is it fake news. This is my Portland and your Portland. It’s a wonderful place to be and we’re going to keep it that way.
This is not AI. Nor is it fake news. This is my Portland and your Portland. It’s a wonderful place to be and we’re going to keep it that way.
Today's task is calculating blackmail as percentages of assessed rent in western Stirlingshire just before the last Jacobite rising. What a way to create an economy out of thin air...until it almost inevitably backfired. Truly a rock and a hard place for both tenants and landlords. #ArchiveGlam
November 15, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Today's task is calculating blackmail as percentages of assessed rent in western Stirlingshire just before the last Jacobite rising. What a way to create an economy out of thin air...until it almost inevitably backfired. Truly a rock and a hard place for both tenants and landlords. #ArchiveGlam
h/t @threadinburgh.scot for flagging up this new release about the medieval coal mine beneath the Forth. One day during some volunteer work at Culross Palace garden, we trudged out at low tide to see what we could see. It's still there, after all these hundreds of years.
November 12, 2025 at 12:33 AM
h/t @threadinburgh.scot for flagging up this new release about the medieval coal mine beneath the Forth. One day during some volunteer work at Culross Palace garden, we trudged out at low tide to see what we could see. It's still there, after all these hundreds of years.
Two weeks of autumnal flux lead to the moment we wait for each year in our backyard. In two more, it will be no more, but at this moment it’s difficult to be anything but reverential of our relative peace and privilege. Small shifts with big results. Progress. Exhale.
November 5, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Two weeks of autumnal flux lead to the moment we wait for each year in our backyard. In two more, it will be no more, but at this moment it’s difficult to be anything but reverential of our relative peace and privilege. Small shifts with big results. Progress. Exhale.
We're only a day away from our next JST #JacobiteStudies workshop, which will feature @rmonsey.bsky.social sharing insights from her work on Jacobite manuscript poetry created between the Revolution and the Hanoverian Succession. Coming up Tues, 28 Oct, 5pm UKT.
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
October 27, 2025 at 11:28 PM
We're only a day away from our next JST #JacobiteStudies workshop, which will feature @rmonsey.bsky.social sharing insights from her work on Jacobite manuscript poetry created between the Revolution and the Hanoverian Succession. Coming up Tues, 28 Oct, 5pm UKT.
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
Fifteen years today since the big party with many of the best folks we know. A flash in the pan; the wink of an eye. So many adventures shared and hopefully many more to come. I’ve been blessed to find my person in this crazy ol’ world, and every year I more exquisitely adore her.
October 16, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Fifteen years today since the big party with many of the best folks we know. A flash in the pan; the wink of an eye. So many adventures shared and hopefully many more to come. I’ve been blessed to find my person in this crazy ol’ world, and every year I more exquisitely adore her.
Finished a significant project today so we took a cheeky drive to the sea and watched the sun slip into the water. A fine time for brine.
October 16, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Finished a significant project today so we took a cheeky drive to the sea and watched the sun slip into the water. A fine time for brine.
Check out the war zone that is downtown Portland, y’all. Taken today, where I risked my very life by simply stepping outside of the house.
October 9, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Check out the war zone that is downtown Portland, y’all. Taken today, where I risked my very life by simply stepping outside of the house.
Enjoyed a quick flirtation with Vancouver the other weekend for a book launch, some social time with colleagues, and a few truly great meals and coffees. Hard to believe it’s just five hours up the road.
October 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Enjoyed a quick flirtation with Vancouver the other weekend for a book launch, some social time with colleagues, and a few truly great meals and coffees. Hard to believe it’s just five hours up the road.
Very excited to welcome Prof Clotilde Prunier to the JST #JacobiteStudies Virtual Workshops tomorrow (Tues, 30 Sept) at 5pm UKT. Prof Prunier will be sharing some of her current work on the links between the Stuarts and the Catholic Mission in Scotland 1719-1788.
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
September 29, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Very excited to welcome Prof Clotilde Prunier to the JST #JacobiteStudies Virtual Workshops tomorrow (Tues, 30 Sept) at 5pm UKT. Prof Prunier will be sharing some of her current work on the links between the Stuarts and the Catholic Mission in Scotland 1719-1788.
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
My friends, I’ve finally arrived at the joy of poutine. Life was only black-and-white until this moment. I now know Epiphany.
September 28, 2025 at 7:03 PM
My friends, I’ve finally arrived at the joy of poutine. Life was only black-and-white until this moment. I now know Epiphany.
First tour of the school season at Oregon Historical Society, which means autumn is right on our doorstep. We had a huge group of thoughtful, interested 8th-graders and they gave us far more back than we offered them.
September 26, 2025 at 5:31 PM
First tour of the school season at Oregon Historical Society, which means autumn is right on our doorstep. We had a huge group of thoughtful, interested 8th-graders and they gave us far more back than we offered them.
Pretty interesting record in one of Cumberland's order books from 11 May 1746, just a few weeks after Culloden. 5am rounds for troops to 'pluck heather for the tents', presumably to lay on top for insulation and protection from the rain. Later entries give orders to turn the heather to dry it out.
August 31, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Pretty interesting record in one of Cumberland's order books from 11 May 1746, just a few weeks after Culloden. 5am rounds for troops to 'pluck heather for the tents', presumably to lay on top for insulation and protection from the rain. Later entries give orders to turn the heather to dry it out.
Happy unexpected publication day for a chapter I’d written in a magnificent edited collection from @edinburghup.bsky.social. So many remarkable contributions in here and I’m fortunate to be in such good company within. #ShapingJacobitism #JacobiteStudies
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shaping...
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shaping...
August 28, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Happy unexpected publication day for a chapter I’d written in a magnificent edited collection from @edinburghup.bsky.social. So many remarkable contributions in here and I’m fortunate to be in such good company within. #ShapingJacobitism #JacobiteStudies
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shaping...
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shaping...
Second flush is upon us, and they’re gargantuan. With thanks to our red-arsed bees of the Pacific Northwest. 🐝🌼
August 21, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Second flush is upon us, and they’re gargantuan. With thanks to our red-arsed bees of the Pacific Northwest. 🐝🌼
The time is nigh! Another fab programme for the JST #JacobiteStudies Virtual Workshop is up and ready to kick off on Tuesday, 2 Sept. Following the keynote launch, we'll have fortnightly sessions on different aspects of Jacobite Studies from a wide range of contributors.
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
August 18, 2025 at 11:55 PM
The time is nigh! Another fab programme for the JST #JacobiteStudies Virtual Workshop is up and ready to kick off on Tuesday, 2 Sept. Following the keynote launch, we'll have fortnightly sessions on different aspects of Jacobite Studies from a wide range of contributors.
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
jdb1745.net/events/jstwo...
I'm proud to announce the birth of our brand new baby tomato – the first from a trio of different vines. Indigo Rose is her name and she's about the size of a plum. Black and purple on the outside, pink and green on the inside. Musky and a bit of sweet, with lots of umami. We're pleased parents.
August 2, 2025 at 11:33 PM
I'm proud to announce the birth of our brand new baby tomato – the first from a trio of different vines. Indigo Rose is her name and she's about the size of a plum. Black and purple on the outside, pink and green on the inside. Musky and a bit of sweet, with lots of umami. We're pleased parents.
Make a wish and gather your strength for whatever it is you are and do.
August 1, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Make a wish and gather your strength for whatever it is you are and do.
Have any of us adequately expressed our thanks lately to @natlibscot.bsky.social for their incredible (and free) digital mapping repository and resources? It's been of immense service as I write up a chapter on an 'incident' during the summer of 1746. And oh, Scottish place-names!
July 21, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Have any of us adequately expressed our thanks lately to @natlibscot.bsky.social for their incredible (and free) digital mapping repository and resources? It's been of immense service as I write up a chapter on an 'incident' during the summer of 1746. And oh, Scottish place-names!
When the world is crumbling and your government is eating its citizens, there's nothing like a stack of vicarage teinds to take your mind off things. Not.
Vicarage teinds, vicarage teinds, I gotta get me some vicarage teinds.
Vicarage teinds, vicarage teinds, I gotta get me some vicarage teinds.
July 3, 2025 at 8:22 PM
When the world is crumbling and your government is eating its citizens, there's nothing like a stack of vicarage teinds to take your mind off things. Not.
Vicarage teinds, vicarage teinds, I gotta get me some vicarage teinds.
Vicarage teinds, vicarage teinds, I gotta get me some vicarage teinds.
Hello, amateur historians. Please don't do this. It's okay to actually cite your sources and preserve the context so your claims aren't patently absurd.
July 3, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Hello, amateur historians. Please don't do this. It's okay to actually cite your sources and preserve the context so your claims aren't patently absurd.
One of the real gems brought back home to a town known for particularly good beans. Thanks for the in-house recommendation, Nicola!
June 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
One of the real gems brought back home to a town known for particularly good beans. Thanks for the in-house recommendation, Nicola!
Here they come. There’s a revolution growing, and also a whole lot of raspberries. Strength and safety to the brave peeps in LA and around the nation.
June 7, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Here they come. There’s a revolution growing, and also a whole lot of raspberries. Strength and safety to the brave peeps in LA and around the nation.
Came across a visceral account of the aftermath of Prestonpans that I've not seen referenced. British trooper George Cranston took refuge in a gravedigger's house and was told of the Jacobite dead lying in the church with fine linen and plaids over their bodies, with Highlanders 'howling over ym'.
June 4, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Came across a visceral account of the aftermath of Prestonpans that I've not seen referenced. British trooper George Cranston took refuge in a gravedigger's house and was told of the Jacobite dead lying in the church with fine linen and plaids over their bodies, with Highlanders 'howling over ym'.