Stitchers: Marianne Harten-Branderhorst, Susan Sheerhoorne, Monique Brasse & Diny Louwerse
Scottish merchants in Veere often built beautiful houses from which to operate, especially around the quayside and the market square. Today, two of these (the Little Lamb and the Ostrich) have been converted into the Scots House Museum (http://www.schotsehuizen.nl). Het Lammetje‘s architecture still proclaims its Scottish roots: the elaborate wall clamps across its façade show a Scottish thistle (embroidered in the bottom right hand corner of the panel). The house’s name reminds us of the significance of the wool trade, symbolised by the lamb in the opposite corner.
The grandeur of these properties reflects the wealth and status of the Scots merchants, and the Ostrich (De Struys) was handed over to the Conservator of Scottish Privileges by Veere’s mayor as an official “House of the Scottish Nation”. There was a similar establishment elsewhere in town between 1614 and 1764. At the bottom of the panel we read the names of more of Scotland’s key trading Burghs: Aberdeine (Aberdeen), Dundie (Dundee), Irwing (Irvine), Linlithgow, Sterling (Stirling), Ayr, Kirkcaldy, Glasgow, Hadingtoun (Haddington), Dumfries, Edinburgh, Iedburgh (Jedburgh).
Beside the Schotse Huizen on this panel stands a soldier of the 22nd (Houston Scots), a regiment of the Dutch States Army recruited from Scotsmen. They served between 1779 and 1782 and were stationed at Veere as a peace time garrison. It was common in the eighteenth century for nations to recruit military manpower from overseas, and it is thought that as much as half of the republic’s army was recruited externally. As other countries discovered too, Scotland always provided an eager pool of soldiers and adventurers!
NL03 Taigh na h-Alba
Bhiodh luchd-malairt Albananch ann an Veere gu tric a’ togail taighean àlainn, gu h-àraid timcheall a’ chidhe agus na ceàrnaig mhargaidh. Tha a dhà dhiubh sin, (Little Lamb agus Ostrich) air an atharrachadh a-nis gu Taigh-tasgaidh nan Albannach. Bha aon dhiubh aithnichte mar thaigh oifigeil “Nàisean na h-Alba” agus b’ e a bha aig teis-meadhain an Coimhearsnachd. Bha greadhnachas nan togalaichean sin ag athnochdadh beairteas is inbhe nam malairtich Albannach. Tha am pannal a’ taisbeanadh saighdear den 22mh (Albannaich Houston), rèisimeid de dh’Arm nan Stàitean Duitseach, anns an deach Albananich sa mhòr-chuid a thrusadh. Bha iad a’ frithealadh eadar 1779 agus 1782 agus bha iad suidhichte ann an Veere mar ghearasdan àm sìthe.