It is the intent of Scottish Heavy Athletics to facilitate and promote the Heavy Events that are a traditional part of Scottish Highland Games and Gatherings.
We offer Hosting Organizations a variety of choices that may include A.D. Support, Setup Advice, Use of Equipment, Certified Judges, Competition Rules, Scorekeepers, Announcers and Sanctioning.
It is our goal to create an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual satisfaction between the various Hosting Organizations and
the Athletic Community.
We support all Games regardless of organization or sanctioning.
We are experienced athletes, judges, athletic directors and business owners. We all have over 20 years experience in the
planning and presentation of Highland Games Athletics.
The Clan
Pollock is an armigerous (they provided armed support in exchange for land) Scottish clan whose origin comes from a grant of land on the southern bank of the River Clyde to the sons of Fulbert "the Saxon" from Walter fitz Alan, the 1st High Steward of Scotland. This was during the reign of King David I.
Fulbert was a Norman name and the same name as William the Conqueror's father-in-law although not the same person.
With the nickname of “The Saxon,” Fulbert could have stemmed from the Saxon people before becoming a Scottish Pollock. The Saxons were a Germanic people whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country, Saxonia, near the North Sea coast of what is now Germany. Earlier, in the late Roman Empire, the name was used as a word something like the later "Viking", as a term for raiders and pirates.
Some documents also show Robert as having the surname “de Steinton” (Stenton in East Lothian) and him and his brother Peter appear to have been given land by the FitzAlan family in return for armed support, and perhaps changed their name and abode to Robert de Pollok, and Peter or Petrus de Pollok.
Clan Names
These surnames are all connected to Clan Pollock by way of Medieval variations in spelling: Pollock, Pollok, Pook, Polk, Polke, Paulk, Poalk, Poalke, Poulk, Poolke, Pogue, Pollocke, Polloch, Pollick, Pooke, Poag, Poage, Poague, Poak, and many more. The different names stemming from the same family are a result of the lack of spelling rules in the English language prior to three hundred years ago. Scribes often spelled according to sound and would even change the spelling of a name in a single document.
History of Clan Pollock
The name of Pollock (originally Pollok) is among the oldest family names in Scotland dating to the 12th century. It stems from the features of the land like many surnames from Scotland. The translation is a body of water such as a small pond or lake. The name 'Pollock' in Celtic translates to Pollog, "people who live by a pool.”
The surname Pollock, or Pollok, is of territorial origin. It was taken by Peter, eldest son of Fulbert, or Fulburt, who was given a grant of Upper Pollock in Renfrewshire, and went on to take his name from the lands. The lands were given to him sometime between 1150 and 1153, during the reign of David I, by Walter fitz Alan (d. 1177), the 1st High Steward of Scotland, as a thanks for his father’s service to Scotland, particularly at the Battle of the Standard in 1138.
Among the all the peoples of ancient Scotland, the first to use the name Pollock were the Strathclyde Britons. It was a name for someone who lived at Pollok (Gaelic: Pollag), a large district on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, home to Crookston Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was once held. The name of the town has Gaelic origins, from the word 'poll', meaning "pool" or "pit.”
The surname Pollock was first found in Renfrewshire in the Strathclyde region of southwestern Scotland, where the first occurrence of the name is Peter, son of Fulbert or Fulburt who was granted the lands of Upper Pollock by the High Steward, and who took the surname from the lands, making him the first Pollock. Peter gave the church of Pulloc and its pertinents to the monastery of Paisley, sometime between 1177 and 1199. Within that same period of time, he also confirmed the charter of his brother Helias of Perthic to the same house. Peter also possessed lands in Moray and circa 1175, he witnessed the charter by William the Lion granting Burgin to the Abbey of Kinlos.
Circa 1230, Murial de Polloc, a daughter of Peter, gifted her land of Inuerorkel and all its pertinents for the benefit of the hospital erected beside the bridge of Spey for the reception of travelers. Continuing this pattern of generosity, Robert de Pollok granted to the monastery of Paisley, during the reign of Alexander II, alms of twelve pennies a year from the rents he earned from his lands. Other important Pollocks include John Pollok who was both steward of the Abbey of Arbroath and sheriff of Forfar.
