Outlander’s legacy

From the moment Claire Randall (as written by Diana Gabaldon in the books and played by Caitríona Balfe in the screen adaptation) touched a standing stone and hurtled back in time to 1743, Outlander has captured the imagination of readers and TV viewers, the world over. Gabaldon’s books and the subsequent Starz series have proved to be a global phenomenon, drawing audiences and readers in with their romantic, dramatic retellings of the Jacobite Risings, Highland love stories and, in more recent instalments, life in 18th-century America.

With filming for the final series wrapped, a release date soon to be announced and prequel show Blood of My Blood on the way, Outlander’s legacy – and its impact on Scotland – is sure to continue.

Scotland on screen

As well as catapulting its stars, including Sam Heughan, into the spotlight, Outlander has inarguably turbocharged the profile of Scottish history and some of the nation’s historical sites, including places in the care of the Trust. Most notably, Preston Mill in East Lothian became closely associated with Jamie Fraser (played by Heughan), while the Royal Burgh of Culross, in Fife, was used repeatedly. 

Indeed, this close association between the town and Outlander has recently been reaffirmed, with an as-seen-on-screen garment being donated to the Trust by the makers of the programme. It will go on display to visitors in the coming weeks.

Anna Rathband, Filming Manager for the Trust, revealed that the dress was donated in direct recognition of Culross Palace being so accommodating to the Outlander team.

Anna said: ‘I actually get emotional talking about it,’ she adds. ‘The production team are very respectful to work with, they’ve brought a lot of money to the Trust, and we’ve been able to conserve some of our projects directly because of the fact they’ve filmed there.’

One key example of this is at Preston Mill, where an Outlander-fuelled crowdfunder supported work that paid for repairs and conservation on the water wheel that was made famous in the show. Visitors today still benefit from the fact the wheel is fully restored.

Dress to impress

The donated dress, nicknamed the ‘monkey jacket’, was worn by actor Lotte Verbeek, who played a semi-fictionalised version of Geillis Duncan in the show. The real Duncan was a magistrate’s servant and, in 1590, was suspected of witchcraft by her employer, David Seton. Duncan was tortured, and her body was searched for a ‘Devil’s mark’, a supposed piece of physical evidence that proved a person had made a pact with the Devil. Duncan’s interrogation fuelled the already growing flames of witch hunts in Scotland, and just a few years later King James VI wrote his infamous publication, Daemonologie, which further endorsed the practice of hunting witches.

Outlander’s story

Though the story is distinctly Scottish, Outlander’s creator, Diana Gabaldon – who has been named a Great Scot by NTS Foundation USA for her contributions to the nation’s culture and heritage – grew up in Arizona. The series was born from her self-imposed challenge to write a novel, an exercise in personal accomplishment rather than an ambition to be published. Inspiration for the story and characters included a Doctor Who episode, which featured a kilt-clad Scot called Jamie. The time travel aspect, which sees the main character Claire accidentally slip back from post-war Britain to the 18th century, was in part due to Gabaldon wanting to write the character with a modern attitude and vocabulary. 

The first book, released as Cross Stitch in the UK, was published in 1991. It caught fire, and the series of books, now comprising nine volumes, has sold in excess of 25 million copies. When the television adaptation was released in 2014, Outlander went supersonic.

When Hollywood came to Scotland

Anna continued: ‘I joined the Trust in September 2013, at which time there had been early discussions about Outlander. One of the first emails I got was from the Outlander locations team asking if they could paint Culross Village. They wanted to film in October or November, so we started having intensive conversations quite quickly.’

While the Trust is always happy to work with production companies, protecting and preserving the special places in its care is its top priority. 

‘We always have very close contact with community councils, for example, and try to reduce the impact on people who live locally. And if there’s a big production that’s going to have any significant impact on the area, we ask them to donate to the community council.’

In a conversation with Jackie Bird for the Trust’s Love Scotland podcast, star Sam Heughan revealed that filming in authentic historic settings helped him gain a better sense of his character. ‘Culross is incredible; it’s like stepping back in time,’ he said. ‘We filmed in Edinburgh, up north, a lot of castles… What I love about it as well is that it gives me the opportunity to explore parts of Scotland I haven’t been to. I feel very lucky to get to see parts of Scotland that are just there on your doorstep, and you don’t even realise it. It’s also very lucky that the places, the heritage, are still there.’

Shaping Scotland’s sites

Indeed, the stratospheric rise of Outlander has, in return, had a significant impact on those very places featured within the story of Jamie and Claire. A new tourism industry has emerged, in which visitors from across the UK and beyond deliberately flock to locations referenced within the book and show, or, as with Culross, those that physically appeared on-screen. New Outlander-themed tours bring people into Scottish historical places.

This new-found love of Scottish heritage isn’t limited to visitors. For some staff, Outlander was the inspiration behind joining the Trust in the first place. 

Maravillas Sanchez-Morales, Visitor Services Assistant, Fourth Valley, said: ‘I started watching Outlander when I moved to live in Scotland almost six years ago. Firstly, I was attracted to knowing new places to visit in my first months here, as well as to try to understand the Scottish accent. 

‘But I became a huge fan of the series because of the period in which it is based and how it shows historical facts such as the Jacobite Rising in Scotland.

‘I visited Culross about a year before I started working on the property, and at the time, I was fascinated by how the entire town was so perfectly preserved and how it could transport you back in time to the 17th century. 

’During my interview for this role, I was asked why I chose Culross Palace, and I explained that I knew that the makers of Outlander would be returning and felt I had to be part of it.’

The ‘Outlander effect’

The boom in Scottish heritage tourism since Outlander’s first broadcast, labelled the ‘Outlander effect’, has been well-documented. A 2019 study suggested that the show and book have led to an average 67% increase in visitors to locations associated with the stories, with some places reporting increases of more than 200%.

While this is largely seen as positive – boosting interest and investment in important historical sites – it has also been acknowledged that such a stark and sudden increase in visitor numbers comes with some associated risks. The Trust is working hard to ensure that the places in its care have the proper infrastructure to cope with increased tourist numbers, among other protective measures. In Culloden, we are now open year-round to accommodate the extended tourist season.

Maravillas said: ‘From my point of view as someone who works at an Outlander filming location, I would say that the series has had a significant impact across Scotland, bringing interest from both local and international tourists. Specifically, at Culross Palace, we welcome a large number of visitors who come completely because of Outlander. For us, and for other Scottish heritage sites, this has a profound impact on the type of information visitors seek, requiring us to rethink how the collection and historic interiors are presented more frequently.’

There has also been a notable increase in film and television production in Scotland since the series first emerged. Anna explained: ‘Outlander wasn’t the catalyst for that, but it definitely spearheaded a wave. Nowadays, there’s filming work in Scotland year-round, we don’t have a quiet month anymore. 

‘The majority of filming still happens in the central belt region, which is a shame as there are so many fantastic castles in the Aberdeenshire area, for example, that would work so well on screen. But there are big costs for the production companies to get there.

‘The impact of Outlander has been incredible, really,’ she adds. ‘Alright, it’s a romanticised version of Scottish history that people see, but I think a lot about the Scottish diaspora and people who feel connected to Scotland through heritage who have been inspired to visit because of Outlander, or to look into their clan history. Scotland is steeped in myth and legend and I think being able to appreciate what the series has done for the country is really, really lovely.’