Throughout history societies have dedicated and erected monuments to individuals who have achieved greatness or accomplished monumental feats of brilliance. In some cases these memorials are put together to commemorate a particular event. Such is the case, with what might be the smallest memorial devoted to an incident involving a woman, who perhaps has more statues dedicated to her throughout the globe, than any other one person.
In the small village of Dunblane, just north of Stirling, is a rather innocuous memento dedicated to an event that took place during the reign of Queen Victoria. The monarch was traveling with her beloved Prince Albert, when a horse was that was carrying the royal couple lost a shoe, as they passed over the town’s bridge. A local blacksmith repaired the damage and the detritus was adhered to the wall with a plaque that reads:
On the corner of this building are the remains of a horseshoe, nails, and crown placed here by Mr. Mckenzie, after he had re-shoed a horse carrying Queen Victoria’s carriage during her visit on 13th September 1842.
As luck would have it, this particular 13th fell on a Tuesday, not a Friday. This incident would have other fortuitous implications, as it was only the second time a British Royal family member had visited the territory of Scotland since the reign of King James IV and I. The first time was in 1822, when Queen Victoria’s uncle, King George IV had accepted the invitation to come to Edinburgh by the esteemed novelist Sir Walter Scott.
Even though the horseshoe is facing downward, indicating superstitiously that ‘Good Luck ’ would eventually run out. The Royal Family has continued to have a strong bond with Scotland, by vacationing annually at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire.
