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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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curling
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Traditional winter game in Scotland and in several other countries with a cold climate. It is in effect bowls on ice, with the players sliding smooth heavy stones (known as 'granites') towards a fixed mark, the tee; to increase the distance travelled by the stone, the surface of the ice in its path may be swept with a brush or broom (the 'besom'). It is a matter of dispute whether the game began in Scotland or the Netherlands.
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Many early curling stones have been found in Scotland (the earliest, with the engraved date 1511, is in the Smith Institute in Stirling); but the game is first depicted in scenes by Pieter *Brueghel (c.1525–69) in Flanders, where no such stones have been found. The explanation may be that the Dutch and Flemish played with lumps of frozen earth or even ice, with a stick stuck in for the handle. The earliest book on curling (An Account of the Game of Curling 1811) was written by a Scottish minister, John Ramsay, a member of the Duddingston Curling Society. The central international body for curling is the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in Edinburgh, founded in 1838 (as the Grand Caledonian Curling Club) 'to unite curlers throughout the world'. By that time there were clubs in Canada (Montreal 1807) and the USA (Orchard Lake in Michigan 1831).
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