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Encyclopaedia of the North East

T - Tap o Noth to thack

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A large ornate printed capital letter T with tartan samples, a walking stick, thatching tools, a pair of shoes, a bonnet, a helmet and some archaeological objects.
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Tap o Noth 
A conspicuous hill near Rhynie, crowned by a large vitrified fort.

A high and strong wall is the most obvious form of defence against an actual or imagined disaster. Yet walls are easily broken by a determined attacker or natural catastrophe. Today war is the province of professionals with no place for local militias. Even the protection of civilians is now in the hands of a professional agency whose role is in the coordination of resources in the event of plane crashes, floods and the like as well as war. 

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tartan la19tarton, tertane 16 n adj 
A woven cloth with a pattern of stripes of different colours crossing at right angles; such as a pattern esp one associated with a particular clan (although the ascribing of such is unhistorical). 

The clans begin to gather in Braemar days before the games begin. There is the Clan Mayfair, the Clan Belgravia, the Clan Chicago, the Clan Washington, with various septs and dependents wearing their national horn-rims and monacles. They gather in long touring cars. They fill the hotels for miles around with bright chatter of grouse and salmon. Here and there among them is a genuine laird whose knees are voted by the beautiful girls of the Clan Chicago "just too cute for woids".
H.V. Morton 1929. In Search of Scotland.

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thack la17c- 
1 n Thatch 
2 v To cover a roof with straw, reeds, heather etc. 
thack dairt n An instrument used in thatching.