No one knows the origins of the game of curling. We may all amuse ourselves with ideas and images of ancients experimenting on ice with stones, sliding them hither and thither and delighting in the variety of the resulting manoeuvres and sounds. That all comes unstuck when, to paraphrase the philosopher David Hume, we are required to produce evidence of fact rather than conjecture, however well-intentioned.

Scotland is recognised as the home of the game and in 1883 Queen Victoria granted the title of Royal to the Caledonian Curling Club.