Bagpipes have been around in various forms for hundreds of years. One thing is for certain they where not invented in Scotland. The earliest historical reference to them would be in Greece where they refer to pipers (but there was no mention of a bag until Emperor Nero in a Latin document written by St Jerome). Until then pipers had used "circular " breathing to maintain a continuous flow of air.

By 1200 AD there is a wider variety / reference to bagpipes in countries across Europe (England, Spain, Italy ,Sweden). Bagpipes appear in Scottish and Irish literature around 1450 near the time that bagpipes are "dyeing out" in Southern England.

The roll of the Gaelic pipers seems to be more important than there southern counterparts in there comunity. Instead of being an entertainer for fairs and weddings etc they were used as a "call to arms " and as a way of "lamenting " the dead .

In the 1550s it is documented that the Scots and Irish were using bagpipes instead of "trumpets" in battle.

Indeed much of the success and development of the Highland bagpipe could be put down to the "special" place that the piper held in Highland society. Later its use in the Scottish regiments in the British army would be central to its development and also important in increasing its popularity around the world.