From Shinty to Shinny: Scotland’s Winter Game That Crossed the Atlantic

When Scotland freezes, the game doesn’t stop, it simply moves onto the ice. Long before modern hockey took shape in Canada, Highlanders were already playing their national game, shinty, across frozen lochs and rivers. The story of shinty on ice reveals how a centuries-old Scottish pastime helped shape the global winter sport we now call Ice Hockey.

1607–08 – The First Recorded Game

The earliest known reference to a stick-and-ball game on ice in Britain, and arguably the first form of ice hockey, comes from Scotland during the Great Frost of 1607–08.

In The Historie of the Kirk of Scotland, published in 1646 by David Calderwood, a passage describing the severe winter notes that “the sea freized so farre as it ebbed, and sindrie went in to shippes upon yee, and played at the chamiare a mile within the sea marke.”

The word chamiare (or chamie) appears in the Scottish National Dictionary as an early name for shinty, confirming that Scots were already playing their traditional stick game on frozen water more than four centuries ago.

This record, recognised by the Society for International Hockey Research (SIHR), marks the earliest known connection between Scotland and the sport that would evolve into ice hockey.

1745–1809 – Shinty on the Streets and Ice of Perth

More than a century later, shinty on ice again appeared in written record. In 1836, Scottish historian George Penny published his father’s memories of Perth, describing how “the Shinty or Club used to be played in all weathers on the Inch, and frequently on the streets, by large assemblies of stout apprentices and boys.”

He added that the game “was also played on the ice by skaters, when there was usually a keen contest.”

These anecdotes, dated between 1745 and 1809, confirm that shinty on ice was a lively feature of Scottish town life, part recreation, part competition, and an enduring expression of local energy during the frozen months.

1803 – Shinty on Ice at Paisley and Glasgow

The Aberdeen Journal of 9 February 1803 reported a tragedy that unfolded near Paisley, west of Glasgow: two boys, both around fourteen, were “playing at shinty on the ice” when the surface gave way. They fell through and, sadly, did not survive.

Although somber, this report is vital historical evidence that shinty on ice was widely played across Scotland, not only in the Highlands, but also in urban centres such as Glasgow and Paisley. By this time, the game had become an accepted part of winter recreation throughout the country.

1852 and Beyond – Shinty, Skating, and the Roots of Hockey

By the mid-nineteenth century, shinty had become part of skating culture itself. In his Glasgow-published The Art of Skating (1852), George “Cyclos” Anderson recommended following the shinty ball on skates as exhilarating exercise and the best way to develop balance and confidence on the ice.

He wrote that the “keen spirit of the game, urging him after the ball, with rapid runs, sudden stops, and quick turns,” taught skill and agility better than any formal skating drill.

This link between shinty and skating is critical, it shows how Scottish stick play evolved naturally into the type of fast, sliding game that would influence bandy and, later, ice hockey.

Ice by Design — Flooding the Glens

When nature did not provide a frozen pitch, Highland communities often helped it along. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was common practice to dam burns and flood flat ground in the glens during a cold snap, allowing the water to freeze into a smooth winter playing field.

These improvised ice rinks, sometimes called “shinty ponds” turned meadows and valley floors into temporary arenas where shinty on ice could thrive. The goalposts were cut from whatever wood was handy, the boundaries were nothing more than the edge of the frozen floodwater, and the atmosphere was electric as villages gathered to skate, slide, and swing the caman.

1885 — Shinty on the Ice at Loch Lomond

A vivid report from Skating on Loch Lomond (10 January 1885) describes a grand Scottish game of shinty on skates, played on the frozen waters of Loch Lomond. Around twenty players a side lined up, goalposts marked a mile and a half apart, and a tough wooden ball, called the “knag” or “knob” was thrown down to start play.

One Highlander, skating in a kilt, drives the ball away “with a rattle”, sending players racing after it at speed. Skaters collide, stumble on their edges, and crash into the ice, with a thump which causes the frozen surface to roar from side to side. Makeshift cloth pads wrapped around their shins reveal just how bruising the contest could be, yet it remains a spectacle of balance, bravery, and sheer enthusiasm.

This account shows that by the late nineteenth century, shinty on skates was not a novelty, it was an organised winter sport, played with energy and skill, and recognised as a distinctly Scottish form of ice play.

The Highlands on Ice

In the Highlands, shinty on ice was no novelty; it was a spectacle. A description printed in The Book of the Club of True Highlanders (London, 1880) recalls that “when played on ice, [shinty] is one of the most exciting games it is possible to conceive.” The ball, the writer noted, was replaced by a bung or cork, and the players wore skates.

This change, the round ball traded for a flat, sliding object, was not trivial. It was evolution. The cork or bung glided better on rough ice, and in time that same adaptation would travel south, where it became the puck of early ice hockey.

The Frozen Thames

The Scots weren’t the only Britons drawn to games on ice. During the severe winter of 1855, the Thames froze solid at Richmond and Blackheath, and Londoners poured onto the ice to skate, race, and play.

Among them were Scots living in the capital, men who brought their camans with them. Contemporary accounts from this period describe matches at Blackheath and Wimbledon, where sticks resembling shinty camans were used to play a frozen game of ball and stick.

Whether they called it shinty, bandy, or hockey hardly matters. The lineage is clear. Scotland’s lochs had frozen first; England’s rivers and commons soon followed.

Shinty Crosses the Atlantic

As Scots and other Europeans migrated to North America, they brought their shinty sticks and winter games with them. In the nineteenth century, journalist J. Ross Robertson described the habitants of French Canada playing a game of shinty on the ice, a clear continuation of the Scottish winter tradition.

Indeed, early dictionaries and newspapers often used the terms shinty, bandy, and hockey interchangeably. Murray’s Dictionary defined hockey as equivalent to bandy or shinty, reflecting a shared lineage of winter stick-and-ball games that spanned from the Firth of Forth to the frozen St. Lawrence.

From Loch to Rink – Scotland’s Winter Legacy

These records, 1607 at the Firth of Forth, 1745–1809 in Perth, 1803 in Paisley, and the later cultural links to Canada, tell a continuous story.

Shinty was not simply a Highland pastime; it was the foundation of the stick games that would evolve into ice hockey. The frozen lochs of Scotland were, quite literally, the first rinks.

While ice hockey went on to professionalise in Canada, shinty remained rooted in community and tradition. Yet both share a common winter spirit: a frozen surface, quick feet, sharp eyes, and a stick in hand.

A Shared Winter Heritage

So when Canadians today gather for a casual game of “shinny,” they are unknowingly echoing a Scottish word, a Scottish tradition, and a Scottish style of play.

From chamiare on the frozen Firth of Forth to shinty on the ice at Paisley, and finally to shinny on Canadian ponds, the line of influence is unbroken. The spirit that once echoed across frozen lochs still lives on wherever players meet for the pure joy of the game.

Alan MacPherson

Sources: David Calderwood, The Historie of the Kirk of Scotland (1646); Aberdeen Journal, 9 Feb 1803; George Penny, Traditions of Perth (1836); George Anderson, The Art of Skating (1852); Illustrated London News, 3 Mar 1855; The Pictorial World, 25 Jan 1879; Arthur Farrell, Origin of Hockey (c. 1900).