Caledonian Road opened in 1826 in North London on the Piccadilly line. It is named after the Caledonian Asylum for Scottish children established on a site nearby in 1815. The brooch is from the 1950s and depicts an enamel thistle – the national emblem of Scotland since the 13th century. In the language of flowers Scotch Thistle means ‘retaliation’ and the Common Thistle means ‘austerity’.
Trivia Medieval herbalists thought thistles were a cure for baldness.
