Tim Clarkson's Blog, page 12

‘Against iron swords’: Dun Nechtáin, AD 685

A mounted warrior, possibly a Northumbrian, on an 8th-century Pictish stone in the kirkyard at Aberlemno in Angus. (Copyright © B Keeling)

Today is the anniversary of the battle of Dun Nechtáin in which the Picts, led by their king Bridei, defeated the English of Northumbria. It was fought on 20th May 685, one of the most famous dates in early Scottish history. The Pictish victory was decisive: the Northumbrian king Ecgfrith was cut down and nearly all his warriors were slain. His people back...

Trusty’s Hill and Rheged

Latest news from the Galloway Picts Project….

Radiocarbon dates from material unearthed at Trusty’s Hill have been analysed. They confirm that the fort on the summit was occupied in the sixth century AD.

Putting this into context, it means we now know people of high status were living on the summit in a period when kings were using hilltop fortresses as primary centres of power. Galloway had not yet been conquered by Anglo-Saxons moving westward from Bernicia, so we can cautiously identify the...

Nigg Pictish stone

Nigg cross-slab. Illustration from The Early Christian Monuments Of Scotland, 1903.

The old parish church at Nigg in Easter Ross probably stands on the site of an important Pictish monastery. The present building dates from the 1600s and is home to one of the most famous examples of Pictish sculpture: a magnificent cross-slab, 7 feet high, carved in the late eighth century. The slab’s decoration is very intricate. On the front face, above the cross, is a cameo showing Saint Paul and Saint Anth...

Save The Whithorn Trust

Sculptured cross at Whithorn (illustration from The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, 1903)

The Whithorn Trust has a funding shortfall of £18,500 and will be forced to shut down this summer. If this happens, its museum and visitor centre will also close. The news was announced yesterday at the Trust’s website.

The visitor centre tells the story of Whithorn from its Early Christian beginnings to the time when its medieval priory was a renowned pilgrimage venue. With a history spanning more...

Further Reading: Kings and Kingship

This is the first in a new series of blogposts in which I’ll be recommending stuff to read. By ‘stuff’ I mean printed items, things that don’t require some kind of electronic gizmo to unlock their information. If it exists in online format only, then it won’t be listed here.

In the series I’ll be selecting – in no particular order – various books and journal articles regarded by me as useful ‘further reading’ on topics covered at this blog. What these items share in common is the simple fact t...

The legend of the Saltire

Scotland’s national flag, the Saltire, is reputedly the oldest in Europe. According to legend, its origins can be traced back to the ninth century AD, to a battle fought by a combined army of Scots and Picts against the English of Northumbria. On the night before the battle, the Pictish king ‘Hungus’ vowed to make Andrew the patron saint of Scotland if the English were defeated. In response, the Apostle himself appeared in a vision, promising Hungus and his Dál Riatan allies a great victory....

The graves of the queens

Early medieval cross-slab at Govan, re-used in 1723. From Stirling-Maxwell’s Sculptured Stones in the Kirkyard of Govan (1899).

Yesterday on Heart Of The Kingdom I published a post which asked, and attempted to answer, a question about royal tombs: How many queens of Strathclyde are buried at Govan?

This isn’t a question that can be answered by browsing a book or searching online. No information – neither historical nor archaeological – can currently give a definitive answer. The best we can ho...

Whitby

Whitby Abbey

As this blogpost is about a place in England I’m putting it in my ‘non-Scottish’ category, but that’s not the whole story, because Whitby has an important connection with early medieval Scotland.

Today, Whitby is a busy town and seaside resort on the coast of North Yorkshire. Its most striking landmark is the ruined abbey on a high headland overlooking the harbour. The abbey stands near the site of an Anglo-Saxon monastery which was the venue for a hugely significant event in AD 66...

Pictish ancestors

‘Ten percent of Scottish men are directly descended from the Picts’

So says a recent article on the website of The Scotsman newspaper.

The figure comes from research undertaken by Dr Jim Wilson, a geneticist at the University of Edinburgh and chief scientist at the ancestry testing company ScotlandsDNA. Genetic testing of 1000 Scottish men by Jim and his team revealed that ten percent carry a DNA marker that seems to be concentrated in the Pictish heartlands north of the Firth of Forth. The log...

ScARF

Very pleased to find a copy of Telling Scotland’s Story in my latest mailing from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. The front cover of this nicely produced booklet is shown above.

Telling Scotland’s Story has been issued to accompany the launch of ScARF, the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework, a major new resource based on collaboration between people from different fields. The booklet is available as a free download from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland website, which also...