Tim Clarkson's Blog, page 14
January 29, 2013
Weaving Truth With Trust
News of another heritage-related event in Govan…
Hot on the heels of last week’s talks at the Pearce Institute comes the launch of Weaving Truth With Trust, a new art/heritage project celebrating Govan’s history through the medium of a specially designed textile screen.
The launch takes place on Saturday 2nd February at Govan Old Parish Church, a fine Victorian structure on the site of the premier royal church of the kings of Strathclyde. The church is home to the remarkable Govan Stones, carve...
January 18, 2013
Romancing the Govan Stones
Are you interested in learning about the fascinating collection of early medieval sculpture at Govan? Do you want to hear about the period when Govan was the royal capital of the kings of Strathclyde?
Next Tuesday, 22 January, at the Pearce Institute in Govan, Professor Stephen Driscoll of the University of Glasgow will be giving a talk entitled Romancing the Govan Stones: Archaeological Explorations of an Ancient British Capital.
Further details of this event can be found at Heart Of The Kingd...
January 16, 2013
The Galloway Picts Project
In July last year, during one of my occasional ’roundups’ of interesting news, I mentioned the Galloway Picts Project. This is what I wrote back then:
‘Another excavation is hoping to unravel the mystery of Trusty’s Hill, a site overlooking the Solway Firth, where Pictish symbols are carved on a rock at the summit. Why are these carvings found here, so far away from the Pictish heartlands? Who occupied the fort on top of the hill? This was territory ruled by Britons, not Picts – or so conventi...
January 3, 2013
Dunnichen left out of battlefield list
Reverse of the Pictish cross-slab in the kirkyard at Aberlemno, Angus (Photograph © B Keeling)
To the disappointment of many folk in Angus, a new inventory of Scottish battlefields has omitted the great battle of Dun Nechtáin (AD 685) in which the Picts defeated an invading army from English Northumbria. The site of the battle has traditionally been identified with the area around Dunnichen Hill, 3 miles east of Forfar, by historians as well as by local people. This was questioned by Alex Wool...
January 2, 2013
Letasia
My first post of 2013 has little connection with the topics usually featured here. It’s not about Scotland, nor any other part of the British Isles, even if it does fit with the overall theme of ‘early medieval’. It’s actually about Galicia (in the Iberian Peninsula) from where we have a charter issued by a prosperous woman called Letasia in the year 896. This document gives a fascinating glimpse (through female eyes) of ninth-century attitudes towards immorality among people whose lives were...
December 23, 2012
The Fairlie Stone
Copyright © B Keeling
My latest post at Heart Of The Kingdom describes a carved stone from Fairlie in North Ayrshire, an example of early medieval sculpture from the kingdom of Strathclyde. It dates from the 10th/11th century and is quite well-preserved. Anyone who likes Pictish sculpture will see familiar themes in the carvings on this stone – even though it is a long way from the heartlands of the Picts. Its sculptor was a craftsman of the ‘Govan School’ of stonecarving and probably a Briton...
December 6, 2012
The Ghost Of Water Row
Back in early August I wrote a blogpost about Water Row, an area of historical significance in Govan. At the time, local concerns were being raised at plans by Glasgow City Council to develop the site as a car park. I’ve now written a follow-up post at my Govan blog Heart Of The Kingdom. To read it, please click the link below.
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November 27, 2012
Largo Pictish Stone
J.R. Allen’s drawing of the Largo cross-slab (1903).
A recent conversation with Roger Frehen at my blogpost on the Pictish symbol known as the double disc & Z-rod prompted me to write about an interesting stone from the southern coast of Fife. This monument, formerly known as the ‘Largo Cross’, has a double disc & Z-rod carved on the reverse.
It is actually a cross-slab rather than a free-standing cross. Chronologically and stylistically it is a ‘Class 2′ Pictish stone, its sculpture incorpora...
November 8, 2012
The Barochan Cross
Today at Heart of the Kingdom, my blog about early medieval Govan, I uploaded a detailed study of the Barochan Cross, one of the most impressive monuments to survive from the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde.
The carvings on the cross have much in common with Pictish sculpture and, indeed, the Clyde craftsmen undoubtedly borrowed styles and techniques from other lands. Hence, my new blogpost makes reference to the Pictish stone in Aberlemno kirkyard and includes a close-up of part of the famous...
October 31, 2012
The Murray Prize
Those of you with unpublished articles on Scottish history lying around the house may wish to consider submitting one as an entry for the Murray Prize, a prestigious award presented annually by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Entries should deal with an aspect of Scottish history (rather than archaeology) in the period AD 500 to 1700. The winning article gets published in the Society’s highly respected Proceedings, and its author receives cash and a medal.
The deadline for submissions...
