Blog Archives

New Search facility

30/9/2012

I am astonished by the numbers of visitors to the site and aware of its growing complexity so I have decided to add a Search entry to the site. And, to my considerable surprise, have actually succeeded in doing so.

It should make it a lot easier for first-time visitors to find what they want - particularly if you are looking for very specific things amongst the archived blog posts.

Meanwhile, do not hesitate to get in touch (enquire@johnscothist.com) with any enquiries or suggestions.

St Fillan's Church, Killin

30/9/2012

St Fillan's Church, Killin, a classic 'tin tabernacle' (photo JGH)

Vernacular Building the journal of the Scottish Vernacular Buidlings Group (SVBWG) has an interesting article about this lovely and important building (volume 35, 2011-12). It is one of the earliest surviving corrugated iron churches still in use in Scotland. As architect for the recent restoration of the building (originally built in 1876) Sonya Linskail had unique opportunities to examine the original structure and its later modifications. The construction and conservation issues are well described in the article.

For a century or so from the 1820s corrugated iron was a very important building material for all sorts of purposes with all the advantages of pre-fabrication and portability - it was not unusual for CI buildings to be transported to new sites, sometimes, indeed, without being disassembled. They were still widespread on farms, for example, into the 1960s. But, often despised as temporary and inferior, most have now been lost.

At least St Fillan's, listed as Category C, should now be secure for some time to come.

Historic Rural Settlement Working Group

28/9/2012

This group has existed for a number of years and was the 'parent' of the important Scotland's Rural Past Project.

But once SRP was up and running, the parent rather lost its way and purpose and diminished to a trickle - and stopped.

With SRP now wound up and finished - having achieved a huge increase in knowledge and awareness of the issues - it might be time to re-activate the Group.

I attended a meeting on Thursday and plans were laid to link to a much wider audience than in the past - including former SRP groups, academic bodies and others with an interest in the history and archaeology of Scotland's rural past.

The website, too, will be revived and updated - it has been dormant for far too long.

http://www.molrs.org.uk/

So, watch this space.

Even more sheep

28/9/2012

There comes a stage in any project where I begin to wonder if it was sensible to start. That point came early with this one - and I am still there!

That said, I am now beginning to enter prices into tables and some trends are beginning to emerge. It will be worth it in the end, I say to myself, rather desperately, as another 10 ewes and 4 wethers join the list. Then four score 'sheep', then some ewes with lambs -sufficient of those to suggest that it might be possible to work out how many lambs survive to become adults, though.

So, slowly, a picture will emerge. I hope. I very much hope.

Scottish Church History Society Conference in Stirling on 24th Oct

24/9/2012

Andrew emails to tell me about this conference which is wideranging - both in time and place and is to be held in Stirling Baptist Church.

The keynote speaker is Tom Devine (always good value) on sectarianism in modern Scotland.

Another contribution which caught my eye is Nikki Macdonald (Edinburgh University) ‘A certain poisoned sweetness’: deviant speech and rituals of reconciliation in Early Modern Scotland, 1560-1610'

The day starts at 9.30am and ends at 4pm and it's only £10.

You can download all the details as word file or as a PDF here with the booking form etc.

King's Park History Group - A Statement

20/9/2012

On Tuesday of this week I attended a meeting of historians and archaeologists, hosted by Historic Scotland.
The historians and archaeologists have issued a joint statement expressing our concern about threats to the integrity and long-term management of the unique King's Park due to the current uncertainties about ownership. We felt, strongly, that transfer of ownership to Scottish Ministers was the best option.
Personally, I fully endorse that view. Divided ownership must, inevitably, lead to divided management, difficulties in oversight and the danger of inappropriate developments. it has been the integrity of ownership of this landscape, in effect in public ownership for 900 years, which means that so much of it has survived, that it is astonishing at a European level.

You can read the statement and the attached annexe here.

Below there is a link which allows you to comment; do feel free to use it!

Man and the Landscape Symposium on 17th Nov 2012

20/9/2012

The full programme for this year's symposium at Stirling Univesity, the 38th such annual event, has just arrived. The theme this year is 'How Green is My Valley' - a look at some of the positive as well as the negative aspects of changing environments in the past, present and the future.

I will be speaking about that well-known but widely misunderstood aspect of local change = peat moss clearance. But also about peat moss survival and conservation.

Other speakers include Chris Smout, the Historiographer Royal for Scotland, talking about pollution of the Forth (based on work for his forthcoming book) and Stephen Digney, describing the King's Knot as a royal garden and recreation site of the late medieval period.

This year's Forth Naturalist and Historian will also be launched at the event.

Booking form and further details as a PDF.

King's Knot Radar Survey - latest

12/9/2012

Stirling Local History Society have just posted the latest results for continued work at the King's Knot.

This confirms that there are deep trenches beneath the ground surface of the present mound; their profile can be defined. Other structures have also been located within the area, probably related to earlier phases of the development of the monument.

Go to the site by clicking here

More Sheep

7/9/2012

The sheep counting has continued all through this week - and there were a lot of sheep about in east central scotland in the sixteenth century!

Many thousands of people had just a few sheep - sometimes only three or four. At the other extreme, the royal flocks in the 1530s to 1560s ran to thousands.

More interesting are the flocks of a few dozen or a couple of hundred. Slowly, details of flock structure are beginning to emerge from the archives - how many ewes, how many lambs, how many wedders (castrated males).

The next question is 'what did they look like'? What type of sheep were they?

Keep watching!

Forth Valley Wildlife and Landscape Forum

6/9/2012

The second of these forums will take this place in Allloa Academy on 22nd Sept.
This was a new venture last year, launched by Foth Naturalist and Historian and bringing together many organisations with intererts in wildlife and landscapes.
It's free, diverse and promises to be another interesting day. See the attachment for details, booking form etc.

forum_letter_sept_2012.doc
File Size:	309 kb
File Type:	doc

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