All Categories - John's Scottish History Pages

lANDSCAPES OF BANNOCKBURN - NEW PUBLICATIONS

19/9/2022

Few topics in Scottish history are more evocative than the Battle of Bannockburn. The anniversary (in 2014) stimulated both the construction of a new Visitor Centre and also significant, new research work on the landscapes and their implictions for the battle.
Some of the outcomes were published at the time. But two major papers have only just appeared.
They are;
Richard Tipping, Gordon Cook, Derek Hamilton, John G Harrison, Jason Jordan, Danny Paterson & David E. Smith (2022) The terrain around Stirling at the battle of Bannockburn 1314: combined scientific and documentary approaches to reconstruction. I. The ‘low road’, Journal of Conflict Archaeology, DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2022.2106809

Richard Tipping, John G Harrison, Danny Paterson, Gordon Cook & Derek Hamilton (2022) The terrain around Stirling at the Battle of Bannockburn 1314: combined scientific and documentary approaches to reconstruction. II. The ‘High Road’, Journal of Conflict Archaeology, DOI: 10.1080/15740773.2022.2106810

The two papers look at the carse and the higher ground in turn and provide a radical new view of the landscapes (settled but often difficult to traverse) which the armies encountered.

The Landscapes of the Battle of Stirling Bridge - Thursday 15 Sept 2022 at Legends, Wallace Monument.

18/8/2022

Though people have been writing about the Battle of Stirling Bridge for centuries, few have paid much attentioin to to the landcapes - and many make wild assumptions about them.

On Thursday 15th Sept (6.30 for 7.00pm) John will talk about the evidence. There will be some surprises with new evidence from documentary sources but also (astonishingly!) found, on the ground, today!

Tickets (donation requested) can be reserved at

https://www.legendsatthemonument.co.uk/events/september-2022/
For a link to the Zoom option go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/where-wallace-led-evidence-for-the-landscapes-of-1297-john-g-harrison-tickets-410046729807

Ballengeich Pass

30/3/2022

I have just posted a short piece about landscape change in the Ballengeich area, beside Stirling Castle, on the Research and Reports page of this website. It covers geological, historical and biological change over many millennia each with concrete and visible examples. Take a look here.

Drifty Days - Zoom Lecture

14/11/2021

My recent talk to the Perth Society of Natural Science on The Drifty Days was recorded and you can now watch it here

https://youtu.be/QMmXSwUrHiE

Drifty Days - BALH Award

14/6/2021

I have previously highlighted the award of the Birlinn Prize for my paper on The Drifty Days.
The paper has now also been recognised by an award by the British Association for Local History, presented at a virtual event on 12 June.
It is, of course, very gratifying to be recognised in this way - but the key thing is to keep finding new topics and to continue to produce lively and interesting work.

balh_certificate29062021.jpg

Drifty Days - Birlinn Prize

7/11/2020

Some weeks ago I recorded the publication of my paper on The Drifty Days of 1674 in the journal Scottish Local History.

I have been a member for many years and, from time to time, have published other papers in the journal.

It was a pleasant surprise to hear that the paper had been chosen as joint winner of the Birlinn Prize for the best paper published this year in the journal - and the other winner is one I am happy to be compared with!

The details are John G Harrison, 2020. The Drifty Days; A Climate Crisis of 1673-4, Scottish Local History issue 107, p. 11-16.

The article can be downloaded at https://www.slhf.org/annual-prize where further details of the prize, funded by Birlinn, well-known as major publishers of Scottish historical material, can be found.

Western Ochils c. 1450-2000 - new paper

4/11/2020

Volume 43 of the Forth Naturalist and Historian has now been published and brings yet another publication, the fourth of the year counting the web-based 'Last Wolf in Scotland'.
This one is the culmination of years of work on the Western Ochils entitled The Western Ochils c. 1450-2000. It is a drawing together of the threads of several different projects and endeavours an overview - even commenting on some contemporary changes.
You can get copies of the Journal (12) at the Smith, currently open for restricted hours Thursday to Sunday. Or by emailing fnh@stir.ac.uk
The journal, as ever, includes many other items of interest including the annual weather and bird reports and several other historical papers -for which see Flyer attached.

The Drifty Days - Joint winner of Birlinn Prize 2020

15/8/2020

A good many years ago, whilst researching the landscapes of Liddesdale, I came across evidence for a severe climatic 'hit' in early 1674, with massive losses of stock for local farms. The 'Drifty Days', as it came to be known, entered into folk memory in the Borders - but, with even the date uncertain.
How could one take it further? What about the rest of Scotland? How did people respond to the crisis and how enduring was the impact?
Further work on the locality (particularly using the extensive Buccleuch estate papers in National Records of Scotland) was the first step. Two 'diaries' of the time provide some comment on the appalling weather. And kirk session and presbytery minutes, which survive from the Borders to Orkney, show meetings disrupted, complaints of 'storm', of extreme cold and of the increasing distress of the poor.
Together, the sources show that the crisis was national, particularly with severe snow and cold in early 1674. But the Borders suffered more than other areas because local specialisation in sheep farming made them uniquely susceptible to just these conditions. It took almost a decade for the area to recover.
The findings have now been published as John G. Harrison, 2020. ‘The Drifty Days’: A Climate Crisis of 1673-4,, Scottish Local History, Issue 107, p. 11-16. The paper was chosen as joint winner of the Birlinn Prize for the best paper in Scottish Local History in 2020. Download this publication as a PDF here.

The Last Wolf in Scotland - The Evidence

15/7/2020

Despite many claims online, there is no evidence that wolves survived in Scotland so late as 1743. Nor is there any 'record' of Sir Ewan Cameron (or anyone else) killing the last wolf about 1680. These claims are myths. There are regular records of wolf hunting till about 1630. But, thereafter, there are no records and they must certainly have been extinct by 1650.
The stories are amongst the many myths about Scots history. These are not without their own interest but they are very different from evidence-based history. They are also persistent - often because they are 'good stories' - the sort of thing people like to believe.
I thought I had provided enough evidence, several years ago, to destroy the 1743 myth. But it survives in full vigour - indeed, the web has ensured that it has bred and multiplied and produced infants of its own.
Nothing daunted, I have now posted yet more (and more conclusive) evidence that the last wolves in Scotland vanished some time after 1630, surely by 1650. You can read it here or on the Research and Reports page of this website. It is free. But I do ask, if you find new evidence, of real wolves or wolf hunting, do please let me know.

The Pleasaunce and the Back Walk, Stirling

18/2/2020

The Pleasaunce is the Journal of Scotland's Garden and Landscape Heritage. I was pleased to be asked, some months ago, to submit a paper about Stirling's Back Walk and it has now appeared, in the February 2020 edition.

The paper outlines the history of the walk but also comments on its modern state.

Locals were rightly proud of this innovative Prospect Walk in the eighteenth century and visitors praised it in the nineteenth. It remains a vital asset but it is now under-appreciated and neglected - whilst the views, once a key attraction, are being obscured by overgrown trees or blotted by modern developments.

I will place a copy of the paper in Stirling Central Library for ease of access or you can get your own or find more about The Pleasaunce at www.sglh.org

John G Harrison, 2020. The Back Walk, Stirling, 29-36, The Pleasaunce, February 2020.