On Friday, the 16th September, we open the new winter season of talks and events with a talk on Alexander Stewart, aka ‘The Wolf of Badenoch’. This starts a season which includes talks on ‘The Hillforts’ of the Tay’, ‘Culloden’, ‘The Regeneration of the Mar Lodge Estate’ and ‘Old Ways, New Roads’.
This opening talk on Alexander Stewart is presented by Steve Boardman, Professor of Medieval Scottish History at The University of Edinburgh, who is currently researching the life and post-medieval mythologizing of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, and a descendant of King Robert the Bruce.
Alexander Stewart is notorious as waging a rule of terror in the late 14th century in the Highlands and, in particular, the sacking of Forres, Pluscarden Priory and in Elgin the burning of Elgin Cathedral as well as the monastery of the Greyfriars, St Giles parish church and the Hospital of Maison Dieu. Through marriage and his royal connections, he had extensive lands in the Highlands as well as in the Breadalbane area at Bolfracks and Garth Castle.
In this talk, Steve will mostly concentrate on the Wolf’s posthumous reputation to the present day.
On Friday, 18th March 2022, and prior to the monthly meeting and talk commencing, the ‘Annual Members’ Meeting’ was held. As the Breadalbane Heritage Society is a registered Trust, this replaces the previous Annual General Meetings. If you were unable to attend the meeting, you can view the video recording here.
We have a new Facebook page which is more directly linked to our website. To view it, please go to https://www.facebook.com/BreadalbaneHeritageSociety/ and if you like the work that the Breadalbane Heritage Society does, please ‘like’ and ‘follow’ us on Facebook.
On Friday, 18th March 2022, Annette Carruthers, an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the School of Art History at the University of St. Andrews, presented her talk to the Breadalbane Heritage Society and described how, despite the tragic shortness of his life, James Marjoribanks MacLaren (1853-1890) achieved much in his architectural career and is recognised as a pioneer of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Annette discussed how his work as an architect and designer impacted on his contemporaries in the context of this movement in Scotland and in Britain more widely.
On Friday, 18th February 2022, Dr. Nicki Scott, Senior Cultural Resources Advisor with Historic Environment Scotland, presented her talk and described how although the survival of so many Pictish carvings highlights the long tradition of Christian worship across Angus, the tradition of monumental display continued in the medieval period, most famously at Arbroath Abbey. But while this royal foundation rightly draws much attention, sites such as Restenneth Priory and Maison Dieu show that it wasn’t just the elites whose lives were connected to the Church. Nicki provided some insight into the lives of these foundations and the people associated with them.
On Friday, 21st January 2022, John Borland presented his talk which provided an overview of the early medieval sculpture of Highland Perthshire, following its distribution from west to east along the glens and straths, highlighting what is rare and unusual. He examined the distribution of the sculpture to see what that tells us about its cultural origins and thus assess just how “Pictish” this part of Perthshire was.
John worked as an archaeological surveyor for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and Historic Scotland (RCAHMS) and then Historic Environment Scotland (HES) for 36 years, latterly recording Scotland’s Pictish and other Early Medieval sculpture.
On Friday, 19th November 2021, Dr. Liz Auty, John Muir Trust’s East Schiehallion Property Manager, discussed the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne’s 1774 expedition to Schiehallion, the people, the experiment to ‘weigh’ the world and the mountain, along with her work for the John Muir Trust.
Record 64lb salmon caught by Georgina Ballantine in the River Tay in 1922
On Friday, 17th September 2021, Dr. David Summers, the Fisheries Director of the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board presented his talk which encompassed the life cycle of the salmon, the drastic reduction in salmon numbers and current scientific research studies. He provided an overview of the status of the River Tay’s salmon population and fisheries, with an emphasis on how things compare with the past and what the future might hold.
Wednesday, 6th July, 2022 tour of the Pictish stones in Fortingall Kirk and kirkyard led by John Borland.
Twenty members of the BHS gathered in Fortingall Kirk on 6 July to hear John Borland talk about the remarkably rich selection of fragments of carved stones displayed within the church and also outside. John is well known to many of our members, having previously given talks on the subject both at BHS meetings and at TAFAC conferences. He worked as an archaeological surveyor for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland for many years, the main focus of his work being the recording of Scotland’s Pictish and Early Medieval sculpture.
Before looking at and discussing the examples of the carved stones within the kirk and those in the courtyard, John talked about the history and development of sculptured stones in this area.
Some of the pieces of carved stones, dating to around 800 AD, were discovered during the demolition of the previous church in 1901, having been built into the walls of the church.
Their remarkably crisp carving, having been protected from the elements for many centuries, contrasts with the worn condition of some of the ancient grave slabs displayed against the walls of the church outside.
John pointed out that the stone on display on the north wall behind the pulpit, which is made up of three linked ringed crosses, is of a very rare type.
Other examples of three simply-incised crosses can be seen on one of the stones outside. Another stone is carved with what appears to be the folds of robes worn by angels or saints.
John observed that none of the finely carved stones were made from locally-obtained material but of a fine grey sandstone, which may have come from Strathmore and is similar to that of the Pictish cross slabs in the museum at Meigle.
Some of the recent additions to the magnificent assemblage of sculptured stones at Fortingall were discovered lying on the top of the Kirk’s boundary walls which had become exposed after the local council had cut back the creeping ivy from the walls.
After the talk, when a tour of the kirkyard was made, John made the interesting observation that the large natural boulder with a deep circular water-filled hole cut into it, which lies next to the porch, may not have been used as a christening font as we know it. It could, he said, have been on the ground beside the church entrance and been used for foot washing, or for the baptism of recently-converted adults where the person stood in the water for the ceremony.
Everyone who attended this talk and tour agreed that it had been a fascinating and informative morning, and we are very grateful to John Borland for yet again giving up his time to help us learn more about the rich cultural heritage of this area.
If you would like to view the talk, ‘The Early medieval Sculpture of Highland Perthshire’, which John presented to the Breadalbane Heritage Society on Friday, 21st January, 2022, you can view this here:
If you wish to view this video at a larger size, click on the ‘full screen’ button at the bottom right-hand corner of the image above:
A talk presented on Zoom by John Borland to the Breadalbane Heritage Society on Friday, 21st January, 2022.
In this talk, John gave an overview of the early medieval sculpture of Highland Perthshire, following its distribution from west to east along the glens and straths, highlighting what is rare and unusual. He examined the distribution of the sculpture to see what that tells us about its cultural origins and thus assess just how “Pictish” this part of Perthshire was.
John Borland worked as an archaeological surveyor for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and Historic Scotland (RCAHMS) and then Historic Environment Scotland (HES) for 36 years, retiring as Measured Survey Manager in May 2020. In that time, John had the opportunity to survey almost every type of archaeological and architectural monument, from Neolithic chambered cairns to WWII coastal batteries and everything in between, including castles, churches, croft houses and country houses. However, the main focus of his work latterly was recording Scotland’s Pictish and other Early Medieval sculpture.
John has been a member of the Pictish Arts Society for more than 20 years and is the current PAS President.
You can view John’s talk here:
If you wish to view this video at a larger size, click on the ‘full screen’ button at the bottom right-hand corner of the image above:
This talk was presented on Zoom, but unfortunately due to the vagaries of local internet connections, John’s speech was disrupted in a number of occasions. However, the general content of his talk is still discernible during these instances.
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