News November/December 2006
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Scotland's History : The Top Ten
Series starts November 10, at 8.30pm on BBC Two Scotland
What are the most important elements of history for one of the oldest
nations in the world that is the challenge for a new television series
Scotland's History : The Top Ten.
More than 1,000 nominations have been received from the website
bbc.co.uk/scotlandshistory, launched in August, and from voxpops conducted
by presenter Neil Oliver across the country.
From Arbroath to Glasgow, from Edinburgh to Dundee, from St Andrews to Kelso
to Aberdeen, Neil has been out with the cameras finding out what ordinary
Scottish people think are the pivotal moments in our country's history, from
events to people and ideas.
Now on BBC Two Scotland starting on November 10th at 8.30pm, over the course
of three half hour episodes, Neil will reveal 30 culled from the nominations
by the team at production company Caledonia TV and leading historian
Professor Tom Devine.
A panel, chaired by Professor Devine, of history professionals will debate,
wrangle and argue about which of these 30 deserve to be in the top ten.
And these will be revealed alongside the results of a public vote in an
hour long special on St Andrew's night, Thursday, November 30.
Neil Oliver, who is also the lead presenter in the current series of Coast,
says: 'Scotland is one of the oldest nations in the world and one that has a
great sense of tradition and identity so we encountered a lot of passion
about this question every where we went.
'Not everyone was too hot on their dates and some people admitted their
knowledge was limited, but just about everyone had some suggestion and that
is what makes it such an interesting challenge.
'Any such list can never be definitive, but to take a snapshot at this stage
in time as to what people think are the defining need-to-know aspects of
Scottish history is just a fascinating opportunity.'
Among the 10 subjects revealed in the first episode is the Declaration of
Arbroath in 1320 whose advocate is Professor Ted Cowan, of Glasgow
University.
As Ted Cowan says, central to the Declaration of Arbroath was 'the whole
issue of personal freedom. Freedom is the most important thing. For me it is
what makes us who we are, individually and as a nation.'
Another topic is physicist genius James Clerk Maxwell, who, as advocate James
Borthwick states, is acknowledged by the leading lights of the scientific
world as among the top triumvirate alongside Isaac Newton and Albert
Einstein, who himself said James Clerk Maxwell had 'changed the whole
world'.
Clerk Maxwell's work paved the way for much of what we take for granted in
the modern world from telephones to television and microwaves.
The Reformation and its emphasis on education is the topic for Dr Jenny
Wormald, of Edinburgh University, who says the legacy of the Reformation
leaders' insistence on education, with schools in every parish, was
'colossal'.
One who benefited from Scotland's early drive for literacy among ordinary
people was Robert Burns and Owen Dudley Edwards is the advocate for the man
, who took 'poetry by the scruff of the neck and hurled it into the
ploughfield.'
Says Neil: 'I don't want to reveal too much of what has made it into the
initial top 30. We did encounter the kind of suggestions people would expect
1707, the Treaty of the Union - will also feature in the first episode but
there will also be some surprises.
'As you would expect in Scotland, people were very passionate about football
but there were other topics and names which cropped up which also inspired a
lot of feeling. Scotland's History, the series, is a chance to find out more
about the key topics and to get a different angle on a diverse range of the
moments that have made Scotland the country it is.'
BBC HISTORY SERIES
HAVE YOU GOT CURIOUS OBJECTS WITH LINKS TO THE PAST?
OR FAMILY HEIRLOOMS WITH A HIDDEN HISTORY?
WOULD YOU LIKE TO FIND OUT THE TRUE STORY BEHIND YOUR TREASURED POSSESSION?
Lion Television is looking for cases for a brand new BBC history series that will reveal untold stories from Britain’s past. Our team of history detectives will tap into the latest research techniques to get to the bottom of each history mystery.
If you think you’ve got an artefact with an interesting historical past please get in touch and our team will help you to sort out fact from fiction once and for all.
If you are keen to take part in the series or would like to know more, please contact Rowan on:
Tel: 0141 331 5424
Email: History.Detectives@liontv.co.uk
Bronze age log boat excavated
During the summer archaeologists fully excavated a log boat located on inter-tidal mudflats at the head of the Tay estuary near Abernathy. It had been discovered in 2000 and radiocarbon dating has indicated that it dates to 1000BC, making the boat amongst the oldest in Scotland.
Using a specially constructed floating cradle, archaeologists from the Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, in partnership with Historic Scotland, the National Museums of Scotland, Perth Museum and Art Gallery and CFA Archaeology Ltd raised the ancient craft and transported it to the National Museums of Scotland where it will be freeze dried and conserved over a three-year period.
This Bronze Age vessel is around 9.25 metres (30ft) in length, made from a single piece of oak and is remarkably well preserved. The excavation of the boat was crucial to its protection as it was thought unlikely that it could survive if left in situ. The boat was water-logged and partially buried in the inter-tidal zone of the river and fluctuations in conditions when it was uncovered at low tides posed a significant threat for its long-term preservation. The vessel had been sand-bagged to protect it prior to the decision to remove it.
Five other log boats have been discovered in the estuary, but only one, excavated in 1895, still survives. This has been displayed at Dundee Museum and dates to 500AD. It is thought that the boat would have been used for fishing and wild fowling along the fertile river. It may also have been used for the transportation of people and goods. About 150 log boats have been found in Scotland, the majority of which were found to be medieval.
After the lengthy conservation process, the 30ft boat will eventually be put on public display.
Note: Dundee Museum will be closed for 2 years for renovation
See http://www.pkht.org.uk/Archaeology.asp?ID=7
New dimensions of Scottish architectural history
Yvonne Hillyard
One of the startling revelations of the Dictionary of Scottish Architects 1840–1940, a new online resource (www.scottisharchitects.org.uk), has been the frequency with which architects in the period covered by the Dictionary moved office. For example, some individuals or practices moved up to ten times in a period of thirty years. Were office furniture, drawings and account books all loaded onto carts or trucks every few years and trundled along the road to the new office? For many, it must have been tempting to ditch the archive of old drawings instead of moving them. Under these circumstances it is surprising that any old architectural office archives have survived.
The Dictionary is available over the web without restriction to anyone who is interested in the built environment and those who shaped it. It includes biographies and job lists of all architects who worked in Scotland for the 100 years between 1840 and 1940. It is easy to use and well referenced and can provide a useful starting point for anyone embarking on research in Scottish architectural history of this period. Indeed, by bringing together information which has until now been scattered, and by allowing flexible searching, many connections between architects and their pupils, their contemporaries and their work have been revealed. In fact, the Dictionary enables the user to go beyond the traditional bounds of architectural history into the realms of social and economic history because it reveals many different patterns and trends, like the frequent moves of office.
Frequent changes of address by architects are particularly prevalent in Glasgow compared to other Scottish cities and towns. Clearly, moves were sometimes related to the prosperity of a practice: changes of address were made until the position of the firm was established, at which point it became settled. For example, Hugh Barclay, older brother of the H & D Barclay practice and designer of St George’s in the Fields Church, moved several times in the 1860s and 1870s. In the following decade, however, things settled down and he remained at 136 Wellington Street for the last ten years of his working life. Similarly, John Gordon, who was predominantly an industrial architect, moved seven times between 1860 and 1910 despite employing at least nine different apprentices and running a very busy practice.
Prosperity (or lack of it), however, was not the only reason for moving office: the rapid redevelopment of the cities during the Victorian period clearly displaced a number of our architects. In Edinburgh, Henry Walker had only just moved office to North St Andrews Street when the development of the Scottish Equitable building in 1899 forced him to move across the road. In other cases it may have been restlessness that led to some changes of address. For example, Frederick Thomas Pilkington, best known for his highly original church designs like the Barclay Church at Bruntsfield (Edinburgh), moved both his office and his home address a total of twelve times in twenty years, despite having a fairly consistent stream of major commissions. We know that his architecture was idiosyncratic but perhaps this was a reflection of his personality?
The Dictionary project has also thrown up a problem common to all forms of historical study: the ‘inaccuracies’ and deliberate changes made by some of the architects during their lifetime. For example, in their applications for Licentiateship of the Royal Institute of British Architects (the professional body for architects), architects occasionally manipulated their date of birth in order to comply to the rule that all members must be aged over thirty. Furthermore, spellings of names were quite deliberately altered for a variety of reasons. Charles Rennie Mackintosh started as McIntosh but reckoned it was more artistic to be ‘Mackintosh’. William Lambie Moffatt (Figure 1) is another case in point: he started life as Moffat but for some reason — as yet unclear even to his descendants — added the extra ‘t’ to his surname: Lambie’s brother Henry, who became Town Clerk of Dalkeith, retained the original spelling throughout his life.
These details of Moffatt provide just one example of new information that has emerged through contact from members of the public using the Dictionary of Scottish Architects, which raises one final point. Once the Dictionary was launched we hoped that perhaps a few descendants of our architects would contact us to supply missing information. The response has far exceeded our expectations. In the case of Moffatt, who was an important designer of hospitals, poorhouses and asylums in Scotland, as well as a pioneer of designs for buildings for the newly created School Boards of the 1870s, a message from the architect’s great-great-grandson has brought new information to light. It explained the earlier confusion over the correct spelling of Moffatt’s name and also bought to light a fine watercolour that appears to be identical to one listed in the catalogues of the Royal Scottish Academy as having been exhibited by Moffatt in 1863 (Figure 2). The painting is of Eldin House near Lasswade. After 1773 Eldin was the seat of John Clerk, the well-known engraver and etcher and author of An Essay on Naval Tactics, and the house was later sold to the brother of William Lambie Moffatt c.1842. It is likely that Moffatt was responsible for the rebuilding of the house that was carried out at around the time the watercolour was painted.
The biographies and job lists of many other architects have been greatly enriched by contributions from all users of the database. Information, comments, and additions have been sent from as far afield as Australia and Canada. The project has taken on a life of its own and is still gathering momentum. If you can add any information, please get in touch, using the ‘Contacts’ form on the website.
Yvonne Hillyard
Researcher, Dictionary of Scottish Architects
www.scottisharchitects.org.uk
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