16 September 2015
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Stirling Heads carver granted Nigel Tranter Memorial Award
John Donaldson, the craftsman who carved the Stirling Heads, has been granted the 2015 Nigel Tranter Memorial Award. ...
Stirling Heads carver granted Nigel Tranter Memorial Award Images
John Donaldson, the craftsman who carved the Stirling Heads, has been granted the 2015 Nigel Tranter Memorial Award. For all the latest history and archaeology news, read History Scotland magazine.
The Nigel Tranter Memorial Award is given each year in recognition of the Scottish Castle Association’s founding President Nigel Tranter O.B.E, who during his lifetime worked to promote Scotland, its culture, its history and the preservation and rescue of its historical buildings.
The 2015 award was presented by Professor Richard Oram at Dryburgh Abbey Hotel, with the ceremony followed by a lecture on Stirling Castle by John Donaldson. John said of the award: 'Carving new versions of the Stirling Heads was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the ceiling looks absolutely stunning.
'It was quite a feeling to have your work included in a project of this scale and importance and which will hopefully be enjoyed by millions of visitors for many decades to come.'
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THE STIRLING HEADS
In the 1540s the ceiling of the King’s Inner Hall in Stirling Castle’s royal palace was decorated with magnificent oak carvings showing the faces of kings, queens, lords, ladies, Roman emperors and ancient heroes. The heads were commissioned by James V as part of his scheme to build a new palace celebrating his marriage to Mary of Guise.
After the ceiling was removed in 1777, some of the carvings were destroyed and the rest were scattered throughout Scotland and England. Known as the Stirling Heads, 34 of the metre-wide oak medallions survived, and in 2011 a full set of copies carved by John Donaldson were unveiled and adorned to the ceiling of the King’s Inner Hall as part of a wider project to restore the interiors of the royal palace in 16th-century style.
To find out more about the work of the Scottish Castles association, visit their website.
Read about Scotland's top ten coastal castles in our special history travel feature.
(Images copyright Scottish Castles Association)
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The Nigel Tranter Memorial Award is given each year in recognition of the Scottish Castle Association’s founding President Nigel Tranter O.B.E, who during his lifetime worked to promote Scotland, its culture, its history and the preservation and rescue of its historical buildings.
The 2015 award was presented by Professor Richard Oram at Dryburgh Abbey Hotel, with the ceremony followed by a lecture on Stirling Castle by John Donaldson. John said of the award: 'Carving new versions of the Stirling Heads was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the ceiling looks absolutely stunning.
'It was quite a feeling to have your work included in a project of this scale and importance and which will hopefully be enjoyed by millions of visitors for many decades to come.'
In the 1540s the ceiling of the King’s Inner Hall in Stirling Castle’s royal palace was decorated with magnificent oak carvings showing the faces of kings, queens, lords, ladies, Roman emperors and ancient heroes. The heads were commissioned by James V as part of his scheme to build a new palace celebrating his marriage to Mary of Guise.
After the ceiling was removed in 1777, some of the carvings were destroyed and the rest were scattered throughout Scotland and England. Known as the Stirling Heads, 34 of the metre-wide oak medallions survived, and in 2011 a full set of copies carved by John Donaldson were unveiled and adorned to the ceiling of the King’s Inner Hall as part of a wider project to restore the interiors of the royal palace in 16th-century style.
To find out more about the work of the Scottish Castles association, visit their website.
Read about Scotland's top ten coastal castles in our special history travel feature.
(Images copyright Scottish Castles Association)
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