Since the February episode of the blog, quite a few people have visited the stones where they are lying to dry in Baligarve schoolroom. Our thanks to Maureen Crossan for her patience in allowing access.
24 March 2015 One highlight was the visit by the Lismore schoolchildren
Medieval Graveslabs Project 5 – April 2015
They are now contributing to the project by researching the clothes of the fashionable ladies and warriors of the 14th century West Highlands. Perhaps they will even try their hands at designing new graveslabs .
24 April 2015 Because the graveyard and the whole church glebe, including the manse and the surrounding field, are scheduled as an ancient monument, the project team needs to secure official permission from Historic Scotland to clear the site for the graveslabs shelter. Acting for the group, Clare Ellis of Argyll Archaeology negotiated this permission on, and work will start on 21 May to dig down to bedrock, to give a foundation for the structure. Meanwhile, application has been made for permission for the structure itself.
Medieval Graveslabs Project 5 – April 2015
18 April 2015 At a meeting of the Project Group, the contract for Phase 2 of the Project was awarded to Rowanstoneworks, the local company that undertook Phase 1. Phase 2 is very demanding, involving the skilled cleaning, consolidation and repair of the stones, and collaboration with the shelter designers to establish them in the shelter. Colin Rowan will bring his team over to Lismore to start work on 8 June.
We hope that all of this work will culminate in the unveiling of the displayed graveslabs in their new shelter during the Medieval Lismore weekend, 7-9 August. The exciting news is that Dr David Caldwell, President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and leading expert on Medieval Scotland, will preside over the weekend. He will not only lead our study of the Graveslabs but also report on the archaeological dig at Achinduin Castle. We are going to learn a lot about Medieval Lismore on guided walks to the MacDougall castles and the church.
In the last blog, we promised some descriptions of the Graveslabs that are being conserved. We can start with the two stones that were originally to the north of the church. The larger stone has been attributed to Donald Stewart of Innernahyle, Donald of the Hammers, who could wield blacksmith hammers in both hands at the same time. He led the Stewarts at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547, during the “Rough Wooing” when Henry VIII tried to force the marriage of his son to the infant Mary of Scotland. However, this is the lid of a tomb chest, with the sides missing. It is more than likely that the stone dates from an earlier burial in the 15th century, and was re-used for Donald. It features a two-handed claymore flanked by a lion and a mythical gryphon, symbols of military prowess.
Medieval Graveslabs Project 5 – April 2015
Medieval Graveslabs Project 5 – April 2015
The accompanying stone is said to commemorate Stewart’s Carmichael armour bearer but it is even older – a 13th/14th Century graveslab carved in the style of the Lochawe School. It certainly does not relate to an individual buried in the 1500s.
At first sight, this stone looks like a Viking style sword in the middle of a fairly simple frame of plant stems and leaves, but close study shows that the stems are actually growing out of the quillons (guards) of the sword and are connected to the hind legs of a beast (top right) whose front quarters and head have been lost to weathering.
Medieval Graveslabs Project 5 – April 2015
Script and images: Bob Hay
Report: April 2015