Phase 1 of the project has now been completed, with all of the stones safely drying in Baligarve schoolroom. Colin Rowan has made a good job of reinstating the graveslab sites with modern slabs. In due course, we will place a permanent marker at each site, explaining that the slab is now in the shelter.
Replaced Slab
The project team has moved on to provide three potential contractors with specifications for Phase 2 (cleaning, consolidation, repair and mounting in the new shelter).
The graveyard was the theme of the archaeological walk on 7 February. Fifteen walkers from Lismore and Appin Historical Society visited the graveslabs in the schoolroom.
Archaeological walkers visiting
Alex Gourlay and Mike Rayworth from Appin, who are designing and constructing the Argyll oak shelter, visited the graveslabs to make a final assessment of the weights to be supported.
Medieval Graveslabs Project 4 20 March 2015 Alex Gourlay and Mike Rayworth in the schoolroom
They then went on to survey the shelter site and plan the necessary preparations (subject to permission from Historic Scotland, which is being negotiated by Clare Ellis).
Medieval Graveslabs Project 4 20 March 2015 Alex and Mike near the war memorial
An Gorm Mòr – The Big Blue or Big Gorm
At first sight, the heaviest of the graveslabs, broken across the bottom, encrusted with moss, and seriously eroded, looked like a poor candidate for conservation.
Medieval Graveslabs Project 4 20 March 2015 An Gorm Mor
However, this stone is said to commemorate An Gorm Mòr, an ancestor of the Bachuil Livingstones, a giant who possessed the strength of five men. His greatest feat is said to have been a heroic struggle with a wild bull on Morvern – the sound of the fight could be heard across the firth on Lismore. An alternative version has Gorm wrestling with the Devil.
Medieval Graveslabs Project 4 20 March 2015 Textile rubbing of An Gorm Mor
The good news for the project is that, in 1994, Valerie Livingstone commissioned a textile rubbing of the stone, to mark Alastair Livingstone’s 80th birthday. The rubbing reveals details that were almost lost. The RCAHMS description from the 1970s includes: “a small effigy of an armed man standing in a niche crowned by dragons’ heads. The man is wearing a pointed bascinet [helmet] and an aketon [padded jacket], and carries a sword and spear”. We hope that, when the conservation work is complete, we will be able to see these and other details more clearly.
Our thanks to Valerie and Niall Livingstone for permission to photograph the rubbing and present the image here.