Kilkenny Castle Pic: Wikipedia

Margery Brady of the Irishtimes.com reports that : This spring offers the first opportunity see a copy of a number of pages of the Book of Pottlerath, an illuminated manuscript which dates back to the 15th century, in its native Kilkenny. Although the book does not contain as many ornate illustrations as the Book of Kells, many of the letters are highly decorated. The original is now housed in the Bodleian library in Oxford, but it arrived there by a long, circuitous route.

James, 4th Earl of Ormond, known as the White Earl, had a great interest in archaeology and history, and it was he who initiated work on the manuscript. When he died of the plague in 1452 he left it to his nephew Edmund Butler, who was building a castle at Pottlerath, Kilmanagh, Co Kilkenny.

In 1453 Edmund decided to enlarge the manuscript, incorporating the earlier work, and he commissioned his scribe Sean Buidhe O’Cleirigh, with his fellow scribes, to continue work on it. It was completed a year later, in 1454 and was called The Book of Pottlerath. It is interesting to note that the earlier part of the manuscript is today in better condition than the subsequent part.

During the War of the Roses, in 1461 James, 5th Earl of Ormond was beheaded and his head was displayed on Tower Bridge. His brother and heir returned to Ireland and summoned to arms Edmund of Pottlerath, with the local Butlers in Kilkenny and Clonmel. Thomas, Earl of Desmond, united with the Earl of Kildare to oppose the Butler insurrection. A battle took place in Pilltown, south Kilkenny, and the Butlers were defeated, with a loss of 410 men. Edmund was among the prisoners. Part of the ransom demanded for his release was The Book of Pottlerath. It was to take some years for the book to return to the Butlers.

It is thought that The Book of Pottlerath came back to the family as part of the dowry of Joan FitzGerald (daughter of 10th Earl of Desmond) when she married James the Lame, 9th Earl of Ormond and eldest son of Piers, in 1532.

From there, the manuscript went into the hands of Sir George Carew, president of Munster, who had the book bound in leather. He died in 1624, bequeathing his collection to Sir Thomas Stafford. Stafford either sold or gave it to William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of the University of Oxford, who in turn gave it to the University for the Bodleian Library in 1636, with the condition that it would not leave Oxford; so it cannot be loaned to any Irish museum. A copy could be made for display in Ireland.

To read more about the journey of this fascinating manuscript click here

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Thornborough Henges, North Yorkshire.Pic :Jane Tomlinson, Heritage Action

The Heritage Trust Blog reports : CAMPAIGNERS say allowing people access to a set of ancient monuments in North Yorkshire whose importance is said to rival Stonehenge is crucial to safeguarding their future. The Thornborough Heritage Trust has been set up to protect and raise awareness of the six “henges” and other Neolithic and Bronze Age sites on fields between Bedale and Ripon, with one of its first  objectives being to open them up to visitors.Dr Jan Harding, one of the trust’s founders and a senior archaeology lecturer at Newcastle University, said::

Despite being of unique cultural value and being described by English Heritage as the most important prehistoric site between Stonehenge and the Orkneys, it is closed to visitors, lacks educational information and sits in an extensively quarried landscape. At the moment, there isn’t even a display board. Getting some kind of formal access for the public is vital.”

It’s a while since we at Heritage Action went there (as part of our campaign against Tarmac PLC’s application to quarry its surroundings) but we do recall it was very visitor-unfriendly with no signage, parking or access. We also remember two more things that might be helpful:

In 2006 (while Tarmac was trying to get permission to extend their quarry) the landowner announced he wanted to make the monument into a tourist attraction with a car park and visitor centre and Tarmac were supportive:

 “We see no conflict in principle between tourists visiting the henges and continuation of our quarry at Nosterfield with the useful employment it provides. [Nidderdale Today, March 2006]

And earlier, in 2005, Tarmac offered to give 60 acres of land next to the Henges to a charitable trust on behalf of the Nation to protect it for all time from further exploitation, saying (in the words of their Area Director, Simon Phillips):

“The preservation of the henges is vitally important to us all, and we look forward to working with English Heritage and North Yorkshire County Council to develop this charitable trust.” [Ripon Today, June 2005]

Ah the benefits of a good memory! That might be the answer. Tarmac were both supportive of tourism and anxious to protect the Henges before they got permission so they’ll hardly be less supportive of tourism or less anxious to protect the Henges now they have got permission will they?  Nor less generous – the gift of the land would have been worth over a third of a million if it had happened would it not? So they’d hardly now refuse to finance some formal access, carparking, the best information boards money can buy and a fund to provide a Rolls Royce interpretation facility in the local village, as befits the most important prehistoric site between Stonehenge and the Orkneys. £350K would cover it splendidly.

Please help by reminding Mr Phillips about what he said (you can contact him via the press relations department of Tarmac pr@tarmac.co.uk and/or their parent company Anglo American james.wyatt-tilby@angloamerican.com  Hopefully he’ll remember, but just point him to this article to make sure. We’re confident both Tarmac and Anglo American, being honorable, honest companies, ever anxious to protect their reputations and help local communities will agree to donate the money without delay.

Source 1

Source 2

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You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Wizzard-Media-Celtic-Myth-Podshow/dp/B004W8QR58 or by using the QR code opposite.
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The exposed “causeway” must be watered constantly in order to preserve it Pic: BBC News

Jason Palmer- Science and technology Reporter for  BBC NEWS  tells us: Renowned Bronze Age archaeological site Flag Fen in Cambridgeshire will host a first-of-its-kind dig that makes the public integral to the project.

The idea combines both “crowdfunding” and “crowdsourcing”; for contributions starting at £125, donors can get their hands very dirty and dig for a day.

The venture’s website will also stream live video from the dig as well as host lectures and interviews with experts.

The aim is to fully explore the site before it dries out and is destroyed.

Flag Fen was discovered in 1982 by archaeologist Francis Pryor, who uncovered part of a one mile (1.6km) causeway across the Fenland marshes in
Cambridgeshire.

The site lies largely underground, preserved for 3,000 years beneath a layer of peat that keeps artefacts from decaying.

An exposed part of the site, called the preservation hall, shows some of the thousands of timbers that make up the site poking up through the ground, and
these are regularly watered to stave off decay.

“It’s the only place in Europe where you can see this kind of archaeology exposed,”

said Lisa Westcott Wilkins, managing director of Digventures, the firm behind the new project.

Beneath, the peat will have preserved not just the wood artefacts such as  leather and other organic material, which at other Bronze Age sites will have
long since been consumed.

“The reason Flag Fen doesn’t have the sort of public profile of Stonehenge is  that there aren’t all these huge stones everywhere people can see – the entire site rests on top of very sensitive archaeology,”

she told BBC News.

But the water that has kept Flag Fen preserved until now is seeping away, due in part to climate change but largely to active drainage and the sprawl of neighbouring Peterborough, which nearly reaches the borders of the site.

Pic: BBC News

So the team at Digventures chose Flag Fen as its flagship site to try a new kind of archaeology, against a difficult global economic climate.

To read more about this fascinating project visit the BBC News report

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Forty years ago, archaeologist George Eogan became the first person in centuries to see the underground passage tomb at Knowth in Meath (Ireland), part of Brú na Bóinne (Bend of the Boyne), now a Unesco World Heritage site. A year earlier, in 1967, the Knowth excavation had uncovered a smaller underground passage leading in from the western face of the megalithic mound, but this larger east-side tomb surpassed it, recalls Eogan, a professor of archaeology at University College Dublin. “The western tomb was stunning but the east one was huge,” he says.

Pic: Spud Murphy

Knowth’s charms had lain undiscovered for hundreds of years before excavations started on the site 46 years ago, with Eogan present. The fourth volume in a series of books on the dig’s findings is published by the Royal Irish Academy later this month.

“We started at Knowth in 1962 and we have been there ever since,”

he says, detailing how the project has uncovered 18 satellite tombs around the great mound as well as unusual findings, such as a decorative flint macehead and a series of eight-century inscriptions within the passages and chambers.

But some of the findings pre-date all of that,

explains Eogan. Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2008-11-29 10:50:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pic: Bogensfreund

The first ever Code of Practice for Treasure Trove in Scotland is designed to ensure everyone involved with found objects of archaeological, historical or cultural significance understands the procedures which enable them to be claimed on behalf of the public. Since ancient times, the common law of Scotland has been that Treasure Trove and other property which is lost or abandoned, or has no obvious owner, belongs to the Crown.

They do not belong to the owner of the land where they were found, or to the finder, but are allocated to public museums for research or public exhibition.  The Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (QLTR) recognises the contribution of members of the public who make chance finds and will, in most cases, make an ex-gratia payment to the finder. The new Treasure Trove Code of Practice sets out the chain of responsibility for the various bodies involved and clarifies the process of determining the appropriate award for a particular object. Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2009-02-17 10:03:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Archaeologists say the community who settled on the site in 25AD would have traded salt for food Pic: BBC

Hundreds of artefacts have been unearthed at a 2,000-year-old salt making site on the Lincolnshire fens.Pottery, hair pins and tools were found during a two-week dig at Willow Tree Fen, near Bourne. Archaeologist David Trimble said the full story of salt production at the site had been unravelled. Experts were invited to carry out excavations by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust prior to the area being turned into a nature reserve.

Two thousand years ago the fens would have looked very different, with tidal creeks running far inland, experts said.

Mr Trimble, the site’s project manager, said:

“Salt making was fairly common on a small scale on the Lincolnshire coast.

“Each village community might be going out on to the salt marsh and making a bit of their own,”

he said.

Seawater would have been collected in ceramic pans and boiled, leaving behind the salt.

The community who settled on the site in 25AD would have used salt in their diet, for preserving meat and for trading for food and goods.

Remnants of the salt making process found at the dig at Willow Tree Fen will be analysed before being given to a local museum.

The site is to become part of a 114-hectare nature reserve attracting wildlife such as wading birds and dragonflies.

Marcus Craythorne, from Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, said:

“My primary concern is what’s happening on the surface, establishing the grassland habitat to bring in the wildlife, but to go down just a foot and travel back 2,000 years is really interesting.”

The archaeologists’ finding and the story of the site will be to be told in an interpretation centre at Willow Tree Fen.

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The first cauldron, which took 200 hours to restore, is on display at the British Museum. Pic:BBC

A full-size replica of an Iron Age cauldron which was found in a Wiltshire field is being commissioned by residents. The large cauldron is one of 12 found by a metal detector enthusiast near the village of Chiseldon in 2004.

The British Museum, which is conserving the Chiseldon cauldrons, described them as

“the biggest Iron Age find to date”.

A local history group is now raising funds to have an exact copy made.

Excavated by the British Museum and Wessex Archaeology, the dozen bronze and iron vessels were discovered “carefully placed” in a pit along with ox skulls.

Currently at The British Museum, being cleaned and conserved under laboratory conditions, the cauldrons are “too fragile and important ever to return to Chiseldon”, the museum has said.

As a result, The Chiseldon Local History Group has launched an appeal to raise £2,000 to have a replica made of one of the cauldrons.

Sheila Passmore, from the group, said a local blacksmith had already been commissioned.

“It’s going to take about a year, so hopefully we will have all the money by then to pay for it,” she said.

“And it will go in our museum. We’ll have a tripod made to hang it on with chains – exactly as they did 2,000 years ago.”

The first of the Chiseldon cauldrons, which took nearly 200 hours to restore, is currently on display in the Iron Age Gallery of the British Museum.

Source

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
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The letter was written by King Philip of France, in 1300 Pic: BBC  Scotland

A pair of letters directly connected to Scottish revolutionary Sir William Wallace are to be displayed side-by-side for the first time in Edinburgh. A 700-year-old letter from King Philip of France will be seen alongside the famous Lubeck letter, next summer.

Wallace led the Scots to a key victory over English forces at Stirling Bridge in 1297, as part of a struggle for independence.

He was hung, drawn and quartered for high treason in 1305.

The dates and venue for the exhibition are still to be confirmed.

The letters are the only two documents directly associated with Wallace.

A year after his arrival in France to ask for support against King Edward of England, Philip wrote to his agents in Rome in 1300 about Wallace.

The document, often seen as grant of safe passage for Wallace, was actually a request from the King of France for Pope Boniface VIII to give his support to the Scot.

The letter, currently held by the National Archives in London, suggests Wallace intended to visit the papal court, but it is not known whether he reached Rome.

William Wallace was executed in 1305, for high treason

“This exhibition is of tremendous importance – seeing the only two surviving documents directly connected to William Wallace side-by-side will be a unique experience.

“It is likely to give us a new perspective on Wallace’s vital role in Scottish history.

“The letter from the French king has been the subject of much speculation since it was discovered in the Tower of London in the 1830s. I am delighted that it is to be brought to Scotland next year and look forward to seeing it on public display with the Lubeck letter.”

The National Records of Scotland will borrow the letter from 2012-14, while talks on keeping it in Scotland are ongoing.

The Lubeck letter was sent by Wallace in the wake of his victory at Stirling Bridge, to inform European trading partners that Scottish ports were once again open for business.

Both letters are fragile and can only go on display under controlled lighting for a very limited period every few years.

Source

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King Arthur’s Stone Pic: Go This Place

The Cornish Guardian  in This is Cornwall reports that in July 2011, the Arthurian Centre at Slaughterbridge (Home of King Arthur’s Stone) near Camelford was holding two Living History Weekends on July 23 and 24 and August 13 and 14. The programme included dark age battle re-enactments, archery competitions, falconry display, demonstrations, storytelling and music.There was refreshment stalls and a beer tent.   You can visit the Arthurian Centre website and find out more details about the work they do.

The Arthurian Centre

The centre is located at Slaughterbridge near the medieval market town of Camelford (considered by some to be the site of Camelot) in North Cornwall, and set in 20 acres surrounding ‘King Arthur’s Stone’. Both the inscribed stone and battle are both dated by earliest stories to AD 540.

Visitors can walk through the fields where King Arthur and Mordred met for their last battle.

Read about the legends and the history in our exhibition room, watch a video presentation on the site and legends. There is something for everyone including brass rubbing, children’s quiz, a nature trail; gift shop and, for our smaller visitors, a play castle.

The Festival of British Archaeology

As part of the Festival of British Archaeology the centre hosted an archaeological dig until July 31. Students and tutors from Winchester University will continue to excavate a 13th-century abandoned village site as well as other interesting ‘targets’. Members of the public are welcome to visit and even join in (full training can be offered at extra cost).

The Arthurian Centre is dedicated to the history and legends of King Arthur. Slaughterbridge is the site of the last battle between Arthur and Mordred’s armies, the Battle of Camlann.

An inscribed memorial stone from the 6th-century marks the site of this event. Beautiful walks past the 12th-century excavation site lead to the stone and the recently discovered 18th-century garden created by Lady Falmouth.

The centre contains an extensive exhibition explaining the development of the Arthurian stories alongside Cornish history from the Bronze Age to the present era. The exhibition now also contains some original armour from the 1981 John Boorman film, Excalibur.

Battle re-enactments, archery, falconry display and demonstrations.

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Pic: BBC

BBC News tells us : Archaeologists believe that bones discovered at Stirling Castle, Scotland may have belonged to a knight killed in battle or during a siege in the early 1400s. It is thought that despite the warrior’s relatively young age of about 25, he may have suffered several serious wounds from earlier fights. Researchers thinks it is also possible he may have been living for some time with a large arrowhead in his chest. The bones were discovered in a chapel at the castle in 1997.

They were excavated when archaeologists were working in an area of the castle which turned out to be the site of a lost medieval royal chapel.Some research was carried out on the skeleton at the time of its discovery, but a lack of technology meant it was difficult to assess the remains in more detail.

Since then scientists have been able to perform laser scanning which revealed the wounds.

Bone regrowth around a dent in the front of the skull suggested the man had recovered from a severe blow, possibly from an axe.

The warrior had also lost a number of teeth – perhaps from a blow, or a fall from a horse.

The fatal wound, however, occurred when something, possibly a sword, sliced through his nose and jaw.

Mr Yeoman said: "We know little about this burial area but the evidence suggests it was sometimes used during extreme circumstances, for example to bury the dead during a siege.

"However, by using modern analysis techniques we have started to discover quite remarkable information about this man.

"It appears he died in his mid-20s after a short and violent life.

"His legs were formed in a way that was consistent with spending a lot of time on horseback, and the upper body points to someone who was well-muscled, perhaps due to extensive training with medieval weapons."

A large, tanged arrowhead was found in skeleton and appears to have struck through the back or under the arm.

Crystalised matter attached to the arrowhead may have been from flies or other insect larvae and could have been from clothing the arrow forced into the wound.

Gordon Ewart, of Kirkdale Archaeology, who carried out the excavation and some of the research for Historic Scotland, said: "This is a remarkable and important set of discoveries.

"There were a series of wounds, including a dent in the skull from a sword or axe, where bone had regrown, showing that he had recovered.

"At first we had thought the arrow wound had been fatal but it now seems he had survived it and may have had his chest bound up."

War hammer

Little is known about who the man was or where he came from.

Further study is planned on tooth enamel and bone samples which may shed light on his origins.

His body appeared to have been buried in the same grave as a small boy of one to three years old.

Archaeologists cannot be certain that the two were linked but radiocarbon dating suggests both date from the early 15th Century, and there was no evidence of one grave having been cut through the other.

They were part of a group of 12 skeletons, some highly fragmentary, which were discovered.

Among them was a female, probably buried some time in the 13th Century, who had two neat, square holes through her skull which were consistent with blows from a war hammer.

Source:

Originally posted 2009-08-24 08:30:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter